THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW by A.J. Finn

Anna Fox, a child psychologist, is a PTSD sufferer with agoraphobia, meaning that, in her case, she is terrified of going outside.  She spends her time watching Hitchcock movies, drinking heavily, counseling fellow agoraphobia victims online, and watching her Harlem neighbors through the telephoto lens of her Nikon.  At first, her inventorying of her various neighbors is a little tedious, but then she becomes embroiled in the lives of the Russell family—Alistair, Jane, and their teenage son Ethan.  Jane Russell, in particular, is difficult for Anna to get a handle on, because googling her name just presents a lot of info about the 1950s-era movie actress.  When Anna believes she has witnessed a murder, things start to get really murky.  Did it really happen, or was Anna so wasted that she hallucinated the whole thing?  The trauma that has rendered her a shut-in is revealed little by little, adding even more suspense to the story.  I figured out one aspect of the story, but mostly I was caught off guard by the revelations at the end.  Is the book totally believable?  Absolutely not, but sometimes a little escapism is just the ticket.  I certainly hoped for Anna’s recovery, but the novel is full of people who are kind to her, even as she pursues a neighbor into a coffee shop in the rain, clad in her bath robe.  This woman is so unbalanced that I think I would have avoided her at all costs.