For a few months now I’ve been doing some freelance work back at Lovereading. It’s been lovely working back with some of the old team. New owners, a whole new team and very soon an updated and refreshed new website, I’m told great plans are afoot. An exciting future, bright and full of exciting possibilities. Lets hope so.

One of the things I loved most about the job were those moments when I’d hold a proof in my hand and know that it contained something amazing and I was going to help, in my own small way, to bring it into the world. There is something very special about that.

At the end of March my time with Lovereading will come to an end. I will still be reviewing a little for them but It’s time to move on. I very much intend to continue reading and reviewing books and look forward to sharing some stories with you too. Do follow me on my journey and share where you can and I’ll keep searching out wonderful books that I may also be able to tempt you with.

Now to share another gem with you… Towards the end of 2017 we received a proof in the Lovereading offices that caught our eye. It was hailed as THE book of 2018. Quite a claim don’t you think? Yet it did sound intriguing.

So what’s the hook? – A woman trapped in her own home and suffering with a debilitating mental illness witnesses a terrible crime. She is an unreliable witness. She drinks heavily, barely existing on meds and a diet of wine, she limps through each day watching classic crime movies and spying on her neighbours. The police shrug the crime off as an hallucination caused by the mix of drugs and alcohol, yet she’s convinced what she saw actually happened. But how can she prove it when she’s unable to even leave the house without being consumed by terror and panic?

Yet things are about to become even more terrifying for Anna as someone else knows what really happened that night and they’re determined to make sure the truth stays hidden – no matter what.

The book…

The Woman in the Window By A.J.Finn

What did she see? It’s been ten long months since Anna Fox last left her home. Ten months during which she has haunted the rooms of her old New York house like a ghost, lost in her memories, too terrified to step outside. Anna’s lifeline to the real world is her window, where she sits day after day, watching her neighbours. When the Russells move in, Anna is instantly drawn to them. A picture-perfect family of three, they are an echo of the life that was once hers. But one evening, a frenzied scream rips across the silence, and Anna witnesses something no one was supposed to see. Now she must do everything she can to uncover the truth about what really happened. But even if she does, will anyone believe her? And can she even trust herself?

So, I was intrigued. Fellow Lovereading expert reviewer, Liz Robinson loved it, the consumer reader review panel at Lovereading loved it. I leant it to a friend who quite simply devours crime novels – and she loved it. Finally over half term I found time to sit down with it myself and I absolutely LOVED it.

It’s a cracking psychological read. Brilliantly told through Anna’s perspective, the tension is built in such a way that I felt as though I was standing right next to her, so palpable was her fear and distress. His ability to plunge us into her mental issues whilst slowly revealing both her past and present was absolutely gripping. Finn’s nod towards the classic thrillers such as Niagara, Wait Until Dark, The Vanishing, Rosemary’s Baby and of course, Rear Window add a sense of crime noir that has you gripped from the start (and started the itch to watch those old, yet timeless classics again).

This is definitely worth the hype and one that I would recommend reading when you have the time to immerse yourself fully, without distractions.

Published by HarperCollins

Published on the 22nd January 2018