A. J. Finn - The Woman in the Window

Published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers 2018

First published in the United States by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 2018

Copyright © A. J. Finn, Inc. 2018

Cover design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2021

Cover artwork © Netflix 2021. Used with permission

A. J. Finn asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008234157

Ebook Edition © January 2018 ISBN: 9780008292737

Version: 2021-04-30

‘Astounding. Thrilling. Lovely and amazing. I could weave in more superlatives but you get the idea. Finn has created a noir for the new millennium, packed with mesmerizing characters, stunning twists, beautiful writing and a narrator with whom I’d love to split a bottle of pinot. Maybe two bottles—I’ve got a lot of questions for her’ GILLIAN FLYNN

‘Twisted to the power of max. Hitchcockian suspense with a 21st-century spin’ VAL McDERMID

‘A dark, twisty confection with an irresistible film noir premise. Hitchcock would have snapped up the rights in a heartbeat’ RUTH WARE

‘ The Woman in the Window is one of those rare books that really is unputdownable. The writing is smooth and often remarkable. The way Finn plays off this totally original story against a background of film noir is both delightful and chilling’ STEPHEN KING

‘An incredible debut, I absolutely loved it. I read The Woman in the Window in a single day. Full of suspense and surprises and told with heart, The Woman in the Window will send readers racing through its pages. A stunning first outing from A. J. Finn. He is a tremendous new talent’ JANE HARPER, bestselling author of The Dry

‘Amazing. Riveting. Just plain fantastic!’ TESS GERRITSEN

‘A truly phenomenal debut. A taut, utterly compelling story. Smart, heart-wrenching—and really scary’ NICCI FRENCH

‘Amazing. What an elegant, beautifully written thriller. I loved Dr Fox from the word go, and the twists and turns were just exquisite. It’s so rare to find a story so compelling, yet so gracefully told – the flair and class of Hitchcock on every page. It’s quite a cliché, but I was genuinely walking around the house/answering the door/eating my meals with the book in my hand.’ JOANNA CANNON, bestselling author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep

‘Dense, brilliant and unforgettable; tight in focus, widescreen in execution’ JENNY COLGAN

‘A. J. Finn pulled me into the world of The Woman in the Window so completely that I barely drew breath until I turned the final page. The vulnerable protagonist, Anna, is isolated from friends, family, community and reality in this gripping, compelling and utterly intriguing novel that is deservedly sure to grab readers by their heartstrings in 2018’ LIZ NUGENT, bestselling author of Lying in Wait

‘ The Woman in the Window reads like a classic Hitchcock movie in novel form, in fact I was half expecting a cameo. Dripping with suspense. Creaking with menace. Beautifully written. There’s a lot of buzz around this book and every single bit of it is totally justified’ SIMON TOYNE, bestselling author of the Sanctus trilogy

‘There hasn’t been a debut thriller this good since Scott Smith’s A Simple Plan appeared twenty-five years ago. The Woman in the Window is compelling, wrenching, and gasp-for-breath exciting—I was blown away’ JOE HILL, bestselling author of Heart-Shaped Box

‘Hitchcock himself would have been proud. Masterfully uncomfortable reading that had me racing to the end for relief’ HELEN FIELDS, bestselling author of Perfect Remains

‘This is a wonderfully dark, elegant thriller, evocative of Hitchcock and classic noir. Tense, twisty and SO beautifully written. Amidst the many twists and turns, which are rolled out to perfection, the descriptions of Anna’s dusty, gothic townhouse create a nail-shreddingly claustrophobic atmosphere. And Anna herself is a gift of an unreliable narrator—agoraphobic, alcoholic, by turns tragic and spiky. An absolute one-sitting read’ C.J. TUDOR, author of The Chalk Man

‘ The Woman in the Window is a tour de force. A twisting, twisted odyssey inside one woman’s mind, her illusions, delusions, reality. It left my own mind reeling and my heart pounding. An absolutely gripping thriller’ LOUISE PENNY, author of the Chief Inspector Gamache novels

for George

I have a feeling that inside you somewhere,

there’s something nobody knows about.

—Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Praise for The Woman in the Window

Dedication

Epigraph

Sunday, October 24

Chapter 1

Monday, October 25

Chapter 2

Tuesday, October 26

Chapter 3

Wednesday, October 27

Chapter 4

Thursday, October 28

Chapter 5

Friday, October 29

Chapter 6

Saturday, October 30

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Sunday, October 31

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Monday, November 1

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Tuesday, November 2

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Wednesday, November 3

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Thursday, November 4

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Friday, November 5

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Saturday, November 6

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Sunday, November 7

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59