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The Woman in the Window is another step into the world of audio books for me. When it comes to open windows and the subject of watching other people through them, precisely, watching other people inside their houses, I'm so very perplexed. Ok, call me paranoid. As have other books that I've read in the past, this book features the act of people looking at other people, living their lives, inside their houses. Even when some of those people know they are being watched and do not like it at all, these people continue to leave their lives on display, expecting others to just not look at them. I do not understand this reasoning at all. I know they may not be the in thing or fashionable in some circles but there can be benefits to owning and making use of blinds and curtains. You can close them! It's one of my favorite things to do when it starts to get dark at night. No peeping into my house! 

Anna Fox is living alone in her New York City four story (if you count the basement) brownstone home. She is separated from her husband and their eight year old daughter is with him. Something happened about nine months ago that was so very traumatic that Anna now suffers from agoraphobia and no longer leaves her house. She talks to her husband and daughter daily but there seems to be no timeline for when they will be together again. There is a handsome, mysterious, quiet, tenant living in the basement, a yoga instructor that visits once a week and her psychiatrist that comes to her house once a week. Other than that, Anna is alone, abusing her prescription drugs and drinking bottles of alcohol, day and night. 

Anna's hobbies are watching all her neighbors through her window (once again, close your curtains folks!), watching black and white thriller movies in a drugged and drunken stupor, playing online chess, and online mentoring of others with agoraphobia. During one of her voyeuristic sessions of watching her neighbors, she sees something terrible happen. But because Anna drinks, drugs, hallucinates, and is paranoid, no one will believe she saw anything at all.  

The audio version of this book was great at portraying the haze of confusion, fogginess, and paranoia of Anna. I could really feel for her even though I didn't like her at all. She did some really unwise things, some much more unwise than others but she is so far gone by the time we meet her that I didn't feel there was any pulling her back from the abyss of her dark mind. I enjoyed the story and now I want to go back and watch some of my favorite old black and white movies. 

Published January 2020 by HarperAudio