Girls, Curl Up With This Summer's Suspense Read!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                     I was so disappointed, as I reported, by Jessica Knoll's "The Favorite Sister," I almost swore off all thrillers.  Which, for me, is saying a lot.  But "The Woman In The Window" has been staring me in the face in bookstores for months, and, having spent some time with eighteenth century literature, ("The Castle Of Wolfenbach") I wanted to return to contemporary times for awhile.  So, I bit the bullet, and started reading A.J. Finn's novel, prepared to be disappointed.  Instead, it was like riding a roller coaster!  For three days I was captive to my chair, because I had to see what was coming next.  The surprise was that I couldn't foresee what was coming next. And I loved that!

                                     Yet, the premise is familiar.  Anna Fox, a former child psychiatrist, has suffered trauma so unbearable, she has become an agoraphobe.  She is laid up in her palatial East Side Manhattan digs, very much like Jimmy Stewart in "Rear Window."  And she is a neighbor watcher.  She is also obsessed with black-and-white noir movies, and Hitchcock, all of whom are referenced.  When The Russells--husband, wife, and teenage son, move in across the street, she has her eyes on them.

                                      Then a woman comes to visit after helping Anna, as she struggles, falling, having briefly ventured outside.  This is only the beginning of the mystery, as the woman Anna thinks her visitor is, really isn't.  But who is she?  And what did she see that night, she thought she witnessed a stabbing??????

                                      I really cannot go any further without ruining things, and I will not.  But I will say, just when I thought I had things dead to rights, I discovered I turned out to be completely wrong.

                                      The last thirty pages I read in a heat, desperate to find out how it all ends.  I will say, in the end, I felt sorry for the Russells, as much as Anna.

                                       Though Finn writes often in quick spurts, much is revealed, plenty of exposition is given, and we get to know the characters, even the minor ones, like the cops.

                                        This is the best thriller I have read since "The Girl On The Train."  And now, A.J. Finn has a tough act to follow.  May she have better luck on her second novel, than Paula Hawkins on her second, which I never bothered to read.

                                        But Finn's debut novel is stellar.  It restored my faith in the thriller genre.

                                         Prepare for a wild ride, girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!