A.J. Finn Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

A.J. Finn is an American author. It is the pen name of Daniel Mallory, who works at William Morrow / Harper Collins as a senior publishing executive. He is a graduate of Oxford and a former book critic who lives in New York City. He has written for a number of publications as well, including the Times Literary Supplement in the U.K., the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. He also lived in England for ten years before he returned to live in his native New York City.

A.J. Finn’s debut novel is called The Woman in the Window. Its main character is a woman named Anna Fox who lives alone in her New York City home. Although Anna is not the same as everyone else with their normal lives and schedules and social events in New York– she is a veritable recluse in her own home in the city. She spends most of her days drinking wine, and not just having one glass, either. Her wine of choice to go to is Merlot, and perhaps she spends a bit too much time drinking. This isn’t good either because she’s on medication and you are not supposed to mix the two.

While she spends her days drinking, she also spends them watching copious amounts of old movies and reminiscing about the happier days in her life. She also has an interesting little hobby that is similar to a character in a Hitchcock movie– spying on the goings about of her neighbors, much like Jimmy Stewart’s character in the classic Hollywood movie of suspense and neighborly intrigue, Rear Window.

Anna used to be a doctor and have a real job and a real life, so her current life of drinking Merlot and watching old movies is a huge change from what her reality used to be. A traumatic experience changed her entire mood and her life and she no longer works as a child psychologist as a result. It seems like all of the things that were normal and made sense have fled out of her life, leaving Anna to live in the hollow shell of what remains.

The sadness that tears her up inside is the fact that she was a wife and a mother and used to live happily with her husband and daughter. But now she lives in her home alone, spending the days out with wine and petty entertainment and of course, spying on the neighbors and taking in what’s going on in the outside world. Her days, once full with purpose and promise, are now reduced to being the same day after day and only interrupted by intermittent spying on the neighbors in between glasses of vino.

But Anna’s near constant surveillance takes a turn when the seemingly perfect family moves into the house across the street. There is a teenage son and his father and mother that lives there, and they seem pretty normal. But then one night while looking out her window and seeing what goes on, Anna thinks she sees something, and it’s something that she shouldn’t have seen. As what she has seen sits in, Anna’s world slowly starts to crumble.

As Anna deals with what she has seen, the secrets of her life begin to come out. She starts to think and she wonders what is real and what she might have imagined with the influence of her constantly present glass of wine by her side. Is it the wine that has influenced what she saw? Is it her enthusiasm about classic films that has made her want to turn her entire life into a real movie filled with suspense and intrigue?

There’s also the consideration that her medication and the wine are mixing. Even if she told someone about what she saw, Anna doubts that anyone would believe her. But it’s not that she was just staring at the window the entire time. Anna knows for a fact that she met her new neighbor, the mother and wife named Jane Russell. Jane has the current life that Anna had and would have had if life had not taken such a tragic turn.

Anna had invited Jane into her house. Not only had they talked, they had played chess and connected. But now the Russells are saying that she doesn’t even exist. And the teen son, Ethan, seems like he is kind of scared. Anna’s past is not helping he rout either; no one is going to listen to her because she has a traumatic history and when it comes to the authorities, they aren’t even an option either. The police perceive her as being a bit crazy and off kilter, so she can’t go to them and trust she will be taken seriously.

Still, Anna cannot shake what she has seen, and the Russells are acting very suspiciously. Is it possible that she imagined it all? Or is Anna the sole witness to a horrible event that everyone is trying to pretend didn’t happen? And are the Hitchcock suspense movies and other mystery films getting to her head with the combination of over medicating and drinking too much? Anna tries to see through the haze and determine whether what happened was real, or she really is spinning into a web of madness just like everyone thinks she is.

Anna is used to spending her days watching people live their lives in the park and counseling people who suffer from agoraphobia just like her online. She just can’t stop thinking– when she opened her door to confront the teens throwing eggs on Halloween and Jane rushed to her aid, was that real? Or has she been medicating for too long and hallucinated a true friend, an outside ally in her shuttered and lonely life? Anna must work to find out what the truth is, knowing that she will either be vindicated or confirmed for what she fears she is; someone who has been driven crazy by traumatic events and the loss of her former life.

The Woman in the Window is the first book from A.J. Finn. It is currently in the stages of development to be a major motion picture by Fox.

One Response to “A.J. Finn”

1. eowana jordan: 3 weeks ago

   Listening to the book now in the car. I hate to drive in my driveway as it is then time to shut it off til my next errand!! Great plot and wonderful reader! Bravo!

   Reply