A.J. Finn Books

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A.J. Finn is the pseudonym of Daniel Mallory an executive editor with William Morrow. Having been himself an editor of other people’s novels, he never expected that his debut novel “The Woman in the Window” would make such huge waves. As a man that has suffered from depression for many years, Mallory who wrote in the gender neutral name asserts that his traumatized heroine is a representation of his struggles with psychological issues.

While it would seem that he had a very easy time writing a novel as an editor, he asserts that the road to publishing was never so smooth. As a 21 year old he suffered from severe depression which he has had to deal with for more than fifteen years, trying out all manner of treatments. It was not until 2015 that he was diagnosed with bipolar rather than unipolar depression that he was able to finally make something of himself. He then wrote his first novel basing it on his psychological experiences.

His first novel “The Woman in the Window” has been compared to blockbusters debuts in the psychological thriller genre such as “The Girl on the Train” and “The Child Finder”. The novel is a cinematic novel with excellent plotting and short chapters that are full of tension and suspense from the first page to the last. The novel takes place in the lead protagonist’s home and is full of unreliable narrators, whose stories happen in the modern locked room mystery setting.

The success of books like Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn inspired Finn to write this novel. His works as an editor combined with his own reading noticed that the trend was in psychological thrillers with an unreliable female narrators. When Gone Girl was a big hit, he realized that this was the type of book that he would like to write, but he didn’t have a story yet. While this book definitely inspired him about the type of book that he’d like to write, it was actually a movie that inspired the story.

While adjusting to a new medication for his bipolar disorder, he took some time off and spent much of it watching old movies. One movie was the Jimmy Stewart starring, Alfred Hitchcock classic Rear Window. In this movie, Stewart’s character is bed-ridden and takes to looking at his neighbors out of his window. While watching the film and hearing the characters chide Stewart’s character for looking at his neighbor, he found himself looking out his Manhattan apartment window and watching a woman in another apartment. Laughing at the irony of him doing the same thing that this character on the movie did nearly 60 years ago, Finn realized that he had his idea for a book. He used his own mental health issue to paint the main character and the rest is history. All that was left was the writing.

The book had a ton of buzz after he finished it and was involved in a very hotly contested bidding wars between publishers. It ended up being published by William Morrow, the publishing house that Mallory worked at.

A.J. FINN BOOKS INTO TV/MOVIES

While many novels in the psychological thriller hardly make any waves, A.J. Finn made it big by receiving critical acclaim on his first try. Even before he had it has been produced, the foreign rights for the movie have already been sold in many countries across the globe. Many novels like “The Woman in the Window” typically turn out dreadful. However, with its brilliant plot, beautiful writing story of madness, loss and love, the movie which is currently in production is sure to thrall viewers when it is finally released.

BEST A.J FINN BOOKS

A.J. Finn who is a first time author with “The Woman in the Window” promises to be a great psychological thriller.

The Woman in the Window: The lead protagonist is Anna Fox, a woman whose life is falling apart. Nearly a year ago she had undergone a devastating ordeal that had destroyed her career, family, and marriage that had left her with severe agoraphobia. She fears to leave her house and spends all of her days in her New York City home. Her time is spent in online forums chatting with agoraphobic people, doubling or ignoring her meds, drinking, learning French online, playing chess, and watching white and black movies.

She has recently developed a photography habit which comes mostly from a desire to watch the happenings outside her home, particularly the activities of her neighbors. She has had it very interesting especially filming the activities of Mrs. Miller, a woman that recently moved into the neighborhood.

Things get more interesting when a new family called the Russells take up residence in the house across the street. Anna immediately gets interested in them given that they seem like the perfect family of teenage son, wife, and husband. She soon gets to meet the wife and then the son and really comes to enjoy spending time with them. But what she sees through her window on one night fills her with terror. It is a horrible thing that she knows she had no choice but to inform the authorities or help the Russells herself. But suddenly things go haywire for Hanna who just cannot decide if what she saw was a hallucination from her TCM movie watching or medicines, or anything real. She does not know if she can believe her eyes or her mind and now she begins to fear that someone may be after her life.

“The Woman in the Window” is a gripping thriller that will have the reader engrossed right from the first page. While it borrows a lot from contemporary thrillers, AJ Finn is excellent at crafting a story full of suspense and tension to get under the skin. With its intriguing twists and turns of plot one cannot help but want to fly through the chapters to find out what is in store for Anna in the proceeding chapters.

When Does The Next A.J. Finn book come out?

A.J. Finn doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is End of Story and was released on February, 20th 2024.

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