Book Review: The World Outside My Window by Clare Swatman

My Rating:3.5⭐️

It has been eighteen months since Laura Parks left her home. A chef employed at a restaurant in London, her life was upended after an attack by a masked assailant one night near her home left her traumatized and agoraphobic. Her husband Jim, hoping that a change of scene would help her heal, moves them from London to Willow Crest, a charming cul-de-sac outside London. While Jim begins to interact with their new neighbors, Laura remains at home, turning to alcohol and limiting her interactions to just her husband and best friend Debbie, unable to step outside her home and content to watch the world outside from her window. One day, her husband doesn’t return home from work and Laura begins to panic. When the hours turn into days and weeks and the police seem unable to track Jim’s whereabouts, Laura is compelled to step outside her home and ask for help. Jim had no close family and having never met any of Jim’s work associates, she turns to her neighbors for any clue as to Jim’s state of mind and where he could have gone. As each of her neighbors begins to share seemingly insignificant details of their interactions with Jim, Laura begins to realize that the man she was with for seven years, might not have been completely honest about who he was. Laura begins to face her fears, deal with her trauma and find out what happened to her husband, embarking on a journey of healing and self-awareness and in doing so takes the first steps toward emerging a stronger person.

I have mixed feelings about The World Outside My Window by Clare Swatman. I loved the premise of this novel and the cast of characters in Willow Crest, the found family theme and the way the author writes about relationships, friendship, isolation, trauma and mental health, emotional manipulation and vulnerability. I did feel sympathy for what Laura endured and how it affected her life and mental health. The author also gives us a glimpse into the complexities of relationships, emotional dependence and vulnerability and how some could misinterpret control and manipulation for love and protectiveness.

However, seven years is a long time to get to know a person and while I can’t fault her for her dependence post her traumatic experience, from what we gather from the narrative that moves back and forth detailing the beginning of their relationship and the events leading to the present day narrative, there were quite a few red flags that should have aroused her suspicions much earlier on. The depiction of this aspect of the story and Laura’s cluelessness were a tad unconvincing. Parts of the past narrative are shared in the first-person PoV from Laura’s perspective and the remaining in the third person, which doesn’t quite make for a fluid reading experience. The narrative moves in a predictable direction and the reveal is not surprising (plenty of breadcrumbs that make it rather easy to pick up on). Overall, while I was invested in Laura's journey and did enjoy parts of the story, I wasn’t as taken with it as I had hoped.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the digital review copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.