I read the book, too, thought it was so-so. That hasn’t stopped Hollywood from making it a major motion picture, coming out relatively soon. I read about the author as well, very unsettling.

I read the book and while I don’t recall all the details, didn‘t find it remarkable. And I surely didn’t read up on the author! Wow!

I read that article when it came out and really regretted that I ever ordered his book. I never understood the hype over it, I guess the timing was just right for everyone riding the coattails of Gone Girl and Girl on a Train.

But yeah, he’s quite the liar and manipulator. Sad that he‘s so greatly rewarded for it.

Just read the New Yorker article, then watched some video clips of him. The guy's a real piece of work. His book didn't appeal to me, but I wouldn't go near it now.

The novel Saving April has an identical plot to The Woman in the Window and was published a few months earlier. But apparently Mr. Mallory had a “detailed outline” that he shared with his publisher before Saving April was published. With him being an editor, why haven’t they looked closely at whether he had access to the other book, pre-publication? How does one get away with lying about basic qualifications, basic personal history (for self-gain) and semi-stealing a plot?

And he has a deal on his second book. I guess publishers are willing to look the other way if he sells.

I haven’t read the book, but read the article you posted this morning. Wow, very interesting. He doesn’t even try to keep his lies straight.

Interesting. I think borderline personality disorder is the diagnosis vs bipolar. Whatever it is, or isn't, he is a piece of work. I read the book and it was just ok.

Ida, that’s just messed up, right? As far as the two novels are themselves concerned, here is the New York Times’s summation of the similarities between them, with spoilers, of course:

“The protagonists of both novels are middle-aged women — Hannah in “Saving April,” and Anna in “The Woman in the Window” — who suffer from intense anxiety and are afraid to leave their homes, and begin spying on their neighbors, in both cases, an unhappily married couple with an adopted teenage child who has a troubled past. In “Saving April,” the teenager is a girl whose birth mother was a neglectful alcoholic; in “The Woman in the Window,” the adopted teenager is a boy whose birth mother was a neglectful drug addict.

Both novels’ narrators have been traumatized and wracked with guilt over car crashes that killed their husbands and young daughters, when they were at the wheel, driving in bad weather and fighting with their spouses over infidelity.

In both stories, the heroines call the police to check on their neighbors after witnessing something unsettling, but the police discount their accounts because they suspect the women of heavy drinking and being unhinged. And the novels feature a nearly identical final twist: In each story, the teenager that the narrator is trying to protect turns out to be a manipulative psychopath, who tortures animals, has killed one or both birth parents, and then tried to kill the protagonist after confessing to the crimes.”

Link To the full article here:

Similarities in 2 Novels Raise Questions About the Limits of Literary Influence - The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/14/books/dan-mallory-woman-window-denzil.html

Oh, it does indeed get worse, doesn’t it, Nuts? I won’t be buying his next novel that is certain. I didn’t fully read the end of the NYT article, as it just seemed to point out more weird behavior after another. So ultimately it definitely should at least raise the question about whether he had access to the other book pre-publication. I wouldn’t want to be associated with such a psychopath if I were in the business.

When the movie rights are bought, I suppose the producers aren’t obligated to consult further with the book author unless that is in the contract. And I’m sure there are many who will never know this story who will flock to the movies and buy the next book of his.

Outside, you're right that most people will never know the backstory. It‘s incredulous that he‘s gotten away with such duplicity all his (adult) life.