A Book Review - The Window by Carol Ellis (Point Horror)

Okay, so it's a total ripoff of Rear Window. At least it's a fairly good ripoff. Jody has gone skiing with a bunch of kids she doesn't know, since she was invited by a friend who's now stuck at home with flu. (Does this really happen? If the only person I knew on a trip had to cancel, I'd likely cancel too, particularly if everyone else knew each other and I hadn't invested any money in it. Not to mention the fact that my parents would have been iffy about me going away with a bunch of strangers at the age of 17, even strangers that my best friend vouched for. But maybe that's just me.) Anyway, she goes to a ski resort with six strangers, skis for a couple of days, and then sprains her ankle and ends up stuck in bed. (I've had sprained ankles, and torn ligaments, and broken bones. I did NOT end up confined to bed in a single room, doped up on painkillers. Again, maybe just me.) While she's stuck in bed, she watches people in other cabins (not just me!) and sees what might be the murder of the beautiful, spoilt girl in the cabin next door, who is love-hated by two of the guys in Jody's group and just plain hated by the other four. She's not sure that anything really happened. There was a red stain that could have been blood, but it's gone now. The girl hasn't been seen again, but she did say she might be leaving any minute. There was someone dragging something heavy through the snow, but that could have been garbage bags.

Then the girl shows up dead.

Dear Lord, why do these kids not phone the police?!

For all its faults, though, The Window is a pretty good read. Carol Ellis manages to weave a feeling of alienation through the book, allowing the reader to get a pretty good idea of the isolation and confusion that Jody feels, not knowing anyone properly, not really being able to trust anyone, not being mobile enough to just leave. It's a lonely book, with enough bitchiness and friction between the supporting characters to keep you on your toes, and a bizarre villain who somehow works. Tense and creepy.

Verdict: Not an especially comfortable read, but quite chilling.