This was a really compelling read that I just had to keep reading until the end of the book. It definitely made me want to order the title for my library collection. It was interesting, the take on the male vs female perspective, and how it addressed the feeling that many women have, of discomfort in situations where others might not see the same cause of that discomfort as they do.

I honestly did not like this story as much as everyone else did. I’m not sure why but I just wasn’t a fan of the way it was written, the dialogue and the story in general. It had great ratings and usually if a book has a great rating I tend to enjoy it but not this one.

2.5
A young mother is awakened by her son and she goes to put him back to bed when she sees the figure of a man down the hallway. Her phone is back in her room. She is terrified and quickly gets her sleeping daughter and son and looks for a place to hide. In the oldest part of her house, this old home was built with secret panels that she could move and slide into the wall to hide with her children. But the intruder calls out to them and is not going away. That voice is familiar to her and to her daughter.

Such a terrifying beginning to this book that quickly goes down a path with so many tropes - unreliable narrator, a drugged woman, police and neighbors who don't believe her. As the current story is told, there are chapters that go back to explain the past of her family, and her husband's family. For me, most of the book just felt completely unbelievable, nothing at all realistic which was boring for me, and no names for any character! (Daughter, son, husband, father-in-law, sergeant, doctor, nurse, etc with the "bad man"/ "monster" being called Corner). I really wanted to like this book and anticipated a very scary and gripping book, but it was just ridiculous to me.

My thanks to Net Galley and Pamela Dorman Books for an advanced copy of this e-book.

We need to talk about NIGHTWATCHING, the absolutely outstanding debut by TRACY SIERRA.

Here’s the two things you need to know:

1. A woman is home alone with her two young children, in their fairly isolated New England house, in a blizzard, late at night. And then an intruder breaks in.
2. Karin Slaughter called this book “terrifying” so you know this book is freaking scary!

I was so tense the entire time I read this. It was like the equivalent of watching a horror movie with my fingers splayed over my eyes. I could see just enough through the cracks and had to keep going because I *needed to know* what was going to happen next. But the whole time I read it, I was also low-key convinced nightmares were in my future. But it was a risk I was willing to take.

This book is a mood that you need to be in, and I just loved it so much. It’s also a book that I firmly, absolutely, beg of you to go into on the blind side because part of the pure pleasure — if you consider being wound up tight with an over-arching sense of fear and dread to be pleasurable like I clearly do 🙋🏻‍♀️ — but part of the pure pleasure and the power and total terror of this book lies in being so deep in the dark.

TRACY SIERRA skillfully created such a page turning, twisty novel that also fully packs in so much emotion and terror. I felt so deeply for the main character and I honestly think saying anything more would give something away.

I would also compare the *feeling* of the book to reading a Taylor Adams novel, minus the wild turns and nail guns.

Here’s the bottom line: you need to read this book. It’s a powerful book wrapped up in a nightmare that just might have you sleeping with the lights on. Go forth and enjoy

A mother, alone in a blizzard with two young children, hears a stranger in her house. From her son's bedroom, she can see the man slowly moving up the stairs at the end of the hall, and he has a weapon. He stands between her and any chance of contact with the outside world. When he turns the opposite direction, survival mode kicks in. Thankfully, her 18th century home has a secret cubby hole that can act as their safe room, but once there, the trio is trapped. With no hope of help, and two terrified children to keep quiet, has she saved them or ensured they won't get out alive?

This book should have kept me up at night filled with anxiety about home invasion with no escape. Due to poor execution, however, it did no such thing.

What the synopsis doesn't tell you is that, after the initial chapters when the stranger is in the house, the book devolves into the "unreliable female narrator" trope. Was it real? Did she imagine it? Where is her husband? Is she abusive to her children? That does not create a nail-biting story of fear. Neither does alternating time lines in the chapters. The mother is trying to comfort her children while they can all hear the man searching the house for them and trying to lure them out, and, suddenly, we've crash landed into different periods in the mother's life. I'm not even sure why we needed some of the back story other than to give reasons as to why the woman's mind, or memory, could be tainted. Whatever the reason, it was unwelcome to be so often snatched out of what should have been an intense atmosphere. It would have been better had the reader been able to be completely immersed in the threat of the home invasion, and the back stories could have been sprinkled throughout the chapters that came afterward.

Near the end of the book, maybe 70-75% in, things did improve, but it was too late for me by then. I read to the end, which was satisfying, but I just didn't get what I was hoping for here.

I received a copy of Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra from NetGalley and have chosen to give this objective review.

This is a gripping, tense, heart pounding read that will keep you on the edge of your seat. The story's nightmare scenarios evoke intense anxiety (no, seriously.. as a mom, I had to put it down a few times.) However, I will say, some of the flashback moments felt a bit slow, but the overall tale of survival and a mother at her breaking point is engaging and compelling.

In a reading slump? This book is what you need! From the very first line, it grabs you and pulls you into this terrified mother's world. I absolutely could not put this one down or stop thinking about it during the few occasions I had to. There were a few times when I KNEW, just KNEW that this was going to go in a direction that was going to make me change my five star review to three because of the terrible ending. But nope! I was surprised and satisfied in a way that's pretty rare for someone who reads as many thrillers as I do. Stop reading stuff about this book to avoid any potential spoilers and just go get it now!

This is one of the scariest books I have ever read! Wow talk about keep the lights on. Well paced and read in less than a day. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher!

I was expecting a "Panic Room" type thriller but this book was so much more! This was an amazing debut and I look forward to more from this author

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Viking for the eARC.

AHHH. This is creepy. This is a hard read, it never lets go. I was so anxious throughout the read, especially as a mom myself. I do not know how I would handle such a situation. I will not reveal plot points, but pick this one up for sure!!!

Completely terrifying book from start to finish. I could not put it down. I will be recommending to those who love thrillers.

Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra was a tense and gripping thriller combined with psychological suspense. I was drawn to the plot of a mother trapped in her house with her two children and an intruder during a blizzard. It sounded like all the ingredients to create a taut thriller, and I was not disappointed.

The first third of the book was scarier than I expected. The author had a way of drawing out the suspense to create intense scenes as she hid with her children. I was relieved when that part ended, but there was still tension about what really happened that night - and whether there really was a home invasion at all! I grew angry at how our protagonist was treated by some of the investigators, who dismissed much of what she was saying. The theme of women not being believed is all too familiar these days.

Although the pacing slowed down after the initial home invasion scenes, the plot was compelling all the way until its satisfying conclusion. I look forward to reading more from this author.

I will recommend this to readers who like thrilling psychological suspense.

Thank you to Penguin Group Viking and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

My thanks to Penguin Group, Tracy Sierra and Netgalley.
Well, I was unable to finish this book. I managed to read to 20% then I had to quit.
So, it turns out that maybe home invasions are a strange trigger for me. I've never experienced a home invasion, but?
I suppose I should have known. I have guns "yes, I'm a lib. Democrat" but I like feeling safe. I have guns and also hunting knives hidden around each room of the house. I always have, since my 20's.
This book reminded me of why I do that.
I'm still going to rate this book at 4 stars. Why? Well, I'll tell ya'! It was effective enough to scare the ever loving crap outta me!
Many people have enjoyed this book, so please read their review's.

Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra was a page turning suspenseful debut!!

Nightwatching is story of a woman, along with her 2 kids stuck in an isolated house during a blizzard. She goes to check on her son when she notices a shadow coming up the stairs and quickly realizes a man is in her home. She quickly moves to hide her kids in a small room hidden in her home begging her kids to be quiet.

The story goes between the past of when she met and married her husband to her future being home alone with her kids and her husband passed away. Her in-laws did not like her and they were not quiet about it.

The book was good, the only thing that got me was no one had names. I was so angry with the cops and how quick they were to dismiss her side of the story or make her seem she was crazy. Then it kinda makes you question did everything she say happen or is she mourning her husband’s death or both?? Fight or flight it makes you question what would you do if this happened to you?? It was a brilliant debut novel and I enjoyed it. Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Viking-Pamela Dorman Book for letting me read this ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts and opinions.

Run, Hide, Fight. That’s what we are taught to do when faced with an active threat. Running get’s us away from the situation immediately, but what happens if our first response is to freeze? We may lose our chance to run and be forced to move to our next option…hide.

In Tracy Sierra’s debut novel, Nightwatching, a woman and her children are forced into hiding when an intruder enters their home and won’t leave.

The premise of this book made me instantly grab a copy, and the opening chapter sent chills down my spine. A woman is home with her two children, who are asleep in their beds. When she hears a creak on the stairs, she knows exactly what might have caused it. It’s an old house, but a mother knows every creak and sound their house makes. This is the sound of someone walking up the stairs. She freezes in the shadows and sees the shape of someone. The person doesn’t see her, and the woman is frozen in place. The person moves away from her, but the woman is panicked—what should she do?

The book chronicles the story of the intruder and the woman and her children hiding in the house. The characters are never named, which can be frustrating for a reader, though in this case the author handled it in a way where the story never felt awkward because of the lack of names. In part, that was because the book has very little dialogue and it doesn’t alternate perspectives.

In between the present timeline are a series of flashbacks from the woman’s life. These don’t go in any chronological order, and they are used more as character development than because of any direct tie to what is happening. They tie to the overall message of the story, which made them not entirely superfluous.

What I liked

The present storyline of this story was tense. The woman and her children must stay completely silent after they hide (nod to A Quiet Place which showcases the terror that comes with being forced to stay absolutely silent in order to keep safe). The intruder is unlikely to find the hidden space they are in, but soon after the book begins it becomes clear he has no intention of leaving. Outside it is a blizzard, so no one will be coming to their house for days. The woman’s husband is not home, and eventually we find out more about him.

By less than halfway through the book, the main intruder part of the story is resolved. The woman and children are free, but a bigger storyline emerges. The police can’t find evidence of the break in, and that led to a lot of questions about what happened that night, how the woman got into the state she was in, and why the kids were hidden behind the wall. From here the story comes together as you realize that so many parts of the woman’s life have led her to feel she is the one at fault in so many situations that weren’t her fault. This theme is repeated over and over through the flashbacks, and in her thoughts in the present time.

The way Sierra explores the psychological impact on women of not being believed time and again was the best part of the book for me. Many of these seemed small in isolation. She told her husband that someone had done something inappropriate. But he didn’t see it himself so he doesn’t believe her. Or maybe he partially believes her but thinks she is blowing it out of proportion. Stories like these happen to women all the time. In isolation they can be brushed aside, but as Sierra shows—they compound over time. They continue to subtly reinforce self-doubt and that compounds over time until the woman can’t easily distinguish her perception from reality. After finishing the book, this message was powerful.

What didn’t work

Going in, I expected this book to fall somewhere between thriller and horror, and overall that is what we got. However, it wasn’t the pulse-pounding book start to finish that I expected. The chapters alternate between the present and various flashbacks to the woman’s life before the night of the intruder. The chapters in the present timeline are tense, heart-pounding chapters. However, the tension is stalled when the book moves back to the past, losing momentum. By the end those moments from her life make sense and contribute to what is happening in the back half of the book, but while reading it I often lost focus or engagement.

The other thing that didn’t work for me I’m struggling with putting into words. The woman isn’t named, and this does serve a larger purpose of her standing in for many women who experience many of the things she does in life (though hopefully not the intruder). At the same time, it made it hard to connect with the characters. It felt like someone was telling the story to me, and not the woman herself. It added a veil between me and the story that made me feel less invested in the outcome. It also added a meandering feel to the way the story unfolds that made it hard to follow. The woman’s narration of the story is interrupted by her intrusive thoughts, and it was hard to differentiate when that was happening. I often had to go back a few paragraphs to figure out what was happening.

Final Thoughts

The message and themes in this book are important ones, and the book deserves recognition for those alone. I was glad that the story moved past the night of the home invasion, because by about 30% I was ready to see forward movement in the story, and we got that. The flashbacks distract from the tension during the first half. However, they become important to events that happen in the second half, which makes them necessary to the story. Unlike many books where the reveal of the person behind the invasion is a twist, the identity of the intruder is known early on. The suspense lies in whether the woman can convince the police that he exists, rather than who he is. The overall impact of the book is effective, and the final few chapters provide answers to some things in the book that were needed for it to feel complete.

An intricate, chilling story that will resonate with many readers!

WOW. So gripping and binge-worthy, and the ultimate edge of your seat kind of thriller. This is so so much more than just a thriller and the meaning of the story really resonated with me. It was so infuriating how no one believed our female main character and it honestly broke my heart how men throughout her life made her question herself.

I wasn’t as interested in the flashback chapters (and there were a ton of them), but they were necessary to the story. Keep in mind this isn’t a twisty thriller at all, but more of a psychological suspense thriller.

Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC!

This started out creepy and I was wondering if I’d be able to read it when home alone or if I’d have to wait for my husband to be home. Then it morphed into me questioning the main character and it continued to be a wild ride from there. Didn’t want to put it down because I had to know what was going on!

A woman who is home alone with her two children wakes up and realizes there is an intruder in their home. She quickly gets them to a hidden room in their house and then does what it takes to protect herself and them.

I tried a couple different times to get into this book, but I just couldn't get used to the writing style or connect with the characters. None of the characters have names and the intense action of the intruder was often mixed in with flashbacks from the mother's past. The book was very suspenseful in parts and the ending is good, but overall, it just wasn't for me. 3.5 stars

I received a copy of this ebook from Penguin Group/Viking and Pamela Dorman Books, but my review is voluntary and unbiased.

Nightwatching was an easy five-star read for me. It had all the elements I'm looking for in a thriller - atmospheric, tense, and completely bingeable. I don't think a book has ever evoked so many emotions and feelings for me while reading before. In some moments I felt claustrophobic, while in others I was holding my breath and feeling my heart pounding as my anxiety was rising. This was an eerie and realistic story that I would recommend going into blind. Nightwatching will be one I will be thinking about for a very long time. Impressive debut by Tracy Sierra, an author you should definitely look out for!

Thank you to the publisher for providing an ARC via NetGalley!

Home alone with her young children during a blizzard, a mother tucks her son back into bed in the middle of the night. She hears a noise—old houses are always making some kind of noise. But this sound is disturbingly familiar: it’s the tread of footsteps, unusually heavy and slow, coming up the stairs.

This might be the scariest book I've ever read!! Wow- this had great writing, especially for a debut. There's themes of motherhood, loss, and regret. I loved that it jumped right into the action and had me thinking about what would I do. I highly recommend this and can't wait for more by the author!