I NEED EVERYONE TO READ THIS BOOK!!!

Like many reviewers here, I was lured by the premise of a home invasion. Definitely sounded like my kind of thriller to sink into. What I got was so much more. I can't even begin to describe what an incredible read and rollercoaster of emotions this was (but I'm gonna try anyway because Nightwatching deserves all the stars and spotlight).

This was a gripping, pulse-pounding and extremely well-written book that hooked me right from the first sentence. Every moment was filled with tension and a sense of foreboding. It wasn't long before I found myself not wanting to put it down.

Interestingly, none of the characters are ever named. But instead of making me feel detached, this unconventionality made the story all the more impactful and the cast all the more memorable for me. Especially when you consider how this could happen to anyone anywhere...

What got to me most, however, was the masterful social commentary which I believe all women will be able to relate to. The author seriously nailed it because so much of the protagonist's thoughts, feelings and experiences mirror my own perfectly. I was left shocked, shaken, speechless and seen all at once.

I stayed up late up late to finish this novel and it was absolutely worth it. What an unforgettable gem and I will not stop recommending it to everyone, especially all the women I know. Writing this review is making me bursting with emotion more than ever.

Wow. I was so stressed reading this book. For those who watched Unbelievable or American Nightmare on Netflix, this one is for you. A mother sees an intruder in her house and is forced to hide with her children. She needs creative ways to keep them quiet and safe. She racks her brain trying to figure out if this man is someone they know or a complete stranger. Her husband isn’t there to help. This was absolutely heart pounding and scary. I may never sleep peacefully again from the first half alone.

I wasn't certain I could stay involved in a whole book about someone hiding with her children in her own house, but I certainly did! I could feel her terror, was tense along with her, and personally felt her frustration with people who did not believe her. She was a completely believable vulnerable victim and mother. Highly recommend. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc and no pressure for a positive review.

This was my first book by this author. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised. Her writing was very similar to other authors I normally read and I look forward to reading more of her books. The story itself was very gripping and kept me wanting to keep reading. I had a hard time putting the book down.

Wow, this one started off with a bang and kept it going til the end. Tense and suspenseful and twists I didn’t see coming. I will be keeping an eye out for more from this author. Thanks to NetGalley for the privilege to read and review this book.

Arc from netgalley.

This book was really good. I was interested the entire time, there were no slow parts.
Thrilling, horrifying, parts were sad, I wanted to scream for the main character
4/5 stars

Don't misunderstand me marking this book as DNF: I only stopped reading around 60% of the way through because the content became triggering for me, and I felt it was safer to stop. But the book itself is wonderful and I felt I owed it a review for those will not be bothered by what bothered me.

This is the strongest debut I've read in a long, long time. Every sentence was pitch-perfect, the pacing was great, the tension had the perfect balance. For the chunk of the book that I read, the chapters alternated between the real-time home invasion and flashbacks of the main character's life. I held my breath almost the entire time I would read a chapter of the break-in, and then felt just slightly relieved during a flashback. Not that the flashbacks were any happier or more pleasant—but they provided a break from the urgency. I think in a book this intense, the flashbacks were exactly what it needed to keep the pacing steady.

One thing I was not expecting from this book was for it to be, for lack of a better expression, an "issue book." Plenty of topics are addressed here, mainly through the flashbacks: misogyny, sexism, abuse, sexual violence. They were all handled with care, while still being just as blunt yet subtle as it can be in real life.

I've recommended this book to everyone at my library that I can.

Personally, however, I needed to stop reading about 60% of the way through for my mental health. Around that point in the plot, there are elements of <spoiler>forced institutionalization, gaslighting/not believing someone, separation from family, and other things along that line</spoiler>, which unfortunately are incredibly triggering for me. Every once in a while I am able to power through, but this book is written so well and draws out tension so heavily, that it was a little unbearable. This is nothing against the book, however: I believe most people will love it, particularly because of how real it is.

Eventually, I plan to skim till the end to discover how it ends, because although I can't bear it, I do want to find out the truth!

All in all, this is a tense thriller with relevant themes, and I think it will appeal to readers of literary thrillers.

ARC received on NetGalley through the publisher. Thank you!

This was a rollercoaster of a ride. A thriller and a nightmare all rolled into one. The book did start out a bit slow for me personally - but when the questioning of the incident in general started ramping up and what actually happened and did the main character really remember things correctly it started to becomes more of a cat and mouse game and kept me guessing about what might have actually happened.

Nightwatching is not only a riveting, terrifying thriller; it's also a an astute observation and denunciation of what it's like to be a woman in a man's world. The honest portrayal of motherhood and marriage will rip your heart to shreds.

Talk about SCARY!! This book was amazing!

I listened to the audiobook and Emily Ellet made this story come to life! She nailed all of the characters, and had me so creeped out. Ellet had me feeling all of the mother and children's emotions the entire book.

Now onto the book - WOW! There was so much tension and suspense. I could've done without the past timeline as I felt it slowed the suspense down slightly. But holy moly this was so good. I read a lot of thrillers and suspense books, and I'm not any have evoked the emotions I felt while listening to this one.

I wasn't sure who or what to believe, but it all came together so well at the end. It was definitely not expected and wrapped the story up nicely. This was definitely a book that I couldn't stop listening to.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Viking - Pamela Dorman Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

**Many thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Viking - Pamela Dorman Books, and Tracy Sierra for an ARC of this book!**

As a parent, there's NOTHING more frightening than the possibility of something bad happening to your child....but what if the ominous presence only appeared at night, under cover of darkness...and couldn't even be SEEN? How can you protect your children if you aren't even sure WHO the enemy is....or exactly WHY they are lurking in the corner?

Such is the terrifying predicament the mother in this book experiences one snowy night. Sure, it's an old house...but those sounds aren't normal...and she can't afford to take ANY chances. With the harrowing blizzard raging outside, she makes the snap decision to hide her two children in a secret space behind the wall, desperate to keep them safe at all costs. She warns them not to make a single sound, as the Corner (the name she gives this terrifying entity) taunts them from down below. Can she manage to conquer this enemy without putting herself and her children in even GREATER danger? Could her evil father-in-law be behind all of this terror? Or is there a good REASON the security cameras didn't get a glimpse or this perpetrator, and that there are no footprints in the snow the next day... other than her own?

After some rave early reviews from trusted reviewer friends, I have to admit I could not resist the pull of this book, particularly since psychological thrillers are my absolute favorite kind of thriller, and I haven't read one that felt compelling and unputdownable in QUITE a while. But I have to say that when it came to this read....for the first 40% or so, it was a bit TOO easy for me to put it down...and I ALMOST put it down permanently.

The beginning of the book thrusts you immediately into the tense scenario with mother, child, and unknown perp, and I'll be honest: it was a bit jarring in terms of presentation. I found the author's writing a bit clipped, the dialogue from the perp a bit...odd, to say the least, and it felt like the opening events were not so much frightening as just a matter of course. This might sound strange to say, but for me, the tension felt lacking and I kept waiting for it to pick up....and for the plot to start to GO somewhere. All that being said...there is a REASON the beginning of the book is written like this, and I feel going back into it a second time, none of this would feel as bizarre and discordant as it did the first time...but at the same time, I don't feel like this is the type of read that would benefit from a revisit, because going into it knowing the twists would pretty much take all of the air out of the tires.

So thankfully, at about the midpoint, this book started morphing into something that is much more my speed: your standard "are they or aren't they an unreliable narrator" tale. Where I don't necessarily feel like the author tread too much in terms of new ground here, I DID finally feel like I had a reason to dig my heels in and keep reading. The narrator's backstory slowly becomes more and more relevant, and the book finds the much-needed emotional foothold that felt lacking during its frenzied, scattered beginning. It was a relief to feel invested in the mystery and in the main character in general, and the author cleverly weaves in some social commentary about misogyny, abuse, and the tendency of men to paint women as 'crazy' unless evidence is all but shoved in their faces. I found the ending a bit lackluster and 'safe' in terms of storytelling, but at the same time, it was certainly serviceable.

Though I don't feel as though this debut particularly covered any new ground in the space or made me think or feel as much as I would have liked, there was enough palpable tension to keep me invested enough to finish and Sierra certainly has the writing chops to make a name for herself in the space in the future. And if there's anything I can attribute to Sierra after finishing this one?

I had REM's "Nightswimming" (or in this case, "Nightwatching") stuck in my head for DAYS afterward.

(But whether that would be a blessing or a curse in YOUR mind is anyone's guess!)

4 stars, rounded up from 3.5

This book was such a wild ride! Down every "corner" (this will make sense to those who've read it ha!) is another twist and turn that kept me on my toes. I also loved how the book interweaves feminism into the narrative, letting readers experience the frustrations of womanhood firsthand (oh, what a thing, to never be believed by anyone about anything...). I would definitely recommend this book to readers who feel like spiking their anxiety and/or enjoy a tense read that stays with you long after you've closed the book.

Well Nightwatching sure will get your heart rate through the roof! Just a few pages in, I was immediately hooked. A mother wakes up in the middle of a terrible storm to comfort her son… when she sees an intruder in her house. He’s after her daughter, and he’s made it clear he will kill her to get what he wants. What she does next is crucial if she and her kids are going to survive.

It was fast-paced, and absolutely gripping. I loved how the writing shared her thoughts, because it was so relatable, and sucks you into the moment. I liked the writing style, how the author italicized the protagonist’s thoughts/inner-monologue. I also liked how nobody needed names. Those weren’t important.

As a reader, I pride myself on predicting endings… I had ZERO predictions when it came to Nightwatching. I wasn’t sure what was real and what wasn’t and who you could trust. I absolutely loved that.

As a mother of 3, this was absolutely chilling and I give it two thumbs up!

NIGHTWATCHING
Tracy Sierra

I listened to the audiobook for NIGHTWATCHING twice from start to finish, sure I had missed something. I had so many questions. More questions than answers.

Here is what I do know…

Once upon a time, there was a woman who lived at home alone with her two children. Her days were spent taking care of them and keeping them safe. Then one night while the woman and her children were asleep a stranger crept into their house.

This causes the woman and her children to retreat to a secret room hidden from the stranger. They listen from the hidden room as the stranger talks to them through the walls. The woman and her children are scared and horrified by the stranger. They have no idea what he wants, no idea who he is, and no idea how this terrible night will end.

Will they survive the night? Or will the strangers’ voice be the last that they ever hear? Only time and NIGHTWATCHING by Tracy Sierra will tell.


Most of my reading journal notes are questions instead of statements. I asked myself:

Is he going to use that voice the entire time?

Where is Grandma?

Is this scary or ridiculous?

Is any of this real?

Am I enjoying any of this?

At least I knew the answer to that.

Ten minutes in I was already tuning out one of the characters’ voices. This was not good because they talked- a lot. And I was sure the key to unlocking the mystery was to listen to this grating voice carefully and that was correct. It was not only how they were saying the words, but it was also the words themselves that were a problem.

I think there is a fine line between making unlikeable characters and making characters unlikeable. This book crossed that line. You never want to be in a situation while reading a thriller where you wish the main character death because you need them to stop talking.

That was the situation here.

2.5 rounded up to three stars. NIGHTWATCHING has a basic storyline, and the worst characters, and the audiobook is an unenjoyable reading experience.

Thanks to Netgalley, PENGUIN GROUP Viking, Penguin Random House Audio, and Pamela Dorman Books for the advanced copy!

NIGHTWATCHING…⭐⭐⭐

“Easier to believe a woman’s lying than that bad things happened on your watch. Easier to believe the simplest thing is always correct. And it’s simple to say a woman is crazy.”

“Is there anyone who thinks they’re evil? Or does evil always see itself as superior?” #MakesYouThink

This book is a pulse pounding thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat! It delves into the vulnerabilities of a mother, a mother’s worst fears, and the absolutely terrifying prospect of having a stranger in your house. Just imagine waking up to a floorboard creaking in your house knowing that everyone is in bed asleep. 🥴🫣 Ughh the creep factor is REAL with this one.

The writing is exceptional in that it had me questioning the reliability of the narrator, the truth behind her stories, and just how mentally stable she is or is not. Throw in a historic old New England house and you have got yourself one wild ride!

Thank you to Netgalley, Pamela Dorman Books, and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

i couldn't sleep last night, so obviously I had to start a new book and of course I picked one off my netgalley at random and ended up absolutely riveted by this home invasion thriller. I literally could not stop reading because I HAD to know what happened!

The premise is a mother is home alone with her two kids (ages 8 & 5) in their 300 year old house during a blizzard. She's sleepily making her way back to her bed after comforting her 5 year old when she hears what sounds like a person on the stairs...she freezes when she realizes it's a large man. Quickly, she gets her kids and hides in a secret room under the stairs trying to keep everyone quiet while coming up with a plan for survival.

I was snug in bed with my snoring husband and warm puppy and yet I was terrified reading Nightwatching! My nerves were on end as I tried to envision what I'd do in such a situation. I relaxed a little when the mother escapes to a neighbor's house but of course that's only the beginning of the nightmare. What follows involves gaslighting galore, incompetent police and one mother's struggle to be believed.

If you enjoy being emotionally wrecked by books and want something that will enthrall you and immerse you in the story this is the book for you! I cannot believe this is a debut novel!

If you really want to freak yourself out read Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra and then read Anybody Home? by Michael J Seidlinger and be prepared to never want to be home alone again.

Nightwatching came out this past Tuesday and I'm already putting it in my best of 2024 list.

long story about a stranger entering a family's house with evil intent. the wife is the only one who believes that there is someone in her house. in the middle of the night she gathers her two small children and hid in the secret section of their old house. running to the closest neighbors only brings the unbelieving police and a hospital stay. her always angry father-in-law is watching over these children as the husband has died a tragic death. somehow there is actually a stranger/stalker that is caught.

This book had potential to be a 5 star book but it dragged on a little too much for me. This book would be a really great movie though!

Home alone with her young children during a blizzard, a mother hears footsteps on the stairs in the middle of the night. She gets out of bed and sees the figure of a man appear down the hallway, shrouded in the shadows. Terrified, she quietly wakes her children and hustles them into the oldest part of the house, a tiny, secret room concealed behind a wall. There they hide as the man searches for them, trying to tempt the children out with promises and scare the mother into surrender. In the suffocating darkness, the mother struggles to remain calm, to plan. Should she search for a weapon or attempt escape? But then she catches another glimpse of him. That face. That voice. And at once she knows her situation is even more dire than she’d feared, because she knows exactly who he is—and what he wants

I thought the premise sounded good, but unfortunately, this book just wasn't for me. The first half moved so slow. Then the second half just got weird, and you weren't sure if she was an unreliable narrator, or what was real and what wasn't. Also, the main character called the intruder "the corner" and kept calling him that throughout the entire book, and I just found that a little strange. Overall, this isn't one that I would recommend, although a lot of others seem to have enjoyed it.

Really well done and immersive! Literally had me on the edge of my seat, and definitely had me more than a little scared at times! After becoming a mother myself I am more emotionally impacted by novels that include children.