This book depicts every parent's nightmare. A noise in the night as a mother is settling her son down. Not the usual pipes or house resting noise, more a footsteps kind of noise. Hidden in the darkness, she watches as the figure of a man emerges from the dark on the stairs. She quickly wakes her children up and rushes them down the back staircase, away from the intruder, where she hides them all away in a secret room in the old part of the house. They are frightened but, once she has calmed her son and daughter, she starts to take stock and assess the situation. He husband is away and not due back for a while, there is no school due to the weather, so no one will miss them for a while. They will have to wait it out. The man is obviously a burglar and will leave as soon as he gets what he wants. Until, a small chink in the wall lights him up and she glimpses his face and realises that they are in more danger than she thought...
This book was a little strange for me. Mainly cos the characters are never named. What's that all about them? Gimmick or is there a reason. Either way, it got a wee bit annoying along the way and also, I think, may have contributed to the fact that I failed to fully connect to the characters. Which I also believe marred my overall enjoyment of the book.
It is high tension, scary. But also a wee bit eye-rolly. There are parts that left me squirming and other where I just couldn't accept what happened. May be a me thing, not being blessed with children, who am I to say what would drive a mother. I actually think I enjoyed the mother's reminiscences from her past more than what was going on in the present, truth be told.
And then the ending, when it came, was more definitely well worth any bumps on the journey leading up to it... Whew! Kinda wanted to go back and re-read...
Anyway, notwithstanding my already mentioned niggles, this is a pretty decent read, and a debut to boot! Leaving me wondering where the author will take me for her second outing. Cos, yeah, I'll definitely be up for that! My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I really enjoyed the novel. The start was so creepy and quite scary but I was gripped. I’m afraid the middle section felt a little over long and I started to skim read a bit but wow the ending made up for it. Overall a great read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me access to an early copy of this book

It took me a week to get through the opening chapters of this book because it absolutely terrified me. Sierra has taken one of the biggest fears I , and millions of other people have, and based this , her debut novel around it.

A mother hears a noise in the middle of the night. She is home alone with her two sleeping children. A storm rages outside and there is nobody else around apart from the man she can hear walking up the stairs.........

ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING. I read in bed at night. I could only manage a couple of pages of this at night for the first section of the book. Sierra captures the terror with great realness and honestly, it effected my ability to fall asleep.

As the book progresses, we learn about the mother, the unnamed protagonist through flashbacks. While this was easier to read, the pace dropped away after the shocking beginning and the pacing continued to be a little uneven throughout. I found the differing timelines broke the building tension and while this was welcome at times , I don't think it worked as well as it could have done.

Overall this was a decent read, I liked the writing and the atmospheric settings created but it was just too dark for me in parts. I would read more from this author especially if the plot didn't revolve around a fear I have had for as long as I can remember!

The uneven pacing brought this from a 4 to 3 star read to me but a solid debut and I think this book will enjoy huge success.

This book was absolutely amazing i binged it in 24hours !
It did a great job of making me instantly attached to the mum while learning about her marriage and her relationships within her life and I felt so much compassion towards her yet I felt conflicted and confused about what was really happening who or what was truly trying to get them if anything? Was it really her or was it her husband was he cheating or was it her father in law I truly didn’t have a clue if it was even really happening
Eventually my heart was pounding and everything comes together. I really enjoyed this definitely a 4.5

Nightwatching has one of the tensest openings I've read in a long time - and that tension does not let up!

Our protagonist wakes up one night and hears someone in her house. She knows it can't be her husband but her two kids are both asleep, and she instantly feels on edge. It soon becomes apparent that someone is indeed there - and the terror begins…

I don't want to give too much away as I think this novel is best if you go into it knowing very little, like I did. If home invasion plots terrify you, this isn't for you! Tracy Sierra creates such a creeping sense of dread, turning what initially feels like a classic fast-paced, addictive thriller into something more… something much more terrifying.

Nightwatching made me feel so many feelings other than the usual excited, "what will happen next?" feeling that thrillers tend to have. I felt claustrophobic, on edge, anxious, and SO frustrated and angry on behalf of our main character! And the fact that even the narrator herself starts to doubt her sanity makes you wonder if we can truly believe her either - as others around her also start to doubt…

Set aside some time to truly lose yourself in this book. It's a story that feelings worrying like it could happen to any of us, and I suppose that's exactly what makes it that extra bit more terrifying. I'd recommend Nightwaching for anyone looking for an addictive novel filled with suspense - and let's face it, a significant dose of stress!

Oh my! What did I just read! Tracy (Author) is going to be someone I'll be watching out for in the future as she's wrote something really good here. Yes this is a thriller, more on the psychological side but the attention to detail and how this book actually brought emotions/feelings out in me. I'll be honest, not many books scare me - I'm a bit hardened like that. But to make me feel on edge, anxious even? Now that shows an author with talent.

I read Nightwatching over a few days, not because I wanted to put it down... Namely life happens. But there was that consuming feelings that made me want to pick it up, even when I've only a few minutes to spare!

Being a Mum myself, I can think of times when I've been alone with my children (I divorced years ago and most the time it was just me and the kids) and thought someone was in my house. Yes I was wrong, you know how your mind likes to play tricks on you. But that utter fear? It's really hard to describe and the things you would do for your children, maybe harder. Yet Tracy spins this story on 'acid'! Twists and turns, this is one book I am wholly recommending! 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin General UK for this ARC in exchange of an honest review.

This is the stuff of nightmares right here. The book description already sounded frightening and like something I really wanted to read. But also, I’m a chicken, and it sounded frightening, and maybe it wasn’t something I wanted to read? In the end, I decided to go for it and read between my fingers if I had to 😉.

The event : There’s an intruder in your house.
The question : What do you do? Run? Hide? Fight?

Probably option four, which is surely just stand there like a deer in headlights.

The mother in this story remains unnamed. After all, this could happen to all of us, right? Yet, as the reader, I found myself questioning her actions. Like others did before. Her husband, her father-in-law. Seemingly innocent questions like “What did you do? Why did you say something like that?” The men don't come out looking particularly good. However, as the mother tells her story, doubt crept in with myself as the reader as well.

I found the first half of ‘Nightwatching’ a bit hard going. Obviously, there’s a high level of tension with this intruder lurking around the house. However, the glimpses into the mother’s past broke up the moments of sheer terror, which I found rather annoying. At the same time, these flashbacks turned out to be far more necessary than I had imagined. I also had a few niggles, but funnily enough they were all addressed by other characters at some point.

Halfway through though, I was suddenly pulled in so fiercely that my full mug of tea went ice cold before I even remembered it was right there on my coffee table. The action ramped up a notch. And still the questions kept coming. Is the unnamed mother a reliable narrator? Is she crazy? Paranoid? Seeing things that aren't there? What is she doing? What is going ON?!

'Nightwatching' most definitely tells a very tense and compelling story. At times, it's a nail-biter for sure. But I also expected it to be more scary than it actually was. And this is coming from a scaredy cat. That said, there is a bit more to 'Nightwatching' than that. It's about a woman needing to find her inner strength to stand up against the patronising and undermining men in her life. It's a cleverly crafted thriller, and it all plays out in a creepy, and very snowy, setting.

An impressive debut from Tracy Sierra and she's definitely an author to watch.

Nightwatching starts off with a bang! High octane tension, with the old house surrounding the woman and her two children in the middle of the night. The mother was up to her son and heard noises - other than old house noises - the sound of footsteps coming their way. She weighed their options and as soon as the intruder moved away from where she was, she picked up her son, quietly woke her daughter and they fled to the old part of the house where a secret room was, off her husband's office. They'd be safe in there wouldn't they?

This tension immediately tapered off, with flashbacks to the mother's past - which went on and on. The flashbacks intruded on my ability to remain focused on the tension surrounding the mother and her children, trapped in a small, dark room, not knowing what was happening in the rest of the house. Outside the house was blizzard conditions, with the temperature at freezing; the snow and ice battering the house and the chance of escape - with the three of them in their night clothes - minimal. So how will this stand off end? Will the mother's fragile nerves crack? Will she give up her children to this monster? Will they escape?

Nightwatching is my first by Tracy Sierra and with none of the characters named, it was extremely disappointing and off-putting. The fluctuation of tension was frustrating as well, as I waded through the reminiscing until I once again found myself with the mother in current time. There was also some repetition which was annoying. Not my favourite book of the year so far, unfortunately.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, wow, wow, what a debut novel. This is one that will have you completely engrossed, sitting on the edge of your seat, and biting your fingernails. If you dare read it at night you may lie awake for a while.

A mother and her two young children are home alone, a blizzard is blowing outside, it’s a long weekend, and it’s in the Covid times. Just as the mother has settled her young son back to bed after he had a nightmare, she hears a creak in the stairs. She freezes, knowing every single noise this old house makes. She stands frozen watching, she can see a shadow of a man, a very tall man. Despite it being dark there is night light lit low down behind the figure, she daren’t move because she doesn’t think he can see her. When he moves away in a different direction, she has to make a quick decision on what to do. How can she protect her son and daughter from this intruder, her phone is in her bedroom, the direction he has gone. There is one place they can hide if she can get her children there, but what does she do once they are there, how long will the intruder be there.

This is a very tense read at times, keeping you completely engaged, but even with that happening the author manages to seamlessly take the reader back and forth in time as you learn more about the mother, her family and growing up, as well as her husband and his family, then switching back to the intruder.

I would highly recommend this book, but if you do scare easily do not start at night. The story is told through the mother, everything she feels you feel, it is literally like you are there with her at times. The characters are all relatable and believable. This is an outstanding debut from an author I will certainly be watching out for.

Thank you to @netgalley and @VikingBooksUK for an ebook and ARC of this novel all thoughts and opinions are my own and have not been influenced in any way.

This book did not really grab me even though I love the psychological thriller genre. It seemed a bit lacking in content. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read it though.

This book was a very tense and gripping story.
A blizzard outside and a mother at home with her 2 young children. She can hear the creaking of the stairs, is there someone in their home? A mother’s worst nightmare, wanting to protect her children from a sinister intruder.
A chilling and suspenseful read and very creepy. I was hooked to this story.
Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

As soon as I read this synopsis, I knew that this was a book that I wanted to read as it follows a parent's worst nightmare. What would you do if you knew a stranger was in your house? Which child would you go to first? How would you get them to keep calm?

But then I saw a few of my followers post negative reviews, a few even DNFd, and this put a real dampener on my reading experience. I was no longer excited about it, and I spent the first part feeling cautious that my intrigue wouldn't last for long. But fortunately, my concerns were all very quickly diminished. The start of this book is very tense and it most definitely had my attention.

Up until the 30% mark, I wasn't sure where the story was going, and maybe that's where my fellow readers gave up early. But the story quickly gets to the point after that, as a few seemingly irrelevant scenes start to show their purpose as everything comes together to unravel a multi-layered story of fear and injustice.

By the end, I loved the angle of having a woman at the centre of a crime and the police dubious of her account of what happened. It's very similar to the recent American Nightmare on Netflix that many of us are loving at the minute. So if you like a true-crime type of story that looks at how the police handle certain situations and what has to happen for people (often women) to be taken seriously, then you're sure to enjoy the fast-paced twists in this one.

The only thing I didn't like was the use of the main character's vitiligo. As someone who has had this skin condition (90% of mine luckily cleared up), I didn't see the point in it being included, as nothing more was said about it other than people thinking that she was infected or irregular. It wasn't particularly offensive, just unnecessary without something more meaningful coming out of it. But that's a personal opinion that I'm sure most won't pick up on.

I initially rated this four stars because my apprehension definitely ruined the book for me slightly, but I've had a few days to think about it and I know that I would have rated this higher if I'd gone in with a more positive mindset, so I implore others to look forward this one too, as I'm sure you'll be impressed!

This psychological thriller is set in a creepy house at night in dangerous weather conditions, and a mother and two young children are home alone when someone sinister breaks in. It's atmospheric, claustrophobic and evokes a menacing ethos that immerses you in the woman's life. It's a multi-layered story which also reveals the woman's fractured family life, the abuse, blame and invisibility she endures, and this makes a relatable horror tale. Your empathy is always with the woman, but sometimes, you falter and wonder at the reliability of her narration. It's suspenseful and has a breathtaking intensity that resonates. I like the setting, the twisty plotting and the characterisation.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

I made the mistake of reading this book when I was alone and there was snow outside. It wasn't long before I was petrified. The writing is atmospheric and totally compelling - I was desperate to know that the family was safe - and, at one point, too terrified to continue reading.

Thank you netgalley, Tracy Sierra and Penguin General UK - Fig Tree, Hamish Hamilton, Viking, Penguin Life, Penguin Business, Viking for the arc of Nightwatching.

This is my first book from Tracy Sierra and If you want a book that evokes all sorts of emotions and feelings then this one is for you! Nightwatching is a well paced narrative first person POV of a home evasion ( or a home that's broken in to ) Tracy gets straight into the story and immediately builds the suspense, the dread, the fear of being woken up to a strange noise in the house and seeing a figure in her bedroom doorway. Slowly, this mum of two children, overcomes her fear and gets her children to hide in a secret space while this prowler cajoles and threatens her to come out of hiding. What would you do? Hide? run?

The character building was really good. We get flashbacks into this Mums life, her inner voice and the challenges that she faces during her relationship with her husband and his family. Which all drive her thought processes and how she faces the police investigation after they know she's experienced a home invasion. It's also interesting how the police handle the case. It keeps you wanting to turn the page till the very end.

4 star from me and ill be looking forward to reading more of Tracy Sierra's books

A book you shouldn't read when you're home alone with children! At times it seemed a little slow, but the plot raced by at others. There were various twists which made me question just what had actually happened that night, but at the same time annoyed at the way the police treated the incident. The ending brought everything to a climax well. I do admit to leaving the light on the night I read this book!!

A mother wakes up to the sounds of footsteps in her house. Gathering her children she goes to hide in the walls of her unique house. Who is after her and what do they want?

Nightwatching is a chilling read, I hadn’t really realised how much it was affecting me until someone dropped something in the room next to me whilst I was reading it and I jumped out of my skin! This book creeps up on you, reels you in and keeps you hooked. I really don’t want to give too much away as it really is best to go into the story without knowing anything beforehand.

The writing is superb and even the small details (such as the fact we never get to know the name of the mother or her children) makes for a well-crafted read. There are flashbacks dotted around the main story, where we get to know more about the main character and her life up to this point. This also means that small reveals and twists can be drip-fed to the reader in a nicely paced way. This also means that we feel like we really get to know The Mother and empathise with her, but are often kept on edge, unsure of what the next revelation will be.

Overall Nightwatching is a superbly crafted book – a thrilling debut and I’m excited to read another book by Tracy Sierra – certainly an author to watch! Nightwatching is a Kindig Gem for 2024 and thank you to NetGalley & Penguin – Fig Tree, Hamish Hamilton and Viking for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A psychological thriller, Nightwatching (2024) by Tracey Sierra is an awakening nightmare of a tale. A mother and her two young children are home alone, during a snowstorm. When her son wakes during the night, the mother hears noises but it’s a very old house and puts him back to bed. Yet she senses danger and hears footsteps on the stairs, so rushes to the secret safety room. The man calls out for the children but cannot find them, and an opportunity allows for the mother to escape and run to a neighbour's house. The police arrive and can find no signs of the intruder, questioning the mother and believing she has imagined it. The narrative has many flashbacks to flesh out the family backstory as the unnamed mother spirals into a terrifying and bloody climax. Although there are attempts to ratchet up the tension, the story is more damsel in distress and only an average two and a half stars thriller read rating. With thanks to Penguin General UK and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own, freely given and without inducement.

Nightwatching from Tracey Sierra is one of the most compulsive books I’ve read in years. I had to force myself to stop reading it so many times. It made my stomach clench and my breathing short. In fact it should come with a health warning. I can’t recall a book where none of the characters are named which I found interesting. Nightwatching is all about relationships - a mother’s with her two young children; her absent husband; her abusive father-in-law and her own unreliable parents. When a man invades her home what will the mother do to save her kids? The tension ramps up from the very beginning and as the story unfolds I was seething with the injustice and disbelieving at the disbelief. An extraordinary thriller with a heart. Thanks to Penguin and NetGalley for the eARC.

Whooft! Nightwatching sucks you straight in from the first chapter; like a Shark vacuum sucking in a ball of fluff, you’re swallowed up before you know what’s happening. From a sharp, tense beginning, the pace and tension don’t let up and you find yourself fearful for this woman and her children, who never seem to have been cut a break.

We never know her name. She’s their mother, his wife, his daughter in law, or just ‘her’ if you’re the father in law. Mother to two lovely children and once in a loving marriage, her husband was, in the end, incapable of standing up to his father and so he disappointed both his wife and his father.

Now, in this draughty, ramshackle house she has to risk everything to save her children. In this pulse pounding story we feel the horror of a mother’s anguish as she tries to keep her children from harm. As they huddle together in their hiding place, listening to every noise, having to shush her children even as their fear makes them wet themselves, Tracy Sierra does such a good job of letting us feel what real fear is like.

But Nightwatching is not just a home invasion story; rather it is a story of a marriage and of woman who has to stay strong because no-one ever believes her or takes her side. It is a tale of not being believed, of being suspected and scrutinised and even judged for her failure to give into a bully.

In Nightwatching, we see how the police can convince themselves that their own explanations are the correct ones; there’s no such thing as a reliable woman. But how reliable is our narrator? In the absence of anything concrete in the way of evidence, how much should we believe?

Written in the third person, Tracy Sierra writes an atmospheric, creepy and nerve tingling chiller of a psychological thriller. Focussing in on the agency of women and how easy it is for women to be stripped of any power they may have, Sierra’s descriptive powers lend themselves well to focussing in on a woman at the end of her tether.

It is chilling, frightening and carries the clear ring of lived truth. Nightwatching is a fast paced read and my goodness it cuts a clear path to the top of my thrillers list so far this year.