Nola host a radio talk show, Night Watch, in which callers call in to discuss ghost sitings and other paranormal activity. On this particular night, a caller is reporting a subject is watching her from outside her home. You can feel the tension. What the caller describes is eerily similar to what Nola experienced as a child, when her babysitter was the vicitim of a masked serial killer.  Several young women died at the hands of "The Hiding Man", the case has gone cold, bringing most of the people involved to believe he/she was dead. Nola's father, the previous host of Night Watch, has also announced a new true crime book about The Hiding Man, bringing even more attention. As Nola takes the investigation into her own hands, more victims are discovered with ties to her. I really enjoyed this story, very fast paced, ultra atmospheric, you can smell the Portland rain.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for the ARC

When Nola Strate was a child and her parents were at a Cristmas party, Nola's babysitter was murdered. Nola, saw the man who murdered her, but after she ran and barricaded herself in her parents' bedroom and called 911, the only description she was able to give was that he was dressed in all black and wore a white mask with stitches around the eyes, nose and mouth.. When the police arrived and she went downstairs she saw "I'LL BE WATCHING" written in Mia's blood. Now, fast-forward twenty years, and Nola has tried her best to forget her traumatizing night with The Hiding Man. She installed security cameras outside her Oregon home, and takes every security measure she can to ensure her safety. She stays on high alert at all times, but there have been no new murders reported like the ones The Hiding Man commited. Nola now hosts Night Watch, the show her dad used to host, a popular radio call-in show. When a caller on Night Watch has a live incident with an intruder in the caller's home—the description of whom is chillingly familiar—Nola is convinced that the Hiding Man has resurfaced and is coming for her.. With a mysterious next‑door neighbor lurking in the shadows, additional murders, things going missing, and times when Nola is conviced she has seen The Hiding Man only to have him disappear without a trace, it is frustrating when the police don't seem to be taking it all seriously. Nola decides to become, like her listeners, a Night Watcher herself, and uncover the monster behind The Hiding Man's mask.

Ok, this was creepy! I alternated between reading and listening to this one, and let me tell you, I should not have listened to this right before I went to sleep. An entire night with nightmares fueled by The Hiding Man does not make for a restful sleep! The investigation (when they finally decided to actively start on it) seemed to focus on Nola's dad as the prime suspect and they certainly had me convinced. He seemed shady as all-get-out anyway, so he wasn't doing himself any favors by the way he was acting. The Hiding Man was creepy, and the way he only targeted women who were alone, and he would do things to scare them for days sometimes first to get their nerves completely on edge - things like tapping on the door or their bedroom window, and he always killed by slitting their throat. I loved Nola and wanted her to be the "final girl". If you love a good horror story, then I highly recommend this one!

Daphne Woolsoncroft's debut novel is a banger! This novel had everything I love...a super creepy premise, twists and turns, a fast-moving plot, a spooky atmosphere and characters that I cared about. The addition of the radio show/podcast bumped it up a notch because I love that too. I picked this up to start and could not put it down. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. I knew that Daphne was a skilled storyteller because I've been listening to her podcast for years. She is just as talented in this form! Highly, highly recommend!

This book felt like a chore to get through. The writing was overly remedial, bogged down with excessive clauses that disrupted the flow and made the prose feel clunky. A lot of the content leaned heavily into info-dumping with details piled on that ultimately had little or no relevance to the story.

I struggled to connect with any of the characters in either timeline; they felt flat and underdeveloped, leaving me emotionally disengaged from the narrative. The structure and tone gave the impression of a self-published draft that hadn’t yet gone through the rigorous editing it desperately needed. With sharper pacing, better character development, and a strong editorial hand, this might’ve been salvageable but as it stands, it fell flat.

After 20 years, Nola finds herself once again facing the murder she saw in her home, after they killed her babysitter.

The story started out okay but as Nola continued to make decisions that didn't make much sense, I found myself more and more disappointed.

Nola feels like she’s being watched, again.

She had a traumatic run in with notorious serial killer The Hiding Man when she was a kid and it’s an experience she’s never talked about. Now as an adult, she keeps a low profile in public, a high security system running through her home and hosts a true crime radio show each night. When a guest calls in about being stalked, Nola’s guards go up, and when the stalker enters the caller’s home while they’re live on air, the chilling events that follow confirm Nola’s suspicions that The Hiding Man is back. And no one is safe.

NIGHT WATCHER was an atmospheric thriller and a great switch up from my typical reads. It kept a good pace and I was eager to find out what happened next. I loved that the story was set in the PNW, which felt like the perfect vibe for isolation, foggy and unsafe conditions and crime. Knowing the book had a radio element is what drew me in tbh and it added such a great unsettling bit to the story to make it unique! I could just imagine someone alone in a dark studio late at night and the shenanigans that could down. I was holding my breath over the caller becoming the next victim while live on the air and loved this plot point! The story didn’t have as many twists or surprising elements as I hoped but I felt like the strong setting and other plot points made it an enjoyable read that kept me on my toes.

If you prefer your beach reads to be of the edge-of-your-seat murder variety, then you’ll want to add this one to your list!

Thanks @grandcentralpub @netgalley for the digital ARC. NIGHT WATCHER is out July 8!

This was a DEBUT??? wow! What a thrilling read that had me actually looking over my shoulder while reading. This was an exceptional thriller that kept me on my toes throughout the entire book. I really did not have this one figured out. The big reveal caught me by complete surprise. I love a book where literally everyone is a suspect!

This one is for thriller fans who loved The Whisper Man and Tell Me What You Did while it had a similar vibe it has its own true entity in the thriller genre.

Nola is a young woman who runs a radio show called Night Watch where callers call in to talk about mysterious and sinister encounters. Night Watch was founded by Nola’s dad years ago but as he got older he handed the reigns over to his daughter. One night Nola and her crew get a very frightening call from a listener on Night Watch who seems to be in danger. Chalking it up to a prank call Nola thought it was all a big misunderstanding until women start turning up dead all around Nola. She suddenly feels she has Deja vu from 20 years ago when she had a terrifying encounter with a serial killer. The killer’s MO matches the same chilling details that Nola remembers from her time with a serial killer all those years ago. Can the Hiding Man be back to finish what he started?

Many thanks to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own. This book comes out July 8th RUN to your tbr and add it now!!

While Night Watcher is entertaining enough to keep me reading all day, I felt like the book overall was kinda bland. It wasn't exactly thrilling and I don't know if the author's goal of the book was entirely reached. While it does show the trauma of the victim years later, I don't think it shows the hardships investigators deal with when they're dealing with horrendous crimes. I don't think this will be a novel I remember long down the road. I know this is the author's first novel, so I'm interested enough to perhaps read something she writes in the future.

Nola is being stalked 20 years after witnessing her baby sitter’s murder in her own home by a serial killer they call The Hiding Man. Is this a copy cat or is He back to finish was he started?

This was pretty creepy and atmospheric. Told in multiple POVs, the pace is great and makes you wanting to keep reading. I did feel it was a bit anticlimactic and the end of kind of blah. That being said, I did enjoy the lead up and all the characters. I do think it’s worth a read if you’re looking for a story with a very creepy serial killer. I would be interested to read more from Daphne Woolsoncroft.

This was good and spooky! Great narration and story as well -- perfect fit and choice of narrators for the audiobook! I really enjoyed listening to this even if it made me lock all my doors twice. Give it a try!

Night Watcher comes out next week on July 8, 2025, and you can purchase HERE!

I play with the silver rings on my right hand while a raspy-voiced woman from Massachusetts spews a horror story she claims occurred just yesterday. Sliding them on and off my index and middle fingers, my mind wanders to a different place. I don't know where it takes me, but I follow for half a minute or so. When I realize I've faded, I adjust in my seat and undertake my usual role of Attentive Radio Show Host.
During certain stories, I slip away into my own head, often wondering how many of the tales I'm told are elaborately crafted in hopes of fooling me on live radio. To my knowledge, this has happened several times, leaving me to scramble for a clever response. Most stories we're told feel authentic, the person's tone showcasing fear and realism. But I guess it depends on your beliefs.

This is the best serial killer thriller I've read in a long time! I was creeped out, invested in the story, and genuinely shocked by some things.

This one definitely had me on edge- creepy and sinister. Wrapped up quickly and would’ve liked a little more explanation as to why the bad guy was the bad guy but overall a great thriller.

There was something about this story that was terrifyingly bone-chilling. It leaves its reader with a sense of being watched, looking over your shoulder at night, and twitching your curtains at every little sound. The antagonist was impressively eerie with a memorable mask and a haunting presence. The atmosphere was full of dread, and the delivery was brilliant. Attempting to think of anything I would want changed or any flaws will just leave me grasping at straws. Four solid stars.

Thank you, Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing, for this ARC.

3.75 🌟

The story is inspired by the author, Daphne Woolsoncroft's aunt, who was murdered at the young age of 20. Her murderer was never charged with her death and went on to kill other women. What an absolute tragedy. Apparently, Woolsoncroft is a podcaster, which I didn't realize before reading the Author's Note. I'm interested in checking out her show.

I thought this was a pretty solid thriller. Even though the FMC made a few questionable choices that had me yelling at my book, I still liked her as a character. It was a creepy story and had me hooked from the beginning. I was slightly annoyed at the reveal, but due to spoilers, I won't mention why. This is definitely a respectable debut novel from Woolsoncroft.

Recommended for fans of thrillers about serial killers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the ARC.

OMG this was absolutely terrifying! A spooky little town had a serial unaliver 20 years ago, and they might be back and watching Nola again? I’m sweating just thinking about it. Night Watcher is a MUST read slasher thriller of this summer. I physically couldn’t put it down!! I gasped, I screamed (more than once), and I may or may not have fallen off my chair in sheer shock. There are no jump scares, but the level of unease had my skin crawling. Daphne created such a chilling, tension filled atmosphere that every single page had me on edge. I literally felt like I was being watched myself 👀

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC of this INSANE thriller! As a constant listener of " Going West". I was so excited to read Daphnes debut novel and knew it would be twisted. Girl showed up!!!! This story genuinely kept me up all night convinced someone was watching me. Nola is a radio host who survived a brutal attack in her home years ago. When the murderer threatens to " Always be watching her" she thinks it's just an empty threat...until girls in her neighborhood start getting brutally murdered. This book kept me on the edge of my seat and I couldn't get enough of these characters ... and I will say I was GENUNELY surprised by the ending.

Night Watcher had the elements of a book I'd usually like: a past/present timeline, a main character who is a radio host but also narrowly escaped a serial killer who killed her babysitter twenty years ago. All of this was giving me 90s horror movie vibes.

On the positive side, the set up was really interesting. Nola is the host of Night Watch, a call-in radio show. And one night someone calls in and says she feels like she's being watched. By a guy who matches the description of the guy who killed Nola's babysitter. That's creepy! There's also a second narrator: Jack, the detective who was on the serial killer case until the murders just .... stopped.

For me, the book didn't live up to the promise of this premise. The twists and turns in the story were minor, with one red herring suspect. The killer's reveal was a bit underwhelming. The overall vibe felt flat.I was hoping for more wrap-up at the end as I was left with MANY questions.

Thanks to the publisher for the advance review copy. I will keep an eye out for more books by this author as her next book might be a better fit for me.

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐨𝐫, 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞: 𝐇𝐢𝐦. 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞.

Unless you're a female, I'm not sure you can fully understand the genuine terror of knowing on a cellular level that you are not alone in your home. By all accounts, you should be. You either live alone, or perhaps your partner is working late. It begins as a quiet, worried voice, urging you to flee, and then it becomes a roar that is impossible to ignore.

Set in the rainy, atmospheric Pacific Northwest, Nola Strate survived an encounter with the notorious serial killer The Hiding Man as a child. She's now an adult and has taken over her father's well-known call-in radio show, Night Watch, in which callers discuss everything from odd encounters with the paranormal to local folklore. It's a slow night on the show when a terrified caller has a chilling live encounter with an intruder in her home, and the description she gives of the stranger's mask is shockingly familiar. Nola feels certain that what the masked stranger murmured to her so many years ago--"I'll be watching"--has reached its climax and that he's out of hiding and is coming for her.

I refrained from reading this at night because every little noise was amplified, and the sense of dread and unease that the author created was just too vivid for nighttime reading. Many thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for this early copy. Look for this one on July 8, 2025.

Ooooh this one gave me the creeps in the best way! It was so unsettling, and the idea of someone lurking in the background made my skin crawl. The tension builds slowly but keeps you on edge throughout. I swear it felt like someone was staring at me while I was reading. Such a chilling ride and I definitely enjoyed it!

3.5 stars

A serial killer stole her childhood innocence. Now he’s back for more.

At just eight years old, Nola witnessed the gruesome murder of her babysitter by a mysteriously masked man. Linked to multiple murders with the same circumstances—a fatal cut to the throat—the notorious serial killer became known as The Hiding Man. Despite it haunting her for twenty years, a disturbing call to her late night show prompts Nola to solve the mystery of The Hiding Man once and for all.

I may be biased since I don’t read thrillers that often, so take this review with a grain of salt. Night Watcher, a ‘who done it’, started off slow. Nola’s desperate search for the Hiding Man wasn’t about jump-scares. It had build-up from her past, multiple POVs, and some suspenseful unease thrown into the mix. The trail of clues definitely had me thinking I knew who the killer was before second-guessing myself. I’m giving this 3.5 stars because I wanted more thriller (vs. suspenseful) and the ending felt a little too rushed / convenient.

Thanks you to GCP and NetGalley for the ARC; Night Watcher comes out July 8th, 2025!

tw: murder, blood, infidelity, stalking, violence