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.

This is absolutely everything that I look for in a suspenseful thriller.
WOW! And a debut novel? Amazing.

First off, thanks always to Netgalley for the ARC of this book.
The audio was great. I loved the dual narration.
Nola is the daughter of a well known podcast. Her dad decides to retire from the podcast called Night Watch and has his daughter take over.
One day during the show, Nola and her cohost receive a very disturbing call that leave Nola reeling. A traumatic event has come back to haunt her, and she has already been feeling on edge lately. She has had a few weird things happen to her that make her feel like someone has been watching her.
This book was filled with twist and turns. And even when I thought I knew who the culprit was behind everything, I still was wrong. this book also had moments where I was literally on the edge of my seat and feeling the suspense of everything. This was an excellent read, and I hope that the author continues on her writing journey.

This an edge of your seat mystery with twists and turns throughout. Nola is a lovable character with some complexity. Her story is unique, and I appreciated the author's tie in to her own personal experiences.

Okay… WOW. I just finished Night Watch and I’m still trying to catch my breath. This book had me fully paranoid and side-eyeing literally every male character. If you’re into dark thrillers with smart, layered characters and just the right amount of “is she crazy or is it real,” definitely pick this one up. You will stay up too late reading it. And you will be thinking about The Hiding Man for way too long after.

Solid thriller! I was at the edge of my seat start to finish and really thought it was developed well! My critique as to why I can't give it 5 stars is because of the disappointing killer reveal.; The author didn't have enough character distractions to give you possibilities on who it could be so when the killer came into the story, it was pretty obvious.

This is a really good story. It's creepy and so much fun. I listened to the audio book of this story and really enjoyed it. The narration was fantastic and really brought the story to life.
This book is about a serial killer, a radio show, and the past. A woman saw a famed killer many years ago when she was just a child. Her babysitter was murdered in a gruesome way, and she saw the killer and the mess. Now, many years later, he just might be back.
This was good. I enjoyed my time with this book and would definitely recommend it.

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! The narrators also did a great job at setting the tone and really brought the eerie vibes to life.

Format: Audio
Rating: 4⭐️
Pub day: July 8

Night Watcher, set in Portland Oregon, (I lived there long ago and enjoyed hearing about old haunts like the Doug Fir) is a psychological thriller with a serial killer focus. The MC, Nola, shares two timelines, present day and 20 years previous when she saw the serial killer mere moments after he took a victims life. The first few chapters of this book are crazy intense and totally had me checking the locks on my doors. Lol But it does settle a bit and become more investigative with some stressful situations sprinkled throughout. I was hooked and crushed through it in a days time!

I also appreciated the note at the beginning sharing the connection the author has to a missing person, her aunt. Her passion for the subject shines through in her writing and attention to detail.

This was a really solid audio with three narrators helping bring the story to life. Definitely a good way to go if you decide to pick this up!

Thanks to Hachette Audio for the alc via Netgalley.

I did not, in fact, have it all figured out at 17% in.
This was super entertaining, dark, creepy, and well paced. Both narrators did a great job and were engaging. Multiple times throughout the book I was questioning whodunnit and I still was shocked at the reveal! Great thriller that I would recommend to true crime lovers and thriller fans.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hachette Audio for this ALC.

Thrilling read! The first half really had me on my toes, feeling that unease of being watched. The narration in terms of hearing the story through Nola’s perspective helped. At times I was unsure if she was reliable as a narrator because she was so young when this traumatic chain of events started.

As the story opened up more, it was clear that there were secrets that needed to be spilled. I think that everything came out eventually in a well paced manner.

Listening to the audiobook made the read even better. It really felt immersive as the voice and delivery sounded like what Nola should sound like. I also think it was important to include the foreword and afterword from the author. I also have an aunt who went missing many years ago, and hearing the author talk about that and the impact on their family was powerful.

Overall great read and I can’t wait to hear more from the author.

Thank you Hachette Audio for this early listener copy!

4.5 ⭐️
I have been dying for a good thriller - and this more than hit the mark! It really started out with a bang, and had me hooked from the very start.

I spent the entire book not knowing who could possibly be the bad guy. I do tend to spend most of every thriller suspicious of every single character though. I loved all the connections that come out in the end, I feel like I was in the edge of my seat during this whole book and then it wrapped up in such a neat little bow.

I enjoyed this narration. I think Helen Laser did a really great job of portraying Nola’s fear and panic in the instances that called for it. Ironically, I feel like both narrators really came across as having “podcaster” voices in the way they spoke lol. Not a bad thing, just something I found funny.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a good one-sitting thriller read!

3.5 / 5 stars

Night Watcher is a solid debut thriller with a premise that immediately grabbed my attention: a late-night radio host gets a call that dredges up memories of a childhood encounter with a serial killer — one who may now be back to finish what he started.

The pacing here is tight, with the entire story unfolding over just a few days. I appreciated the urgency that created, along with the moody Pacific Northwest setting and the heroine, Nola, who felt grounded and relatable (I listened to the audiobook and Helen Laser’s narration definitely added to that). This is a book that’s easy to binge.

That said, I didn’t love this one quite as much as I hoped. The red herrings — particularly a suspicious neighbor — didn’t feel fully developed, and the romantic subplot felt unnecessary given how compressed the timeline is. I also found myself wishing Nola had at least one close female ally. For a book that centers so heavily on violence against women and the lingering effects of trauma, it felt like a missed opportunity to give her stronger emotional support outside of the male characters.

Still, I admire what Woolsoncroft is doing here. You can tell she’s invested in giving victims a voice and exploring the ripple effects of fear and survival. While I didn’t quite fall in love with this one, I’d absolutely be interested in what she writes next — especially as she finds her stride in fiction.

Daphne Woolsoncroft’s debut thriller, Night Watcher, delivers a chilling premise: a late-night radio host, Nola Strate, believes the serial killer from her childhood called “The Hiding Man” has returned. Set against the eerie backdrop of Portland and filled with paranormal radio call-ins, the story blends true-crime obsession with slasher-style horror.

While the setup is compelling and the pacing mostly brisk, the final reveal lacks the emotional weight the buildup promised. The killer’s motivations remain murky, and the romance subplot feels underdeveloped. Multiple POVs and dual narration add texture, but the audiobook's tone sometimes falls flat during tense moments.

Overall, Woolsoncroft crafts a solid atmosphere of dread, especially in the opening chapters, and her true-crime background shines through in the structure and tone. If you enjoy thrillers that lean spooky over twisty, Night Watcher is a worthwhile, if uneven, listen. Best consumed with the lights on. I’ll be curious to see what Woolsoncroft does next!

I was hoping this was going to be more supernatural horror than thriller. It was fun until the ending. Writing was good though and I’ll read more from this author.

This book scared the beejusus out of me. Creepy in every good way--I highly recommend this for anyone who wants to actually be scared when reading.

The Night Watcher keeps you On the edge of your seat the entire time.
The storyline is compelling. The Narrators are great and the author did a spectacular job with this book.
Defnitly a must read. Will recommend this.

Night Watcher started out with a great vibe. Filled with a sense of dread, paranoia, dual timelines, multiple POVs, podcast elements - I was LOCKED IN. I loved the first bit of the book with setting up the plot and was really stoked to see where the story was going to go, but unfortunately, it didn't seem to go really much of anywhere. I had trouble connecting with the characters due to the lack of development, which I found strange with the flashbacks to the FMC, Nola's, childhood and what happened to her, but I wish that we would have dove into that a bit more to connect to her current state. It's almost like she went from that huge trauma to present day and nothing happened in between, if that makes sense. Additionally, I felt like the story got a bit lost toward the middle and strayed from the plot to make this a bit windier than it needed to be. I found myself wishing it would end because there was a lot of fluff that was unnecessary.

Because of some of that fluff, I felt like I was asking myself 'wait, what happened to this character?' or 'what happened to this storyline?', which made the story feel a bit jumpy and a bit swiss cheese-y. I really wanted to like this one more than I did, but it just wasn't it for me. I understand that Daphne Woolsoncroft is a hit podcaster IRL and Night Watcher was her debut, so I think with a bit more tweaking and plot editing, she has the potential to write an amazing book, so I definitely will not write her off, just hope that the next one is better!

Thank you to NetGalley and Hatchette Audio for this ALC.

I’m torn on this one. It’s easily a 5-star read… but I wasn’t super into the reveal, and that knocked it down a bit for me. Maybe just half a star—I haven’t decided yet—because this was seriously so damn good, especially for a debut.

Daphne Woolsoncroft’s writing really shines through Nola, who’s been haunted for years by the murder of her babysitter. And just when she thinks it’s in the past, the serial killer resurfaces—targeting new girls one by one.

One of them actually calls into Night Watch, Nola’s true crime podcast, while she’s being murdered. That scene alone had me hooked. From there, it turns into a full-blown race against the clock as Nola and Harvey try to figure out who the Hiding Man really is.

I had no idea that Daphne Woolsoncroft had a podcast. I originally heard of Night Watcher from Summer Sizzling Reads for Grand Central Pub influencers. I enjoyed this one! The story is told through the perspectives of Nola, Jack, and Him, offering layered, flawed characters that kept things interesting. Just when the culprit seemed obvious, another twist would shift everything. The slow burn and eerie atmosphere really build as the story unfolds. While the beginning starts off a bit slow, the suspense picks up fast and doesn’t let go. Highly recommend giving this one a read!

So this is the first audiobook I was approved for and I was so excited because I knew I was gonna eat it up. It was creepy, atmospheric, and will have you checking to see if you are being watched 👀👀 it gets under your skin and doesn’t let up. 10/10 recommend