When I began reading this book, I thought I was going to basically skip through much of it before giving up and moving onto something else. It begins with a mother at home with her two young children realising that someone else is in the house with them. The initial pages, going through her thoughts, I found a little bit uninteresting and it's this that I was skipping through. But then the story begins to look at her life and relationships, and events that have led up to the present, and that's when it got much more interesting.

The mother (I realise that the author never seems to have named any of the characters) at first seemed to be me to be quite an irritating character, constantly doubting herself and overthinking things. But as the book develops, I came to see there's much more to her.

The book looks at how women and mothers are perceived, the gender roles that children can be pushed into, and the constant threats that young girls face. But it does all of this in a very interesting way. We learn about the mother's relationship with her husband, who has recently died. On first glance it seems this was a negative relationship, because the woman is constantly hearing his voice in a critical way in her head. But again, things aren't quite as they seem, and we discover that they actually had a close and loving relationship - it's just that he wasn't perfect. I liked how the author wrote this relationship. It felt refreshing to be honest about people's flaws and portray that people can have fulfilling and happy relationships despite them.

The mother's father-in-law is a really well-written character who you love to hate. The sergeant investigating the intruder in her home is another great character - yet another man who basically doesn't believe her and looks for reasons to blame her for the events that have occurred.

This is a very easy book to read (although I still think there's slightly too much of the mother's introspection) but it's a really good read with completely true to life and believable situations.

Oh dear! I’m afraid I didn’t like this book. We dive straight into the frightening situation of an intruder in the home of a mother and two small children. - which continues for about a seventy pages. It’s unrelenting in its purpose - to show how scary the situation is. We don’t have any context, explanation or background to any of the characters. The ‘big bad man’ is a cartoon villain. I’m sorry to say I couldn’t finish the story. I wasn’t sufficiently interested to carry on. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the prepublication ebook in return for an honest review.

Night Watching by Tracy Sierra has to be one of the most disturbing reads, that I have read for a very long time. I did even seriously think of not finishing the story because it was so unsettling.
A mother home alone with her two young children in the midst of a blizzard in a rural area and in a very old house that always makes noises. Then she hears a noise and believes it is an intruder, she takes her children out of bed and they hide in a hidden room for hours, hearing this big man wandering around the house.
What follows after is the stuff of nightmares and I really shouldn’t have read this late at night, because it is really , really disconcerting.
Highly recommended but not for the faint hearted.

Wow
I stayed up until 2am to finish this. So this may be jumbled until I've sat on it a while.

Sometimes I will spend ages fishing around for a really intense suspenseful read and I've yet to find one that hits the spot like this one has.

The writing is just fantastic. The absolute unrelenting tension, I kind of am speechless? I'm exhausted, it doesn't let up.

It probably doesn't help that I have young children. There's a great portrait of what it is to be a woman here too. We've all been made to feel hysterical despite the glaringly obvious and genuine reason for our behaviour. But sometimes, for some men in some situations it's easier to eye roll rather than take us seriously. Don't get it wrong though, this book isn't preachy. It's just how things are.

If you're a fan of suspense tension or dread, if you like peeling back the layers to gain more and more insight to a character and what brought them and their behaviours here, then definitely pick this one up. One of my favourite reads in a long time

Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra sounded terrifying and intriguing but sadly this novel was not for me. I just could not get into the story or resonate with the characters at all and so I gave up around a third of the way through.


I found the narrative quite hard to follow and found myself wandering about other things and therefore missing chunks of text so I immediately knew this was not for me. The premise of the novel sounded so fascinating and I am sure to many others it will be well loved but apologies I just did not get on with it at all.

Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for allowing me a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

This book had been hanging around on my Kindle for a while after I downloaded it from Netgalley a few months back, and one evening I decided to start it, having forgotten in the interim what it was even about. Some time later, I was forced to put it down halfway through because of the lateness of the hour... but I was utterly gripped. What a sucker-punch! Nightwatching, which is Tracy Sierra's debut, opens when a mother realises that a man has broken into her house and is approaching her two sleeping children. As she formulates a plan, we flash back and forward, learning about her relationship with her absent husband, and why she is so sure that she's seen this man before. Sierra's writing is perfect for this kind of literary thriller: visceral, relentless, but also reflective. Far from falling into the usual stereotypes that turn up in this kind of plot - mother will do anything FOR THE SAKE OF HER CHILDREN!!! - she shows her protagonist's intense love for her two little individuals but also allows her to question cultural expectations around motherhood.

I feel like there have been several novels recently that, smartly and thoughtfully, dissect the pain of being gaslighted by the patriarchy as a whole, rather than just by particular men (Jessica Knoll's Bright Young Women springs to mind. Nightwatching absolutely joins them. Sierra uncomfortably but honestly depicts the frustrating impact of being constantly brushed off, ignored, or told that you misremembered or that your instincts were wrong. Far from detracting from the pace of this thriller, this depth of characterisation made it work better for me. The protagonist has to escape her house with her children, but once she's outside, her troubles are only beginning. Sierra is also brilliant on detail; her narrator can figure out exactly where the man is as he moves around her house, for example, because of the many nights she's spent listening out for wandering children. That floorboard creaks, that door tends to slam. This leads to disbelief from the police, who don't think she could hear these sounds or know what they mean.

The contemporary thriller this reminded me of immediately was Gin Phillips's Fierce Kingdom, but it also resonates with the best of vintage Nicci French, especially Land of the Living. Top-notch genre work. 4.5 stars.

Home alone in with her two young children, a mother is woken up in the middle of the night by an intruder, creeps into her children's rooms and hides with them in her large isolated house. A potentially creepy scenario which, for me, was too drawn-out in the opening chapters of the book to hold tension. The book speeds up a bit around a third of the way through when she makes an escape and it becomes evident that the woman in question is either crazy or being gaslit by those around her. While I liked the portrayal of the protagonist's sense of isolation and confusion, unfortunately I didn't find the novel as gripping as I'd hoped it would be.

Undoubtedly thrilling. I started this late at night having just finished another. Big mistake as I knew from the second page there was no way I was getting to sleep that night.
I thought for a moment that the narrative would stay with the family hiding so was quite relieved when the story threw back to events before the break in.
Very engaging writing which culminated in an excellent ending.

A unique story that has the reader terrified from the start by living each moment of true horror. A young mother is holed up with her two children in her remote home during the pandemic. As a blizzard imprisons them further, strange things begin to happen and the fear becomes a nightmare as she realises they are not alone. A huge man appears and as she grabs her children and rushes to a hidden place the knowledge that they are now trapped increases her terror. Without a phone or any way of getting help she has to stay put while keeping the terrified children quiet. As each page is turned the horror escalates and at times the reader will realise they are holding their breath. Past events and experiences are recalled and interspersed between the chapters recounting the full story of how they got to this point. As doubts creep in throughout the book, the question is asked how much is true and how much is imagined. It is so well told and realistically creepy that it can’t all be an actual nightmare. Can it? No spoliers here, I thoroughly recommend you read this excellent psychological debut for yourself.

An amazing debut! Based on the first ‘act’ it would’ve been 5 stars for me, but I felt the structure and pace of the post-invasion story was a little clunky.

I loved the author’s writing style, although it was an odd choice not to name any characters (how many times must she have typed out ‘the boyish officer’?!). Having the main character constantly refer to ‘my husband’ in conversation was somewhat artificial and it was so conspicuous that it detracted a little from the story.

The antagonist was genuinely terrifying, without an obvious motive or ‘reason’, other than simply a desire to hunt/ kill. We discover little about his background and other crimes, but in a way this just adds to the creepiness- his malevolence can’t be explained or rationalised.

There did seem to be some slightly superfluous strands to the story, such as excessive references to the appalling father in law and the somewhat random vitiligo issue. However, aspects of the book beyond the home invasion elevated it beyond a standard thriller to more of an exploration of what it means to be a mother, the subtle (or not so subtle!) misogyny threaded through everyday life, the nature of evil and the will to survive.

I thought the husband’s story was woven in very skilfully - I’d found myself assuming for the first part of the book that he was away on business, but it turns out the main character has already dealt with some incredibly difficult things before she fell victim to ‘the Corner’.

Overall I thought this was a great debut novel- certainly kept me gripped and I would be keen to see what the author comes up with next.

Old houses do have creaks and settling noises when cooling down at the end of the day, but thank goodness, not all the noises are the same as in this book.

Compelling reading, with scary motives and issues. Why did no one believe her?

I liked the way the author related to past events to enlighten us in the present tense.

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read this book.

This is a scary story, not because of the break in that starts the book but because the story told by the main character proves difficult for the responders to believe. There is a substantial amount of flash back to explain the thinking as her back ground and her recent experience explains her panic and difficulties in getting help.
The last part of the book explains the planning behind the perpetrator’s actions which is detailed and unsettling.
A compelling read.
Recommended

I received an advanced reading copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin General, and the author Tracy Sierra.
This book had me completely hooked and I devoured it in one day while on holiday. It is completely absorbing, involving, and incredibly stressful. You experience the full range of emotions alongside the protagonist as she veers from terror, despair, frustration and uncertainty. Full of twists and unexpected until the end, an incredibly gripping read and would recommend for any fans of psychological thrillers.

A creepy old house with a mother and two young children hiding from an intruder. Sounds like a straight forward start to a thriller but they remain hidden for over a third of the book while the tension steadily rises and ever so gradually the reader starts to wonder if things are not quite what they first seemed. We learn more about the mother’s recent past that casts doubt on her mental wellbeing and as the book progresses she herself starts struggling to know what to believe. More and more evidence seems to point in one direction but nothing is certain.
The author does a great job describing the thought processes going through a terrified mother and I would not liked to have read this book alone in an old house.
Thanks Netgalley and Penguin General UK for an ARC of this book.

5 Stars from me

This is the perfect late-night scare fest. So good - I am not sure I breathed once while reading it!

Tracy Sierra has done a superb job of creating multi-level thriller which seems to be half psychological and half crime - if it weren't for the annoying real life things like work and sleep I could definitely have stayed up all night to read this one.

What I loved most was the constant air of who is telling the truth, is the mother a reliable character, or the policeman, or the grandfather? I was constantly questioning what was real, especially as that was so pivotal to what might happen next.

Truly brilliant, great storytelling and at times put me in mind of the level of suspense from other great such as The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean.

Any thriller fans will love having the pants scared of them by this one!

A fabulously written gripping story that was a pleasure to read. I would absolutely recommend this book, it was brilliant

I loved this book, it really shows what a mother can do to protect their children and never underestimate a mothers intuition.
The thing I loved but also found frightening is the fact that this really could happen to anyone.
Certain characters in this book infuriated me, but in the way they were meant to.
I thought the characters in this book were very well written. The main character especially, not the typical heroic mum from books and movies, much more realistic.
The bad guy character in this book is terrifying, all that calculated planning and sneaking around and nobody knew what he was doing.
The cop in charge in this book infuriated me, I get the situation was odd, but he was so rude, I actually started to wonder if he was somehow involved.
I will be recommending this book to everyone I know and especially my book group, perfect book for them to read

A decent, anxiety-fuelled story for the nights where you don’t much fancy an easy night’s sleep! I enjoyed the pacing of this novel. I found the explanations at the end a little drawn out but appreciated that the loose ends had to be tied off.

I liked the premise of this book, a dark, psychological thriller, set in a bleak, atmospheric area, with snow on the ground and a bogeyman about. Unfortunately it didnt quite work for me. It felt a bit rambling at the start, but then we got some flashbacks, which at times I couldn’t quite tell what relevance they had to the story. I found I couldn’t empathise with the mother at all. The vitiligo thread of the story didn’t seem to bring anything to the text, but maybe if there had been a bit more about it, it would have. It is well written, I didn’t guess all of the ending but much too dark for me. Worth a read if you like to be really scared while you read late into the night, it’s just not the book for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is a fabulous, creepy, scary, tense read. A young mother wakes and checks her sleeping children. Then, in her sleepy state sees a large man standing in the shadows….how can she protect her children? Where can they hide?

I was absolutely riveted throughout this well written tale. I was amazed by how the tension is maintained throughout and how well written all of the characters are. The lead character will stay with me for a long time as the author plants doubt in our minds about her sanity; is she the monster? If not, who is The Corner, the horrifying creature that appears to be vaguely familiar?

Oh, but, it’s a cracking read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin General, UK for the opportunity to preview this fabulous tale.