A really scary scenario right from the start and the author manages to make it very difficult to tell whether the main character is really experiencing the events or not. Probably not a book for anyone who is of a nervous disposition wh9 has young children. It was difficult to put down.

It’s the middle of the night and a blizzard is raging outside. A young mother tries to settle her son when she hears a creak on the stairs. Nothing to worry about, she thinks, this is an old, old house so it creaks. But wait – the creaks form a pattern, heavy footsteps on the stairs. She makes a snap decision, grabs her two children, and sneaks quietly down another flight of stairs to a secret room where she hopes they’ll be safe.

The first couple of chapters are stuffed so full of words it’s overwhelmingly suffocating, which certainly ramps up the tension, but it is a little over the top. The author employs the use of italics to convey the young mother’s thoughts, and I say “young mother” because you never learn her name. In fact you never learn the name of any of the characters. The little boy is often referred to as “her son” or “her little boy”, likewise the daughter has suitable gender references. Her daughter is the one to name the unseen intruder as The Corner, Why? Because she caught a glimpse of a “monster” in the corner of her room. This name sticks throughout the book, as does the place of hiding which is the “hidden place”.

This woman has flashbacks to various incidents in her life, most of which are uninteresting and don’t add much to the story. She apparently has a husband but he’s nowhere to be seen on this night of terror. The two police who arrive to investigate are only ever known as “the sergeant” and “the boyish policeman”. Aaaggh! I can’t work out if this lack of names is just laziness on the part of the author – lack of imagination maybe – or if it’s some sort of ploy to add to the mystery and tension. It doesn’t allow the reader to connect with any of the characters, and why are they all so horrible? The mother has the father-in-law from hell, and everyone, including herself, thinks she hysterical or delusional. It’s all too ridiculous.

I believe this is the author’s first novel. Unfortunately it doesn’t encourage me to look for any future offerings.

My thanks to Netgalley for an ARC





I believe this is the author’s first novel. Unfortunately it doesn’t encourage me to look for any future offerings.

Thank you to the publishers and author for an advanced copy of this forth coming book, a psychological crime thriller involving a mum and her two two young children with their home invaded by an unknown intruder; what would you do - fight, hide give in?
High hopes on this as it sounded just up my suburban street, but alas for me soon found it tense but lacking development and I couldn't relate to the mum, just get on with it ! creep about, avoid Mr Corner (name given to the interloper!) oh dear, lets hide again, then sneak about I was so bored and my tenseness' turned into boredom, fast reading was in order but still felt like chewing cotton balls or scratchy nails on a blackboard. Not for me,

When I began reading I expected the usual thriller format. This book goes beyond that.

It's not just a story of what might be a break in. It's not just about the potential intruder and victims. This delves into mental illness, trauma, abuse, horror, the supernatural, and death.

Through one horrific night we learn about a woman who's endured so much, but can we trust her fragile mind?

This is where the author writes skillfully; teetering between reality and possible gaslighting.

A powerful book.

I hated this book. Every horrifying, infuriating, anxiety-inducing page of it that had me staying up late reading, then unable to sleep. The suspense! The impossibility of looking away! The desperate need I now have for Sierra to write another book! It's just not fair.

Nightwatching drops you right in the middle of the horror with the very first line: "There was someone in the house."

A mother, alone and helpless in the house with an intruder, must do everything she can to keep her kids safe. As they hide in the house, she starts to feel she knows this man, recognises his voice, but at the same time come doubts for her memory, her sanity. The story alternates between the terrifying present and flashbacks that fill in the story of this woman and her family.

I picked this book up thinking I was getting some trashy fun fast-paced thriller-- which, don't get me wrong, I'm fine with --but what emerged was something I'm tempted to liken to The Push: a story equal parts intense, unputdownable, and a thoughtful, sad, frustrating psychological portrait of a woman and her fragile mental state.

I cannot overstate how much this book made me feel. It was genuinely horrifying. Parts were sad. I was so angry and frustrated for her that I wanted to scream. Nightwatching is one of those books that is so suspenseful that I felt very real panic and anxiety reading it. And now I have to return to the real world! And read something else! Tell me... how?

A thrilling and terrifying read. When a woman hears footsteps and sees a figure of a man on her stairway she creeps to wake her children to take them into hiding in a crawl space behind the fire in her husbands office. As the man calls to them and searches throughout the house the mother finds it hard to stop the children from making a noise and keeping them calm.
This book sent chills up my spine and kept me on the edge of my seat. It was uncomfortable, tense and scary.
I do not want to write spoilers as the reader should have to experience the intensity as I did.
I would highly recommend

The adrenaline-fuelled thriller that I read in a day...

"There was someone in the house."

That first sentence had me GRIPPED! And from that point on, I was on the edge of my seat, unable to stop reading whilst I didn't know the characters were safe.

This haunting and chilling read is sure to be one of the best thrillers of 2024.

Gripping, scary and very descriptive. Had me glued from page one and needed to know the outcome ASAP! If you sleepwalk, dream or have nightmares…… be warned it may keep you awake. I am not going to say anything about the plot or characters just read it soon. Well worth the time

A widowed mother, checking on her children in the middle of the night, is on the unlit first floor when she sees an intruder coming up the stairs. He is carrying a weapon of some kind. The isolated house is an old New England farmhouse, much extended so that it has a mixture of features, twists and turns in its corridors, two staircases, two ‘front’ doors, a garage, an attic and a cellar. The intruder, a large man, turns off down a side corridor giving her an opportunity to get the children out of bed and down the other staircase. While that removes them from the immediate danger they cannot reach anything useful from that side of the house. They also cannot escape from the house because it is mid-December and outside it is sub-zero and covered in deep snow. Fortunately there is a secret space created during the various periods of building work and so the three of them hide there while the intruder searches the house looking for them with clearly malicious intent, and a specific interest in the daughter. So begins a period of extremely well written jeopardy as tension builds through the next few hours; although frequent interpolations filling in the family back story keep breaking the tension. The mother is recently widowed, her husband having fallen downstairs, which creates scope for two separate issues. Firstly, she has never got on with her father-in-law, a macho misogynist, so the family are estranged from him. Secondly, there was suspicion that she might have killed her husband so has a strained relationship with the local police sergeant. These issues become important when she is injured trying to get help. This second part of the story creates a different dynamic, but one in which the mother is again in jeopardy, again well written tension albeit of a different kind.
The story is told entirely from the mother’s point of view (I’d love to be able to vary things by using her name but none of the character’s is given a name). The writing is tight, allowing the reader to wonder whether they are getting the whole story, or is she an unreliable narrator. There is also an unstated but quite obvious subtext to the book in that the mother is alone, unsupported by anyone, while being assailed, harassed, beset, criticised, berated (insert your preferred verb) by all of the main male characters: the husband, the father-in-law, the sergeant, the intruder. There are some flaws in the mechanics of the plot and the overall construction, but anyone invested in the story is likely to ignore these, carried forward by the tension and the travails of the mother.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

I was really looking forward to this but it completely failed to live up to premise. It dragged on, footsteps were heard, we are hiding, more footsteps, more hiding, more footsteps, more hiding, more footsteps, more hiding and so on,, The writing style was a bit peculiar with very strange turn of phrase. I spent too much time googling American phrases to try and enlighten me and failed several times. There were odd hyphenated words throughout the book,
Sorry I was bored and struggled to finish

What a spooky read this was! Absolutely blew me away in some parts. Very intense throughout, a complete page turner. I certainly wouldn’t be living in that house anytime soon!! Great storyline and very believable characters. What a mother has to do to protect her children but further down the line the doubts set in. A well written book, my first by this author but it won’t be my last.

Thanks to Penguin General UK and NetGalley for allowing me an advanced copy to read in exchange for my open and honest review. As always, my reviews will also be posted on Amazon, Goodreads and Waterstones and interaction on Facebook and instagram where possible.

This book was all in all a thrilling read.
It did drag a little bit in the middle and the main character was a bit all over the place in her thinking, which to me was annoying, however it was still an enthralling read.

In an old house in New England, a woman lives with her two young children. Recently widowed, she is the only adult in the house - and there are no others close by who can be called upon for help.

Knowing this adds to the already considerable tension created by the narrative of heavy footsteps heard in an old house full of doors and staircases, in the midst of a night time blizzard. The suspense in this book is relentless, and not for the faint hearted.

It is an interesting conceit to leave the main character unnamed, and adds to the generally surreal reading experience. It becomes clear eventually that there is something more underway than a simple break-in, but both the police, and the intruder add to the sense of fear, uncertainty and gaslighting that permeates these pages.

This is a terrifying story, but very effective in terms of what the writer seems to want to achieve. Recommended for those who like scary, suspenseful, sinister and suspicion-laden narratives.

This book blew my mind. Tracy Sierra's created such a tense & claustrophobic atmosphere from the opening pages that I really felt like I was there with the main character. I will admit I had to stop reading it late at night as it put me on edge.
An excellent debut & definitely one to watch

A mom at home with her two young kids, a blizzard outside, a house asleep when the mom hears noises and is sure there's an intruder.

This is a very tense thriller. It goes deep into the mom's character, her state of mind, what happened on that night with the intruder and everything that happens after.

The character writing is excellent, the atmosphere tense and creepy, especially during that night. It kept me engrossed. It's not the fastest book, or the most complex plot.

To make comparisons, something like the level of atmosphere and creepiness of Room For Rent with the empathetic character writing of The Quiet Tenant.

I would have liked maybe a little more pace in the middle, and perhaps just a little bit more in the plot. It won't be a book for everyone but if it draws you in, like it did me, you'll be hooked.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin General UK

Home alone with her young children during a blizzard, a mother tucks her son back into bed in the middle of the night. She hears a noise—old houses are always making some kind of noise. But this sound is disturbingly it’s the tread of footsteps, unusually heavy and slow, coming up the stairs.

Full of tension and suspence this is an excellent book. Creepy setting in a huge house with many doors that creates a very edgy and nerve racking atmosphere that really draws the reader in. As a young mum with two young children this would have been terrifying, left vulnerable by a very bad man who has broken into the house.

Great characters that are well developed and a fast paced plot that will have you racing through the pages. I will definitely be reading more from this author. Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an advanced copy all opinions are my own.

This razor-sharp thriller is very cleverly written, full of menace, tension and suspense.
A woman recently widowed and her two small children live in a creepy old house in New England. A blizzard is raging outside. It’s nighttime and very dark, when she is woken by a noise and goes to check on her children. There are no other adults to help her, no immediate neighbours or anyone to call for help.
The characters were very well developed and I loved the fact that the main characters were not named. The old creepy house added to the menacing undercurrent running through the book.
The helplessness of the main character experiencing such a believable scenario made it tense and suspenseful throughout. At times you wondered whether she was imagining the events as they unfolded (unreliable narrator) or did they really happen.
This is a tense, chilling and creepy read told at a breathtaking pace.Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley UK for the ARC.

A large, very old house. A mum alone with her two little children. A stormy, snowy night. A tread on the stair. This was a book with all the makings of a classic horror.

What a panic read! At times I felt I was holding my breath. Tense, frantic, creepy, dark and evil, it had it all, even gaslighting thrown in for good measure. One of those just ‘just one more chapter’ kind of books and before you know it you are past midnight!

Compulsive reading from the start, a proper page turner. Loved the no names treatment, added to the atmosphere, it could be anyone. Was it all a ‘pigment’? Who does the reader believe? Does the back story make us more likely to believe her or less?

Was a bit wordy and stretched out occasionally, and the ending was a bit too rose tinted, but all in all a very good read, and an excellent debut.

Thank you NetGalley.

I don’t think I have ever felt so uncomfortable yet so angry when reading before!

Nightwatching doesn’t hold back with its punches or give you any time to adjust. Immediately you’re thrown into what can only be described as a terrifyingly realistic scenario, one that we all fear when we hear creaks in the night.

I spent pretty much the entire book wanting to read more but also feeling on the very of a panic attack this was so creepy.

Then once the initial danger had passed we move on to a new horror: gaslighting and dismissive police officers who instead of helping seem to spend all their time trying to prove that she is a fantasist and negligent.

In fact I found that every male character in this story to be incredibly unlikeable and threatening in their own way. The characters remain unnamed which I felt added to the anxiety inducing and maybe was an indicator of how any woman can be seen as hysterical or a deceiver, someone who has nothing better to do but cause trouble to get attention. When all they are really trying to do is get help.

The writing style was incredible in itself, the tension building so slowly that I was worried at first it would get boring however you’re drawn in from the first sentence. I also really liked how despite being in the main characters corner after a while you do start to suspect that something more sinister than a break in was happening all along.

Thank you so much to both Tracey Sierra and Pamela Dorman books for the opportunity!

This was truly a creepy thriller that had me on the edge of my seat all the way through. The flashback chapters were good as it set the emotions of the Mother firmly in place as to why she was like she was. From the the start I was gripped as it started with a real bang of terror and I could see how frightening a thriller this was going to be as it was far too close to a real situation that I wanted to imagine. A nightmare house that I certainly could not even think of living in, old, creepy, more than one staircase, creaks and groans everywhere and then a cemetery in the garden just to add a little more tense creepiness!
I read this in one day as it was just a compulsive read to find out what was going to happen next. The conclusion was unexpected and I have to admire the mother for her positive attitude after everything was over.
An author to watch out for as I shall certainly want to read more by her in future as she is so very talented with all her descriptions of scenery, effects and characters.