Struggled with this one, A lone mother with 2 young children wakes in the night to find an intruder in their home. She manages to hide them all but can hear the man wandering around looking for them. I so wanted to know what would happen with this but the first half of the book keeps veering off to explain about their previous life. I found this very frustrating.
I persevered. The woman gets away and summons help. The children are saved. However, then no one believes the woman and think she has made the whole thing up, She has mental health issues and the reader is unsure whether she has imagined it all.
It all comes to a satisfying conclusion but I found the book hard going.
I’m sure some will enjoy it but just not for me,

Mixed feelings about this. A gripping start then I wasn't sure what to think. Very atmospheric at times, quite unbelievable at others. It's different and interesting, just not sure if I enjoyed it

*review contains spoiler*

This book is described as a thriller about a woman home alone with her two young children when she hears a noise and realises someone has broken in. She hides herself and children whilst the intruder hunts them down.

Aaargh I’m really not sure how I feel about this book. When it was good, it was really good. I was immersed in it and found it very atmospheric and could feel the fear and tension making me feel anxious (maybe some of that is down to my mum having had a stalker for many years) but there were sections where not much happened at all and I skimmed through.

The main character could be very infuriating and I often find myself getting a bit frustrated with her.

I’d definitely be interested in reading further books by this author.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #PenguinGeneralUK for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

For me Nightwatching had one of the most gripping and terrifying openings that I have ever read. As it developed, I was completely absorbed in the protagonist's character and her back story which was revealed slowly and with huge question marks about the truth. It seemed to be set in a terrifying world in which nothing was real and reliable , including the protagonist A brilliant read.

A mother wakes, hears a noise, a footstep, and it's not her children, and no-one else should be in the house.From the start, Tracy Sierra builds a fantastic atmosphere - the tension as she sits under the stairs urging her small children to be quiet, lest they be found is palpable. But is this well-detailed description of her hiding from an intruder true? The police don't seem to think. Which is worse - for it to be true and for you not to be believed, or for it to be a fiction, a fantasy of a disturbed mind?

A great read - chilling, and at times disturbing. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC

Incredible!! What a wonderfully terrifying book!!

This book was so different to anything I've read for a while, it's stayed with me for a long time in the most brilliant way! What an excellent debut novel by Tracy Sierra.

From the blurb: "It's the tread of footsteps, unusually heavy and slow, coming up the stairs...
In that split second, she has three choices.
Should she hide? Should she run? Or should she fight?"

Reading that again terrifies me all over! I don't want to give anything away but the tension is so thick in this book that you literally hold your breath.

This book truly is a psychological thriller - there's menace, gas lighting, doubt, bravery, fear and so many twists and turns it leaves you questioning any truths you think you know.

It's also incredibly atmospheric, you imagine you are there feeling the fear with the protagonist. The scene creation is wonderful, I still feel like I know that place (though not sure I'd want to visit now!!)

I urge anyone to read this if they want to be drawn into a book for a couple of days.

Thank you to Penguin UK, the author Tracy Sierra, and Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

For a debut novel, this was great - atmospheric and chilling with a satisfying ending.

A mother is home alone with her two young children when she realises a man has broken into her house and is after he daughter. Unfortunately, there's a blizzard outside, and the house is in the middle of nowhere, so there's no point in running. Luckily, they manage to hide in a secret room and now just need to stay quiet. This is how the book starts, but there's much more to the story.

I have to admit I wasn't completely sold to start with, but the story grew on me as it went on.

Recommended.

I am afraid I didn't find this book as thrilling as I expected .It was too slow for me ,and I wanted more to happen.

It seems 2024 hasn’t really started of as a great reading year. Also Night watching was bit of a disappointment. Maybe it is me, because other reviews call it fast paced, edge of your seat,…I found it slow and at times boring. Maybe I was expecting something else. I was expecting to read about a woman trapped in her own house with an intruder hunting her and her children. 20% of the book is exactly that and was really good. Very gripping and claustrophobic.

I think this book is marketed wrong. This is not a thriller, but a slow character story of a woman with trauma and the way she is treated by society. And that would have been a wonderful story if it was executed well. The marketing is of, this is not a fast paced thriller. This isn’t even a thriller to be honest.

Going back to the character study, it could have been good if there would have been more editing. Now the story really drags at time. I understand the author is trying to call out certain injustice against woman with trauma, but she doesn’t do it in a captivating way. Even I, a fellow woman found her annoying at times.
And then the “twist” of the story. Well… it was horrible. Completely unbelievable and with no real connection to the story. Even if you wanted to guess who had done it as a reader, you wouldn’t ever have guessed.

I have mixed feelings about this novel. I found it got off to a slow start and then went from being completely immersed in chapters to feeling not much was happening. I’m glad I stuck it out to the end as that made the book and for that reason I would rate it 3 stars. Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin UK and the author for the chance to review.

Thank you for allowing me to read this preview version of the book. I did enjoy it but am surprised at the gushing plaudits it received from other authors. Where they talk about "tread of footsteps, unusually heavy and slow, coming up the stairs.." I found the story heavy and slow. Really enjoyed the conclusion though and found that wading through it was worth it in the end.

I really tried to get into this book but it was too slow for me . I’m sorry I can’t recommend it on the quarter of the book I read

I’m sorry but it’s my first 1 star of the year. We are thrown straight into the home invasion which I wouldn’t mind but it then went on for 50% of the book and just got really repetitive and incredibly slow paced. Given that we are thrown straight in you have no attachment to the characters and what they are going through. Also, it throws in random flashbacks which takes you out of any potential suspense.

The premise had a lot of potential but unfortunately it just really didn’t work for me.

Thank you to netgalley for providing an ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review

I really didn't take to this book at all. I had high hopes when I started reading, but soon got bored with the story and gave up reading properly about half way through.

Definitely a slow burner of a book, but worth persevering with to find out if the main character, a traumatised mother, was protecting her children from an intruder, or her mind was playing tricks on her and it was all her imagination.
Thank you to netgalley and Penguin Books for an advance copy of this book

The boogeyman awaits ★★☆☆☆

Waking suddenly in the middle of the night, a mother realises somebody is in the house. Alone with her two young children, she acts as quickly and quietly as possible to run and hide with them in the secret crawlspace.

As they hide in the dark, The Shadow from her daughter’s nightmares stalks above.

The first half of the book is set in that claustrophobic space, proceeding a little slowly. The tension is partially obscured by the references to the intruder as The Shadow and the undulating narrative style.

The second half of the book is full of doubt and confusion but leads to a compelling and creepy grand reveal.

A slow burning thriller with a difficult narrative style leading to a gripping finale.

Nightwatching, by Tracy Sierra, is a tense, nerve jangling read that will have you double checking the locks on your doors, and thinking twice about your answer when the next checkout operative asks you if you want to keep your receipt ... It's also a book that will have you second guessing yourself and all of the characters in the story, including our protagonist. The tension is set at high from the very start and only increases from there, the kind of book that is frightening and addictive in equal measure.

On the surface, this is a story of a home invasion. In the dead of night, a mother is awake having just settled her son following a nightmare, only to hear noises in her house that don't belong. She see's a shape in the shadows, a man who has no right to be in their home, and knows, instinctively that she and her children are in grave danger. It is a fight or flight moment, a split second decision which would change the course of their lives, and one which has far reaching consequences for everyone. And it is one which really makes us, as the reader, stop and think. How would we react in the same circumstances? We all think we know, but when faced with a terrifying reality such as this, would you do what your head tells you is the right thing?

This for me is one of the strengths of this book. Tracy Sierra has employed a very clever narrative trick in making her narrator third person, but also in never actually naming her characters, They are simply referred to as Mommy, Daddy, the son, the daughter. Even the police are simply Sergeant and 'the boyish policeman'. In doing this she draws us into the story, allowing us to place ourselves front and centre, not giving us the chance to say 'that would never happen to me'. And this is something she also explores in the story, through the main protagonists eyes - the judgement of others and the overriding anxiety that accompanies it as people look to victim blame and to cast doubt on her narrative. It's executed brilliantly, and it wasn't until I had finished reading that I made the connection. That this could be any of us, anywhere. Yes, the story is clearly set in rural New England, but aside from a few scenes, the first half of the book is set almost exclusively in the house, and that allows us to place ourselves in her shoes. To feel the fear she and her children feel.

The story splits itself between the present dangers and memories of the protagonists past, all of which come to inform the way in which the story flows. There are many surprising reveals, and many situations which serve to cast doubt on her testimony, but also more gentle moments that allow us a brief escape from the nightmare. Even though we are present through all of the action, there are so many red herrings that even I started to doubt whether this was real or part of her imagination. Certainly we come to understand that her's is shaky perspective to follow, and there is reasonable doubt in all minds as to what is going on. Again, the author plays it perfectly. distracting us from what should have been an obvious and perfect conclusion until just the right moment, Sleight of hand and misdirection force our attention elsewhere allowing the darkness to build once again. With the ending, you can feel the tension ratchet another few notches and there is an overwhelming sense of jeopardy that accompanies those final few scenes. There is also a lot of chance for self reflection and contemplation as we are forced to look inward to assess assumptions we made whilst reading.

This is a very clever, suspenseful and tense read, one that really does grab the attention. Considering the cast and the setting are so small and finite, it leaves a big mark and I think will be very popular amongst readers of tense psychological suspense. Recommended.

This well crafted story of a family plagued by a homicidal maniac takes the reader through the terrors of a mother protecting her children. Fairly slow moving but worth persisting. Recommended.

I'm sad to post this as I just couldn't get into the book. This could partly be down to me as I'm struggling to get into a lot of books at the moment so I'll leave a 3 star review.
I just felt the start was a bit waffly as I would put it. Almost no need for the first chapter.
Maybe I will come back to it and I hope I do

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin General UK for my early copy of this brilliant book that is due for release in February 2024. I was absolutely hooked and finished it in 24 hours. Creepy and suspenseful with well developed characters and great writing, this was a fantastic book that I highly recommend. Fantastic!!