A review by kerryppayne
Nightwatching: A Novel by Tracy Sierra
3.0
"Don't you want to come out, little piglet?"
A blizzard outside, a mother alone with two small children, and a man in her hallway in the middle of the night.
I think this is a story that is too close to what could be real life to not be absolutely terrifying. It was claustrophobic, it kept your heart beat racing as you held your breath waiting for what comes next, eyes almost flickering to the next paragraph because you need to know what happens. I read it almost being completely still and silent, feeling like I was right there next to them.
I got annoyed at the past tense chapters throughout this book, there were family dynamics at play, little glimpses and memories of the mothers past as a child, and while relevant, it made the first half of this book feel disjointed. It would come when I was right on the edge of my seat and would then be a little anti-climatic to read through these at that moment. If these were written in at a different point I feel it would have made the reading experience much better. There were a lot of formatting issues throughout the book which also made it difficult to fully get into the story and I found this difficult to begin with, hopefully these will be fixed for future readers.
I thought the second half of the book would be boring going into it, but it was actually my favourite part of the book. It felt more put together, flowed well and it kept the tension of the first half but in a different way. By the time I was 2/3rds of the way through the book, it was one that I really just could not put down.
The mother herself was really well written, reading it from her point of view was definitely the right call, being inside her head, going back and forth, her thoughts being a little fragmented, already onto her next train of thought before the other was completely finished made me feel anxious - as if I could feel what she was going through. It wasn't completely my cup of tea in the end, but I think a lot of thriller book lovers are going to adore this book.
*Thank you Netgalley and Penguin General UK publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
A blizzard outside, a mother alone with two small children, and a man in her hallway in the middle of the night.
I think this is a story that is too close to what could be real life to not be absolutely terrifying. It was claustrophobic, it kept your heart beat racing as you held your breath waiting for what comes next, eyes almost flickering to the next paragraph because you need to know what happens. I read it almost being completely still and silent, feeling like I was right there next to them.
I got annoyed at the past tense chapters throughout this book, there were family dynamics at play, little glimpses and memories of the mothers past as a child, and while relevant, it made the first half of this book feel disjointed. It would come when I was right on the edge of my seat and would then be a little anti-climatic to read through these at that moment. If these were written in at a different point I feel it would have made the reading experience much better. There were a lot of formatting issues throughout the book which also made it difficult to fully get into the story and I found this difficult to begin with, hopefully these will be fixed for future readers.
I thought the second half of the book would be boring going into it, but it was actually my favourite part of the book. It felt more put together, flowed well and it kept the tension of the first half but in a different way. By the time I was 2/3rds of the way through the book, it was one that I really just could not put down.
The mother herself was really well written, reading it from her point of view was definitely the right call, being inside her head, going back and forth, her thoughts being a little fragmented, already onto her next train of thought before the other was completely finished made me feel anxious - as if I could feel what she was going through. It wasn't completely my cup of tea in the end, but I think a lot of thriller book lovers are going to adore this book.
*Thank you Netgalley and Penguin General UK publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.