Night Watcher By Daphne Woolsoncroft Source Purchased
Published by Grand Central Publishing on July 8, 2025
Rating:
Nola Strate is being watched, again.
After an encounter with a notorious serial killer in the Pacific Northwest as a child, Nola has grown up and tried her best to forget her traumatizing night with The Hiding Man. She installed security cameras outside her Oregon home, never spoke of her experience, and now hosts Night Watch, a popular radio call-in show her semi‑famous father used to run. When coincidences lead Nola to believe that she is being stalked, and a caller on Night Watch has a live incident with an intruder in the caller’s home—the description of whom is chillingly familiar—Nola is convinced that The Hiding Man has resurfaced and is coming for her.
With a mysterious next‑door neighbor lurking in the shadows, more people getting hurt, the police not taking her concerns seriously, and evidence pointing towards her own father, Nola decides to become, like her listeners, a Night Watcher herself, and uncover the monster behind The Hiding Man’s mask.
I loved the premise of this book, and the description and cover gave me Nightwatching and Someone in the Attic vibes.
Unfortunately, I was really underwhelmed by the writing. It was often clunky, some of the descriptions / word choices were strange, the dialogue felt forced or unnatural, and there were threads or plot points that seemed too random or unresolved, e.g. View Spoiler »
I also thought that the relationships that were central to the story, like Nola and Jack’s, or Nola’s dad and Jack’s, didn’t feel believable to me in terms of how deep and important they were supposed to be. I just couldn’t believe that these people were as important to each other as the author said they were.
While this had great creepy potential, it lacked the tension and suspense that I was anticipating. I liked the opening chapters, and the author is clearly knowledgeable about true crime. I also thought the radio show was fun and interesting, and would have enjoyed reading some more about that. This was a fairly quick read and I liked the jumps back and forth in time between the past and present day.
But the resolution was also somewhat of a letdown for me in terms of View Spoiler » It felt predictable and unsatisfying.
So for me this was a mixed reading experience.
