Reviews tagging 'Pandemic/Epidemic'

Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra

17 reviews

brooke_berry's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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jackbifrost's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

4.0


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sinsandscares's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
🎧 Narrated by Emily Ellet

Nightwatching is a gripping and deeply unsettling read. The opening chapter is pure terror. A mother, home alone with her children during a blizzard, faces an intruder. But the true horror unfolds after as she fights to be believed, to regain her children, and to even trust herself.

This book captures the hypervigilance women are forced to have, the way their concerns are dismissed as paranoia or attention-seeking. Sierra does a phenomenal job making the reader feel that firsthand. Even I found myself questioning the protagonist, wavering between doubt and belief right until the end.

Readers expecting nonstop action should know that while the first chapter is intense, the rest leans more into psychological suspense. The entire story is told through the mother’s inner monologue, which heightens the isolation but leaves other characters less fleshed out.

I listened to this on Libby, and Emily Ellet’s narration was fantastic. Her voice work, especially for “the Corner,” added so much depth.

This is not just a thriller but a sharp, unsettling reflection on fear, doubt, and the fight to be heard. 

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emp93's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


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kvcatnip's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This is a really difficult read, and therefore a really important one. A mother locked in her home with her two young children while an intruder tries to hurt them and the following events are horrific to read. And yet, they expertly express the way women are not believed. We are categorically told that we are overly sensitive, anxious, paranoid, and obsessive instead of believed. Small things matter to us, because we learn to look for things everywhere. 

I cannot recommend this enough to every person who thinks they can emotionally or mentally handle it. This book deserves way more spotlight.

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elysianbud's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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lcg527's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75


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katikins's review

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dark mysterious tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.75

The darker twin to “men have called her crazy”. Whether we acknowledge it or not we are all forced to operate within societal hierarchies of credibility. The author really beats readers over the head with this throughout the book which creates redundancies that were hard to slog through. It was worth getting through though because once the  pace picked up again I couldn’t put it down.

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hollispaige's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

3.25

This is a tough one to review! The first 1/3 of the book, though suspenseful, was a lot of internal dialogue for my liking. Though, after getting a few chapters in i caught myself thinking “how else do you write a book while locked in a small space trying to not be discovered?” middle of the book was eh & fell flat for me, i was thankful that it was written as it would actually occur(male cops telling the victim she’s a hysterical, traumatized woman). the final third helped me decide that I did not dislike the book. Overall I’m between a 3.25-3.5⭐️ for this one. 

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hauntedantiqueshop's review against another edition

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mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

There are definitely some aspects that don’t work very well, a lot of the decisions made are frustrating, our main character has literally NO self confidence or backbone, it’s repetitive, and I do think the ending could have been better but! I didn’t hate it so we’re counting that as a win, babeyyyy!!!!! 

If the middle hadn’t lulled so much, this probably would have been a 4 star for me. I’m actually a little surprised this worked for me as well as it did but that could be because it’s kind of reminiscent of something I’ve seen/read before but I can’t place it. But I loved the setting, I’m always a sucker for winter weather in books. The inherent danger from the blizzard itself and the isolation of it all 😙🤌🏻 chef kiss! And the flashbacks to the pandemic/lockdown were believable, didn’t feel overdone at all.

okay, real talk now. HOW did Miss Unnamed NOT kill her husband??? She should have killed him. He wasn’t shit and deserved a worse death. He was so shitty and was raised by shitty people (dead momma included, idgaf). That father-in-law should have been made to severely suffered. I have never immediately hated a fictional man so fast. Oh and that sheriff sucked ass, dick, AND balls too. The police were a joke, all the way til the very end. Suggesting she forgive the father-in-law!!! Ridiculous. I was killing everyone with my mind the entire time.


^ me being evil, my bad (it will happen again)

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