NightWatching was a tense and deftly plotted book that preys on our darkest fears. During reading I veered between terror at the events unfolding in front of me to shock that a mother could manipulate events so, to disgust that we can live in a society that makes it so easy for such events to take place.
The story opens with a dramatic scenario. A mother is awake, late at night, in her home where she is snowed-in with her two young children. She hears a tread on the stair and slowly realises that this is not someone who should be there. 
My heart was pounding as I read the description of her waking her small children and running through her choices, before hiding. I dread to think how I would react in such a situation, so I’m glad I was reading this bit in the daytime!The chapters devoted to the moments of this break-in were gripping. The menace imbued in the character they refer to as The Corner was palpable, and the description of our character when she appears on the doorstep of one of her neighbours certainly made it clear how dangerous this was.
At this point, things took a very strange turn.
The police help her rescue the children, she is whisked to hospital and they are taken into the care of their grandfather. I imagined things would then chronicle the capturing of the intruder. Unfortunately, there is no sign of an intruder. There are anomalies in her account of events and the physical evidence. And the background of the family and their dynamics unfairly influences the way our main character and her story is received.
While I didn’t exactly enjoy this part during reading, as I drew towards the end of the book I realised just how clever it was. From the moment our character returns home and is vainly trying to organise herself and make sense of events, we’re encouraged to doubt her and to expect the worst. But this, chillingly, showed there can always be worse!