Author Lee Child has called her work, "solid gold suspense," and any reader who's ever stayed up late, devouring the novels of Lisa Jackson and Lisa Gardner with every light on in the house, should prepare to lose more sleep.

No American will ever forget the feeling of helplessness as we watched the twin towers crash to the ground in New York City. Wendy Staub has written this book in memory of those souls that were lost. She has done a fantastic job of not only portraying the events of that dreadful day but also delving into the thoughts and feelings of those that were left. In the midst of all the chaos the event incurred, the business of murder went on for the New York City Police department. Some took advantage of the situation to unleash chaos of their own agendas. A very good book and a heartfelt memorial. ( )

I'd have given Nightwatcher a higher rating if it hadn't been written in a third-person style that I don't like. Initially, I didn't like any of the characters, either. That changed. The backdrop of 9/11 helps to explain why the murders could have taken place with less than the normal police response. There are plenty of red herrings. So many revelations left me re-evaluating what I thought would be the solution. The tension grew so that I didn't listen to the last CD for a couple of hours because I was too keyed up.

I'm still not certain that Mac's wife died in the collapse of the Twin Towers. Was the suspicion about her background just another red herring? Will it be addressed in the sequel? Two things that that are quite certain by the end of book one is that the police have arrested the wrong person and Allison is still in mortal danger. I'm headed for my local library's online catalog to put book two on hold. ( )

The story itself isn't bad...the only problem is that this book is part one of a trilogy.

If the author would have written just one book (combining the three books) then I'm sure the book would have a been a really good read. I don't think that the author had to extend the story into three books, because the story itself seems to have benefited more from being contained in one book. Since "Nightwatcher" is book one of a trilogy, in this book the serial killer is not caught. The concept of a serial killer on the loose would have been better in just one book instead of extending the concept into two other books.

If you haven't read this book, then don't continue reading. If you have read this book, feel free to continue reading.

One detail on the character of Jamie that I didn't like was when the author made it seem that Jamie was a woman. I was so excited to read that maybe the serial killer was a woman because that would be an awesome twist to a story. But then it turned out that the real Jamie wasn't alive, and then later it was said that her father (Samuel) had killed her and it was actually Samuel who was pretending to be Jamie and he was the serial killer...What I'm trying to say is that it would have been better if the character of Jamie (the real Jamie) would have been introduced in a more simple manner, and not confusing the reader to think that the serial killer was a woman. The concept of Samuel pretending to be his daughter was interesting, but by then I wasn't interested in that character anymore. I would have preffered it the serial killer was a woman...and that was just because the author had made it seem that the serial killer could've been a woman.

I noticed a sort of flaw in the story...The story mentioned that Allison hit Jamie with a granite bookend. Now, when the detectives were questioning Jerry, they never thought to look for a wound in Jerry, since the story also mentioned that Jamie was in pain from getting hit by the bookend. So if Jerry was the actual killer, then the detectives should have noticed a wound on him. ( )

Read for Fun!
Overall Rating: 3.75
Story Rating: 3.50
Character Rating: 4.00

First thought when finished: Nightwatcher is the first Wendy Corsi Staub book that I have read and it was a great mix of characters/story.

What I thought of the story: Nightwatcher used one of the thriller tricks that isn't my favorite (I won't say because it will give something away) so that is why I rated the story lower. The writing was powerful and compelling. Most of the book I was trying to figure out the ins/outs and it was fun!

What I thought of the characters: Nightwatcher excelled in characters. They were so well written and done that I really started counting down to the next installment already.

Final thought: Wendy Corsi Staub is an excellent writer that brings a bit brilliant character writing to the thriller genre. ( )