Sierra's debut thriller pre-empted by Viking

American novelist Tracy Sierra’s "compulsive" debut, Nightwatching, has been pre-empted by Viking.

Harriet Bourton, publishing director at Viking, bought UK and Commonwealth rights excluding Canada from literary agent Helen Heller of her eponymous agency. Viking will publish in hardback, e-book and audio in February 2024. 

North American rights were pre-empted by Jeramie Orton at Pamela Dorman Books. Conversations with foreign publishers are ongoing, Viking said, while film rights have been optioned by Scott Free Productions (makers of films such as “House of Gucci”). 

Set in New England in an old colonial house during a snowstorm, Nightwatching is dubbed by Viking as “a compulsive thriller with shades of horror about the kind of nightmare that could happen to any of us”. The synopsis reads: “A woman is alone in her home at night, checking on her children as they sleep, familiar and defenceless in a warm mess of bedsheets. Then she hears an unknown tread on the stairs. And the woman has two choices. Hide, or fight. So will they make it out alive?” 

Sierra lives in Massachusetts and is an attorney. The house at the centre of the novel is based on the her own colonial-era home which features a secret room hidden beside the fireplace. 

Bourton said: “I’d been craving a compelling thriller—something that cut close to the bone with a propulsive plot—and from the opening paragraphs of Tracy’s debut, I knew I’d found it. With beautifully eerie prose and an emotional tension you could slice with a knife, Nightwatching is a sophisticated thriller with one hell of a defiant female protagonist. Tracy deftly explores what it means to be a ‘credible’ woman in society and the trustworthiness of the authorities who exist to protect us—big ideas wrapped up in an irresistibly page-turning thriller package. Readers of Gillian Flynn, Tana French and Shari Lapena will love it.” 

Sierra said: “I wanted this story to explore the primal fears and impossible expectations that come with being a mother, as well as examine the way women doubt themselves and are doubted. I’m beyond excited to work with the team at Viking UK and Pamela Dorman Books in the US.”