Night Watcher

The novel opens with a prologue from the perspective of an unnamed killer who has just slit his first victim's throat. He composes a poem about "the Hiding Man" on an aged typewriter, mails it to the Portland Police Department, and dons a homemade white mask with stitched eye and mouth holes that he considers his true face.

Twenty years later, Nola Strate hosts Night Watch, a late-night paranormal radio show on Portland's KXOR station. Her father, Chick Strate, created the show 25 years earlier and passed it to Nola when he retired, though Nola resents him for being emotionally absent during her childhood. Her producer, Harvey Stephens, is a close friend with whom she shares unspoken romantic tension. Nola lives alone in a hillside house, her mother, Donna, having remarried and moved to upstate New York.

Unsettling events accumulate around Nola's home. She finds a wet boot print near her unlocked balcony door and discovers her security camera went offline overnight. That evening, a motionless figure stands under a streetlamp near a white utility van below her house, waves slowly when she calls out, then walks toward her before vanishing when her best friend, Amoli, arrives.

During Friday's live show, a caller named Felicity describes escalating disturbances at her home: relocated keys, slamming doors, and a persistent feeling of being watched. Felicity screams that a man with a ghastly white face featuring stitching around the eyes and mouth is at her window, then the call cuts off. Nola is paralyzed. The mask matches what she saw as an eight-year-old the night her babysitter was murdered.

A flashback reveals the source of Nola's trauma. When she was eight, her babysitter Mia Parsons was watching her while her parents attended a holiday party. Nola woke to noises, crept downstairs, and found Mia on the kitchen floor with her throat slashed. At the bottom of the stairs stood a figure in a white mask with stitched openings. Nola locked herself in her parents' bedroom and called 911, but the power went out. When police arrived, a message was written in Mia's blood: "I'LL BE WATCHING." Detective Jack De Lacey, a family friend, told Donna this was the fifth murder in three months by the same killer. Chick arrived 30 minutes later, claiming he had gone to the studio from the party.

In the present, Nola drives to Chick's house, but he dismisses her fears, noting police believe the killer is long dead. At his book signing the next day, Chick announces a true crime book about the Hiding Man, blindsiding Nola. She spots the Hiding Man on a staircase inside the bookstore, wearing the same mask and waving in the same robotic manner as the figure under her streetlamp. She chases him, but he vanishes. Near the elevator afterward, a stranger engages Nola in conversation about the book before she leaves.

Jack confirms the victim is Felicity Morton, a child psychologist whose throat was slit with no forced entry, matching the Hiding Man's method. He instructs Nola and Harvey to stay out of the investigation. When Nola requests her evidence file, Jack discovers two boxes from the original case are missing; Chick was the last to handle them. Chick admits he took the boxes for research but claims they vanished from his closet. Among her mail, Nola finds an unmarked envelope containing the pencil drawing she made of the Hiding Man at age eight. She receives a Reddit message from Mary Clairemont, who claims to be the other surviving witness, and they meet at a diner. Mary describes seeing the killer's mask through her window the night he murdered her neighbor Carrie Fenton in 2004 and recalls a security patrol vehicle in the neighborhood.

Nola confides everything to Harvey. They research the case on her balcony, where she notices someone in a hammock on her neighbor's deck who disappears when she looks again. The evening ends with them growing closer and falling asleep together on the living room floor. Nola wakes to find Harvey unconscious, bleeding from a head wound, with N-O-L-A carved into his right calf. The envelope with her drawing is gone, the balcony door is unlocked, and their phones have been moved. Harvey briefly regains consciousness and whispers that he saw a man with a white face standing over him.

At the hospital, police reveal Mary was also murdered overnight, her throat slit in her duplex six blocks from Felicity's home. Mary's driver's license was found on Nola's living room floor, linking the scenes. Jack reveals that Chick's wallet was found behind Mary's duplex and that 20 years ago Chick confessed to an affair with Mia. Chick had no solid alibis for the original murders, making him a serious suspect. Under interrogation, Chick reveals he was secretly meeting Jasmine Petri, the sixth victim and another of his affairs, the night Mia died. He describes a fan he humiliated at a bar who told him, "You'll be sorry," but Jack is unconvinced.

Nola investigates on her own. A barista near Felicity's house recalls a white utility van with a blue interior light. At Mary's duplex, Nola discovers Mary had a Northwest Protect security camera that had been going offline repeatedly, just like her own. Harvey calls from his hospital bed to report that a recording of their balcony conversation was sent to the Night Watch hotline. At home, Nola checks her security app and finds her cameras have been toggling on and off for days, explaining both the recording and the gaps before each attack. She connects the utility van, the camera manipulation, and the security vehicles, concluding the killer works for Northwest Protect.

As Nola prepares to flee, the power goes out. A chapter from the killer's perspective reveals his identity: Eddie Moor, a Northwest Protect employee whose son Benji was Felicity's patient, being treated for Eddie's abuse. Eddie's wife and son died in a car crash while fleeing him. Eddie blamed Felicity and killed her. He had been murdering since 2004, and after Chick humiliated him at a bar, Eddie targeted Chick's mistresses Mia and Jasmine as revenge while framing Chick by planting evidence and calling in anonymous tips. He stopped killing when Benji was born but resumed after his family's death. He has been hiding in Nola's guest room, planning to stage her death as a suicide.

The power returns, and Nola sees Eddie's masked reflection in the glass door. He lunges, stabbing her in the side. They struggle on the floor until Nola headbutts him and tears off his mask, recognizing the stranger who spoke to her at Powell's. Eddie pins her and whispers that he told her he would be watching and that this time he would get her. Nola knees him, grabs the fallen knife, and slashes his throat. Jack and officers burst in moments later. As Nola is loaded into an ambulance, her elderly neighbor Luther Crow, who uses a wheelchair, gives her a thumbs-up from his doorway.

Police find extensive evidence at Eddie's home: the surveillance van, files from victims' cameras, the stolen evidence boxes, and a typewriter being tested against the original poem. Chick is cleared. In the hospital, Nola reconciles with her father, who takes full accountability for his absence and infidelity. Donna flies in from New York, and the sight of both parents in her room brings Nola a sense of healing. One month later, Nola returns to Night Watch for the 25th anniversary episode with Chick as guest. He announces all proceeds from his book will go to the families of the 12 confirmed victims across Oregon and Washington. When a caller's panicked breathing triggers a flash of fear, the woman laughs that she was chasing her dog, and the studio erupts in relief. Nola reflects that the experience has given her a layer of armor. She no longer allows fear to control her, embracing her role as a Night Watcher.