Wherever you go… she’ll be watching.
Sarah Goldman, mother to six-year-old Jacob, is relieved to move across the country. She has a lot she wants to leave behind, especially Holly Monroe, the pretty twenty-two-year-old babysitter she and her husband, Daniel, hired to take care of their young son last summer. It started out as a perfect arrangement—Sarah had a childminder her son adored, and Holly found the mother figure she’d always wanted. But Sarah’s never been one to trust very easily, so she kept a close eye on Holly, maybe too close at times. What she saw raised some questions, not only about who Holly really was but what she was hiding. The more Sarah watched, the more she learned—until one day, she saw something she couldn’t unsee, something so shocking that all she could do was flee.Sarah has put it all behind her and is starting over in a different city with her husband and son. They’ve settled into a friendly suburb where the neighbors, a tight clique of good citizens, are always on the lookout for danger. But when Sarah finds hidden cameras in her new home, she has to wonder: Has her past caught up to her, and worse yet, who’s watching her now?
A tense psychological thriller about a mother who must keep watch at all times if she wants to keep her family safe.
Reviews
— MARISSA STAPLEY, New York Times bestselling author of Reese’s Book Club Pick Lucky
“A cleverly written, twisty, and brilliantly creepy thriller. With compelling characters intertwined with obsession, lies, simmering menace, and secrets at its heart, this is a page-turner which drew me in and kept me hooked. A real must-read!”
— KAREN HAMILTON, internationally bestselling author of The Perfect Girlfriend
“A tense and claustrophobic thriller in which Bailey makes you question whether the heart of a family is a place of safety or danger. Paranoia, obsession, and secrets ensure a twisty read.”
— GILLY MACMILLAN, New York Times bestselling author of What She Knew
“Creepy, surprising, and relentlessly tense, Watch Out for Her is so much more than a thriller; it’s an unflinching exploration of the roles we allow women to fill. With dark secrets and cliffhangers galore, this thrill ride will keep you up long past your bedtime. I couldn’t put it down.”
— ANDREA BARTZ, New York Times bestselling author of Reese’s Book Club Pick We Were Never Here
Author interview ~
Finish this: “I can’t write without…”
I can’t write without coffee.
If I had to spend a week on a deserted island, I would need:
Books, notebooks, pens, coffee, and
music.
What career did you think you’d have as an adult?
I thought I’d be a psychologist.
What is something about you that people would surprise people?
I used to be a competitive jazz dancer, but both stage fright and being only five feet tall halted my dance career. It was the last time I gave up on something I really wanted.
Do you have a go-to first reader after you
feel your manuscript is ready?
My first reader is always Meredith Schorr, an
incredibly talented rom com author who tells it like it is and nails me to the
wall so I can rewrite and achieve my best work possible.
If you had to go back and do it all over, is
there any aspect of your novel or getting it published that you’d change?
While I do wish it hadn’t taken twenty years
for me to accomplish my goal of a traditional publishing deal, I don’t think
I’d change anything. Over those two decades of writing book after book, getting
close then getting rejected, and all the blood, sweat, and tears I shed, I
developed an iron will to succeed, a very tough skin, and found an incredible
community of authors and readers. As we all know, publishing is both an
exhilarating and brutal business, and perhaps I was meant to be older and maybe
more experienced when I finally achieved a few of my biggest dreams.
What is a bestselling book you’ve been
itching to read?
In my Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead
and Like a Sister by Kellye Garrett. Both look absolutely fantastic.
What was some unique research you had to do
for a book?
In WATCH OUT FOR HER, Sarah, one of my main
characters, is a photographer and a voyeur, though she doesn’t watch people for
sexual pleasure. Rather, she watches to find the missing pieces of her own
identity. I am not a voyeur, but I’ve always loved people watching. I both
needed to learn more about photography, which I discovered I have a passion
for, and also the kinds of lenses and camera capabilities needed to take photos
in someone’s bedroom from a distance. Of course, I only aimed the camera into
my own windows, but it definitely felt awkward doing it from the street.
Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
If I could help aspiring authors in any way,
I’d say that it might not be fast and it definitely won’t be easy, but dreams
do come true. Take risks, accept critiques, find your writer community, and
never ever give up. It’s so worth it.
Is there anything you’d like to say to your
readers and fans?
I’d love to say thank you. I’m so grateful, stunned, and overwhelmed, in the best way, by the support and love of my readers. The beautiful reviews, messages, comments, and incredible help I’ve received promoting my books makes me feel very lucky.
Samantha M. Bailey is the USA TODAY and #1 nationally bestselling author of WOMAN ON THE EDGE, which has sold in eleven countries to date. She is also a journalist and freelance editor; her work has appeared in NOW Magazine, The Village Post, The Thrill Begins, and The Crime Hub, among other publications. WATCH OUT FOR HER is her second novel. Samantha lives in Toronto, where she can usually be found tapping away at her computer or curled up on her couch with a book.
