“The fact is that during the last year I have killed three young people”: A pleasant waterfront community in California is subjected to a series of seemingly random killings, the victims all children. Dolores Hitchens’ intricately plotted novel explores a town’s collective terror, as the inhabitants slowly come to realize that one of their neighbors is engaged in a terrible and protracted campaign of murder for motives impossible to guess. The Watcher expertly explores the resulting mood of anguish and mutual suspicion, and the vulnerability of the young people who are the inexplicable targets of violent evil.