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 neighbours, 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? (From Simon & Schuster)

Watch Out for Her is on the longlist for Canada Reads 2025. The final five books and the panellists who chose them will be revealed on Jan. 23, 2025.

Bailey is a journalist and editor in Toronto. Her first thriller, Woman on the Edge, was released in 2019 and was an international bestseller. Her other novels include A Friend in the Dark and Hello, Juliet. Her journalistic work can be found in publications including NOW Magazine, The Village Post, The Thrill Begins and The Crime Hub.

"I wanted to look at what happens when we're hiding our true selves," said Samantha M. Bailey in an interview with CBC Books. "I think only children are innocent. How can you be totally innocent if you're human? Because if you're human, that means you're flawed."

"And if you're human, that means you've been hurt and you've been traumatized and you've gone through difficult situations and you've hurt other people and you've made mistakes. I also wanted to explore the idea that we can't watch who watches our children when we're not there."