Love a good thriller!

Thanks to NetGalley / Edelweiss and the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for a review.

When No One is Watching really caught me by surprise. Gentrification is dismantling Brooklyn neighborhood by neighborhood, but there's something even more sinister going on beneath it. Main character Sydney returns to her childhood home following her divorce and her mother's illness. She's clearly hiding something, but the reader doesn't know what it is until more than halfway through the book. Tension builds slowly, but consistently.

Sydney feels like the neighborhood is slipping through her fingers; when she goes on a walking tour, the guide only mentions white history instead of the very relevant black history that made the neighborhood what it is. She finds herself on a mission to come up with an alternative walking tour. She'll examine the rich and complex history that formed Brooklyn. She finds herself saddled with Theo, her white neighbor who's out of work and would like to help with her research. He seems like he might be a good guy, but he fails again and again-they even come up with a code phrase Sydney can use when Theo's white feelings get out of hand. This novel is a bit of a slow burn; tension builds throughout, but when it really hits its stride, it's an intense thriller. I loved this book.

I did not appreciate this book. I thought the authors descriptions weren’t great and it was not a good read.

The more I think about this book the less I like it. I liked the beginning a lot but the end felt super rushed and not planned out

I was so excited to read an Alyssa Cole thriller because I love her romance novels so much. I liked this thriller a lot and I was drawn in by the story (not just the suspense.) It isn't a super fast moving novel so if that's what you're looking for in your thriller/suspense, probably look elsewhere. But if you are looking for a perspective that has been hard to find in the genre for some time - this is a great place to start.

There's no beating the premise of this book, which is basically that there is a vast conspiracy to steal from Black people one of the most valuable commodities in America that can help build wealth, community, and a sense of belonging — real property. Except wait ... there is and always has been such a conspiracy in America, and the historical record supports this. That history, which Alyssa Cole sprinkles throughout her thriller both to bolster the plot and educate the reader, makes this book much more than a light read. I learned a few things, and was felt compelled to read more, sometimes just so the learning could continue.

Here's the set up: Sydney Green lives in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood in Brooklyn in the brownstone owned by her mother since she was a kid. Except the speed with which her neighborhood is changing is accompanied by a strange series of unfortunate events befalling the longtime Black residents just as more and more white people move in. Sydney, having just left an emotionally abusive relationship is bruised, insecure and hiding a secret that has her justifiably paranoid, so the neighborhood goings-on have her second-guessing herself even while she grows more certain that something is very, very wrong.

Theo, Sydney's neighbor, is one of the gentrifiers, only he isn't "to the manor born" like his girlfriend Kim, and actually notices his Black neighbors. And what's more, he likes them as neighbors, not seeing them as the pesky holdovers that Kim and some of the other new white residents see them as. True, Theo "notices" Sydney more than he does anyone else on the block, but that becomes less of an issue when his relationship with Kim seems to be going south. Through a series of unexpected, and later, unsettling events, Sydney and Theo are thrown together and begin to unravel a much more nefarious plot than either of them could have imagined.

The concept of this book won the day for me, as did the author's humor. I laughed out loud more than once at her wry observations, and smiled quite often.

**SPOILERS AHEAD **

My small quibbles were as follows: there were moments where the white characters felt like caricatures, while the Black characters (even the minor ones) felt multifaceted and complex, and had backstories, even if they made brief appearances. And the root of the conspiracy, once uncovered, was still a little murky; and its breadth and reach a little fuzzy. "We have the media and the police on our side," one of the villains crows ... but the "we" was a little unclear. I didn't expect a tidy wrap-up, but the ending felt a little chaotic, with Sydney and Theo going on a Rambo-esque rampage which resulted in an unlikely standing down of the forces of evil, unlikelier still if they have law enforcement and the media on their side. Could be the author is planning to revisit the Sydney-Theo duo, or ... and this is my preferred interpretation, she's telling us that these issues of race and property ownership and wealth-building, and gentrification, all remain unresolved.

Recommended for those who like domestic thrillers.

AUDIOBOOK NOTE: I got both the galley and audiobook from Netgalley, so I read some parts and listened to others. The narrator is perfect for this project. Well done.

I love a genre novel that can take important, huge real world issues and explain them in an entertaining way. In this case, gentrification and cultural appropriation through the lens of murder, conspiracy, and more. The first part of the novel has an incredibly Hitchcockian feel to it. The latter half ramps the pace up tenfold and ends off the tale with a bang!

I couldn't finish this audio book. I found the narrator to be hard to listen to and the language of the book really started off quite intense. For both of these reasons, I wouldn't recommend the audio book. I may try to read the book to see if the story is good.

I really wanted to like this one because the premise sounded really interesting. I just couldn't get into it and just didn't enjoy the storyline. The ending was a mess.

As her first undertaking in the thriller genre, Alyssa Cole crafted an extremely intriguing tale, with a taste of the romance that her fans love. The comparisons to the film, Get Out, definitely make sense, but it doesn't take away from the originality of this story. The narrators did a wonderful job keeping my interest.

I enjoyed this book but wasn’t wowed by it. I appreciated the historical aspects to it (the author opened with a bang with the whole Black America theme park to which I responded “Surely not a real thing ...”), but I had a hard time connecting with the characters. I’m a fan of the unreliable narrator, but Sydney just didn’t do it for me. Many of the characters were either very, very good or very, very bad with no shades of grey. Even when “good” characters did “bad” things, they were for “good” reasons.

The ending veered into a bit of unrealistic territory for me, making this a middle of the road book for this reader, but I can see why it got such great reviews.

This book has me wanting to travel to Brooklyn. The author describes this vivid borough and the people that you want to move there but 3/4 of the way through the book you are like “shut the front door.” With such a plot telwist you realize all is not how it seems. Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC.

This was my experience with the work of Alyssa Cole. I enjoyed the narration of this audiobook, which can always make or break the listening experience of any audiobook. This novel had a unique storyline which I enjoyed. I will recommend to anyone that enjoys this genre of fiction.

When No One Is Watching By Alyssa Cole

Rating 3.5 / 5 Stars

Publication Date - 9/1/2020

** Thank you to Netgalley, William Morrow, and of course, Alyssa Cole, for an ARC (Audiobook) in exchange for an honest review.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!! When No One Is Watching was the perfect book to begin my “spooky season” reads. Having the chance to read it via listening was even better. Both of the narrators made everything come to life exactly how I imagined it.

Sydney was born and raised in Brooklyn, and her neighborhood changes with every blink of an eye. Everything she has known of her community is vanishing in exchange for Condos, FOR SALE signs, and up and coming restaurants and shops. To hold onto her vision of Brooklyn, Sydney develops a walking tour where she gains an unexpected assistant - her neighbor Theo.

What happens when a deep dive into history brings realizations to the surface? Suddenly, the familiar faces Sydney and Theo remember might not have moved into the suburbs. How does gentrification lead to something so deadly?

Highly recommend this guy for your “spooky season” reads. You will not regret it.

The narration was great, the story was compelling. Couldn’t finish it fast enough! The ending lost me somewhat; it seemed a bit over the top.

I acknowledge that the ending may have been uncomfortable for me as a reflection of my personal feelings about current events - the conclusion seemed like a worst-case scenario that would normally feel unrealistic, but sadly feels more plausible in today’s social and political climate.

Still a great story and definitely one to get those book club conversations fired up.

5 stars for most of the novel, 3 stars for the ending which veers into the unlikely before just abruptly ending. It works really well as an audiobook with two narrators perfectly playing their parts.

This is a gripping thriller with a hard-hitting theme of gentrification that, for the most part, reminded me of a mix of a Sara Paretsky/V. I. Warshawski mystery with a strong underpinning of political and social history.

Sydney is struggling: she’s up to her ears in debt, her mother is in a nursing home, and her Brooklyn neighborhood is rapidly changing and losing its historic Black character. She’s determined to hang on to her mother’s brownstone, but all around her, her neighbors are quietly selling up to White people before slipping out of town. Sydney is determined not to let that happen to her but she’s beginning to run out of options. The author does a terrific job of showing Sydney’s increasing paranoia and her apparently wobbling grip on reality.

The White people, for the most part, are hoping to be in on an up-and-coming area and are outrageously unpleasant and clannish in their attitudes to what they perceive as “them” - the original inhabitants. One exception is Theo, who moved in across the road from Sydney with his girlfriend, uber-rich Kim. Kim however, seems to have fallen rapidly out of love with Theo and is making it quite clear that they are no longer in a relationship. Theo seems like a good white guy, one who objects to the outrageously overt racism of some of his neighbors, but at the same time he comes to realize that he has ingrained negative attitudes about Black people.

The threads of the different perspectives of the Black and White residents are brought together in two walking tours of the neighborhood. One is an “official” tour that expounds on the rich White men who used to live in the brownstones back in the 19th century. In reaction to this, Sydney, with Theo’s assistance, is putting together one on the neighborhood’s Black history and current residents.

The author, through Sydney, delves back into history from the earliest colonization of the area through the waves of gentrification, linking these events to the current day pushing out of the residents by yet more White colonizers. There’s a slow, tense build up as Sydney starts putting pieces of information together before realizing that maybe her neighbors are not just quietly moving out.

As she and Theo begin to dig deeper into what’s really going on, the pace picks up and, sad to say, I felt it lost its thread somewhat as the author painted herself into a corner and could only come up with a solution that really lacks credibility. I was also left wondering what was the outcome of all the events that took place as we don’t get the usual epilogue where ends are tied up.

I was fascinated to learn that Ms Cole usually writes romances because this is an exceptionally solid and mature thriller (bar the ending). I would certainly read (or listen to) any future thrillers she cares to write.

Thanks to HarperCollins and Netgalley for the audiobook review copy.

Alyssa Cole’s debut thriller has been one of my new favorites to handsell! Thrillers are not something I normally pick up, but I’m such a fan of Alyssa Cole’s I had to read this! I was excited to see her tackle a different genre and I think she did a phenomenal job!

WNOIW is a slow burn psychological thriller told from two alternating perspectives, Sydney and her neighbor, Theo. Between her recently failed marriage and her mother’s declining health Sydney’s recently moved back to the Brooklyn neighborhood she grew up in. Unfortunately, Gifford Place is no longer the place of comfort and solace she once had, as the neighborhood is experiencing the effects of gentrification. In an attempt to to keep her community’s history alive she begins creating a walking tour and unintentionally gains Theo as a research assistant. This book STRESSED ME OUT(in a good way)😂 It was suspenseful and entertaining, but I really loved all of the historical information she included! I thoroughly enjoyed this one💙

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a free audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
I was excited to try a book by Alyssa Cole, because I have purchased her romance titles for my library, but never read them. A title with some suspense is much more my speed. As it turns out, the suspense is just the beginning - this title packs in suspense, interracial romance, and social justice in one little bitty story. Does it work? Weeellll, yes and no.
First off, the voice actors: without good talent, the story is nothing. Susan Dalian does a great job with Sydney Green, who has recently arrived back in Brooklyn after a contentious divorce in which her ex had her committed to a mental institution (more on that backstory, please, Ms. Cole!). Jay Aaseng voices Theo, and does a fine job; I didn't love the voice at first, it kind of conveyed a shlubbiness that made the character less attractive, but Jay brings a "regular guy" vibe that grew on me and worked well with the character in the end.
The story is well written (going to go back and check out those romances after listening to this), well paced and well plotted. It almost has a feel like it could be made into a TV property easily, and the fact that it's VERY far-fetched only helps in that feeling.
While the plot isn't very likely, it has just enough truth on its side that it is only a few small steps outside of reality: Sydney's neighborhood is gentrifying quickly - really quickly - and weird things are happening: well-loved, lifelong neighbors are disappearing, strange lights and noises are occurring and weird shifts are shaking the buildings, Sydney's housemate/childhood best friend goes AWOL and doesn't even reply to texts. It all culminates in an obnoxious white stranger arriving with a deed to the community garden in this historically black neighborhood and kicking out all the gardeners and destroying their crops! When the reader finds out what's going on, it's both obvious and not; if red-lining, gentrification, corporate greed, and police brutality were on steroids, this story would be the result. It's an interesting take on making the most everyday of injustices into real-life horror/suspense, and it's really quite enjoyable!
Who this is for: your younger or woker patrons who see the unease of losing black history through nefarious real estate practices.
Who it's not for: your older patrons who vote red.

The story was okay. It starts off kind of slow and builds as it goes along. It’s told through the views of Sydney, a black woman from the neighborhood and Theo, a white guy who just moved into the neighborhood with his girlfriend. The neighborhood is a black community in Brooklyn that is being taken over by a big company that wants to gentrify it and build their new medical lab there. The people who live there, pro dominantly black people, don’t want their neighborhood to change. They fought hard to buy their homes, but change is coming whether they want it or not.
#whennooneislooking, #netgalley, #indigoemployee

When No One is Watching is a thriller from author Alyssa Cole that explores the many effects of gentrification and racism in a Brooklyn neighborhood. Sydney has recently moved back to Brooklyn after her divorce and to help care for her ill mother and she is nervous for what is happening to her neighborhood. More and more of her Black neighbors are leaving the neighborhood and white families moving in to renovate the homes. Theo has moved in to a neighboring house with his ex-girlfriend as she renovates the house. The story is told from both Sydney and Theo's perspectives and it gives the events of the story a unique perspective as we see things through Theo's white narrative and also see the many micro aggressions and blatant racism that Sydney deals with on a daily basis. As Sydney tries to learn more about the Black history of her neighborhood, many of her Black neighbors are disappearing and shortly after a white family moves in, even her local bodega owner is missing and a new white owner in place. As Sydney and Theo work together to get to the bottom of what is going on in the neighborhood, an even scarier conspiracy may be going on in their neighborhood.

I really enjoyed this book and I also learned a lot about gentrification and how various systems are/were put in place to keep Black people from owning property and then how those same gatekeepers would then wrestle away whatever money and power Black people were able to get without those gatekeepers. The author shows the vast differences in Theo's privilege and the many forms of racism Sydney faces that I think will make readers better understand the racism that is very much present in all aspects of society and think about their own privileges. While I enjoyed the book, it was a bit slow in the beginning to get going in to the main plot of the story and then the last quarter of the book was packed with reveals and action that felt like it wrapped up a bit too quickly. Overall though I thought this was a good thriller with well developed characters that you really wanted to see succeed. I also liked the two narrators for this and their two different perspectives juxtaposed with each other. Susan Dalian's narration of Sydney's perspective in my opinion also helped offset some of the pacing issues with the story as her style of narrating added its own amount of suspense to the story. I will definitely recommend this book to all readers - those who like thrillers, those who want a fresh take on a thriller, and just those that like fiction in general.