When No One Is Watching: A Thriller

Alyssa Cole

Sep 2020 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

An instant NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY BESTSELLER!

"I was knocked over by the momentum of an intense psychological thriller that doesn’t let go until the final page. This is a terrific read." – Alafair Burke, New York Times bestselling author

*A Marie Claire Book Club Pick* 

Rear Window meets Get Out in this gripping thriller from a critically acclaimed and New York Times Notable author, in which the gentrification of a Brooklyn neighborhood takes on a sinister new meaning…

Sydney Green is Brooklyn born and raised, but her beloved neighborhood seems to change every time she blinks. Condos are sprouting like weeds, FOR SALE signs are popping up overnight, and the neighbors she’s known all her life are disappearing. To hold onto her community’s past and present, Sydney channels her frustration into a walking tour and finds an unlikely and unwanted assistant in one of the new arrivals to the block—her neighbor Theo.

But Sydney and Theo’s deep dive into history quickly becomes a dizzying descent into paranoia and fear. Their neighbors may not have moved to the suburbs after all, and the push to revitalize the community may be more deadly than advertised.

When does coincidence become conspiracy? Where do people go when gentrification pushes them out? Can Sydney and Theo trust each other—or themselves—long enough to find out before they too disappear?

Featured in Parade, Essence, Bustle, Popsugar, Elle, Shondaland, Marie Claire, Buzzfeed, Entertainment Weekly, Good Housekeeping, Brit + Co, Real Simple, Lit Hub, Crime Reads, Blavity, Ms. Magazine, Hello Giggles, The New York Times, Town & Country, Newsweek, New York Post, Refinery29, Woman's World, Washington Post, the Skimm, Book Riot, Bookish, Huffington Post, and more!

Ratings and reviews

4.5 stars. When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole is a socially relevant mystery that is quite suspenseful. Following her divorce, Sydney Green moves back home to Brooklyn. Counting on her mom and her best friend Drea to comfort her, she instead discovers her beloved mother is ill. Living by herself, Sydney is off work for the summer. She is a little aimless as she continues trying to put her life back together. Sydney’s community is close-knit and they look out for and take care of one another. Which is just one of the reasons she and others are upset that many of their neighbors are abruptly selling their homes. The neighborhood is undergoing gentrification and several of the home buyers are white and openly racist. Sydney’s mom has been under a great deal of pressure to sell her home, but she and now Sydney are emphatically refusing. While researching the history of her neighborhood, Sydney cannot help but see parallels between the past and the present. At the same time, she is also contending with heightened efforts to force her to put her home up for sale. Meanwhile, across the street, Theo and his girlfriend Kim Devries are basically living separate lives. Not long after moving in, Kim decides their relationship is not working. While she concentrates on renovating the house, Theo spends his time watching the neighborhood through the upstairs window. He is intrigued by Sydney and at a block party planning meeting, he volunteers to assist her with her research into the neighborhood. With the stalemate between him and Kim heating up, Theo becomes more involved with Sydney. Sydney and Theo are becoming very apprehensive about what is going on in the neighborhood. Sydney’s long time neighbors are leaving under increasingly suspicious circumstances especially since the current events coincide with the a pharmaceutical company moving into the area. With the situation quickly become dangerous for Sydney, will she and Theo uncover the truth about what is happening around them? And will Theo reveal the secrets he has been keeping? When No One Is Watching is an enthralling mystery with a timely storyline about racism, white privilege and avarice. Sydney is a compelling woman who has no patience for Theo’s fumbling attempts to understand the issues facing Black people in the past and present. Theo is an interesting man who is appealing and more than a little mysterious. As the pieces of the shocking puzzle fall into place, Alyssa Cole brings this chilling mystery to a stunning conclusion. A fast-paced and engaging mystery that I greatly enjoyed and highly recommend.

The book is a decent read. I really liked the storyline and the characters, and it takes the real-world problem of gentrification and packages it into a good read. It's not a particularly strenuous read, and I found myself able to devour the entire thing in less than a day! It's very engaging and a great way to spend your time. If you have not read it, I definitely recommend it. The rest of the review will contain spoilers. I think the book handled Theo in a relatively decent way. Even though he made his contributions, it didn't feel like a "white savior" kind of contribution, and the book was really self-aware about that kind of thing. His and Sydney's characterizations were well-done, and while I worried he would take on an overtly heroic role, my concerns were quickly assuaged. I found the conspiracy revealed toward the end of the book to be a little bit fast. I enjoyed it, as it was a great remark on how medical fields have continued to discriminate against black Americans and other people of color. The mention of the major antagonist both planting opiates and looking to offer a cure is definitely a poignant point. That said, I think the pacing was a bit quick, and the speed with which the situation was resolved after so much buildup seemed a bit deflating. It strikes an awkward place between a standard story arc and a more grounded-in-realism type of fall. The wrap-up was neater than I expected it to be, but, all in all, was an understandable and enjoyable conclusion to the story. The piece leaves the reader with a lot to think about, and I'm glad that I read it. While the situations in the story might be too clean-cut and fitting to a storyline to be directly transposed onto real-world events, I think there's definitely a real worth to reading the book in that it provides a new perspective on and road into awareness of gentrification in the modern day.

Not that great of a book. The first half was set up for stuff that didn't even happen. Several storylines were alluded to and never fully developed. Ending was bizarre and far-fetched. Very heavy on the white people as the villain trope. The writing style was about the only saving grace. The romance was written well.

About the author

Alyssa Cole is an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of thrillers and romance (historical, contemporary, and sci-fi). Her books have received critical acclaim from Library Journal, BuzzFeed, Kirkus, Booklist, Jezebel, Vulture, Book Riot, Entertainment Weekly, and various other outlets. When she’s not working, she can usually be found watching anime or wrangling her many pets.