Reviews with content warning for Cursing - When No One Is Watching

Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole

44 reviews

kaylamoran's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a lot. Wow.
I've seen a lot of white reviewers complain that this book wasn't thrilling, wasn't creepy. As a white person myself I'd just like to ask if they read the same book. This book was the definition of unsettling. The creepiness, the dread, it starts in chapter one and never stops from there.
I loved Sydney and Theo. I loved how easily I could get into both of their minds, how well fleshed out and how human they both were. Both were so flawed but had such good intentions, and I was rooting for them both the entire time.

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hmatt's review

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Book-clubbing this one so maybe I'll have more thoughts after talking it through with others.

This didn't grip me. It's like I could see what the author was trying to do the whole time, but it didn't pull me in or immerse me in the "thriller" aspects. I felt it was very "nothing... nothing... nothing... OK GO... alright it's over" - great descriptors, I know.

A very minor, personal-preference type issue I had was keeping track of all the minor characters. It's such a short book that I didn't really get a lot of contextualization to help stick all the background neighbour characters' names in my head - I think it would have improved the read if I could remember them better.

Also, there's one part (arguably the most thrilling:

when she gets in the fake Uber

) that I still don't think I fully understand. Maybe I'm missing where this was explained. Again, the minor-character thing is maybe hindering something. But I wish the rest of the story had captured that same vibe.

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tofugoddess's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

When No One is Watching is a thriller/mystery based around the theme of gentrification. The story is done from two perspectives, Sydney, a black woman who has lived in her historic Brooklyn neighborhood most of her life, and Theo, a white man who just moved in across the street.

I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did, but unfortunately I couldn't get past some weird writing choices.

First, the villains in this book are comically flat. They're just pure evil, with no ulterior motives beyond being racist and wanting money. I'm not saying people like this can't exist in real life, but such one-dimensional characters get boring very quickly. Also, every scene with them has them explicitly explaining their evil plan to each other while stating facts that everyone present should already be aware of ("we hold all the power, the police and media are on our side!"). It felt like a parody of itself.

Second, the reveal of the conspiracy at the end was incredibly unrealistic. A supernatural explanation would have made more sense than what was decided on. Structural racism and gentrification are real problems to be solved, but the roots of the issues are complicated and multifaceted. They're not the result of some evil cabal meeting regularly and asking how they can do a racism today while also leaving an easily stumbled-upon paper trail. It kind of felt like what a conservative thinks a liberal believes about the world.

Finally, some of the descriptive language was just plain weird. At one point someone's laugh is described as sounding like jicama going over a grater?? I'm not sure what the author was going for there.

I like the idea of a thriller based on gentrification and still think the idea has a lot of promise if done differently, but I just couldn't get past my criticism long enough to fully enjoy the book. Three stars.

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kalmed22's review against another edition

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The frequent swearing and overall attitude of the main character had me concerned that I would not get much from this book. The F-word is used three times on the first page.

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girlonbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻 (five stars as rated in Sydney’s mamma's sunflowers)

The residents of Gifford Place are disappearing. One by one they are being pushed out of their homes - some forced to sell to highfalutin property investors while others just up and vanish. Sydney Green knows that there’s more going on here than meets the eye and is determined to get to the bottom of what’s happening to her friends and neighbors.

This book blew me away. Gentrification is a nasty business and this book succeeds in giving it an even more sinister spin with a very Get Out feel. Every twist and turn was genuinely enjoyable to me and the ending had me completely gripped! I love a good thriller, particularly one that is believable. I think what was most chilling about this book is that it isn’t really that far-fetched. After all, what’s more terrifying and depraved than the 400+ year legacy of white supremacy?

"People bury the parts of history they don't like, pave it over like African cemeteries beneath Manhattan skyscrapers.”

✨ Rep in this book: Black author, Black protagonist, own voices

✨ Content warnings for this book: medical stuff, forced institutionalization, wrongful accusation, racism, death of a parent, murder, domestic violence, abuse, dysfunctional relationship, white supremacy, abuse of power by police and government officials

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leahsbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This was one of these books that I’ve heard so many people raving about, that I just couldn’t resist snapping up the audiobook when it was available at my library. I’m so glad that I chose the audiobook too, since the narrators were outstanding. The woman portraying Sydney did a fabulous job of conveying her growing sense of unease as it escalates into outright paranoia. And the narrator portraying Theo did a wonderful job of balancing Theo’s desire to help with learning about his own privilege and how to be an ally to the Black community.

It started out a little slow, but I was enjoying getting to know the two main characters as it set the stage for the story to develop. And boy did the story develop. Once I was comfortable with the characters and the setting, things really did kick off, and the pace sped up. There were some truly surprising plot twists that kept me listening non-stop.

It wasn’t always a comfortable read, and there were some truly cringeworthy moments. Some of the characters make comments that are rife with microaggressions, and there are some outright racist statements made. The story incorporates a number of sensitive issues, including racism, mental health, gentrification, and how the Black community relates to the police, and it felt as though it was done realistically.

I often find that the scariest books are those that can and do actually happen. This story felt so true to life, that it was horrifying. While I don’t want to give anything important away, this is a situation that didn’t seem all that far-fetched. Gentrification is a very real situation that occurs in neighborhoods all over, and very few people really think about what happens to people to the people who get pushed out in the name of the almighty dollar.

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caseythereader's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

📚 I was drawn into Sydney and her neighbors' story immediately. WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING is tense right from the start, and somehow Cole manages to make a mystery that is mostly research-based quite compelling.
📚 There are so many wonderful details, from each neighbor's life story to the look of the buildings they live in.
📚 Cole weaves in so much actual history, too. She includes a list of resources at the end, lest a reader think this story is entirely fabricated.
📚 As much as I love Cole's romance novels, I could have done without the romantic thread in this book. It didn't really seem to add much.

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