Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole

56 reviews

persimmons's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Stalking, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Blood, Xenophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Infidelity, Grief, Gaslighting, Genocide, Drug abuse, and Cultural appropriation

katyallred's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Racism, Hate crime, and Violence

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Police brutality, Slavery, and Kidnapping

Minor: Death of parent, Suicide, and Panic attacks/disorders

ivana's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, and Violence

tofugoddess's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Slavery

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Police brutality, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual content

amberinbookland's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Slavery, Stalking, Torture, and Violence

danajoy's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Medical content

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Police brutality, Slavery, and Violence

Minor: Excrement

sarah984's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

This starts out with a romcom atmosphere and then just keeps ramping up the tension. There were both laugh-out-loud moments and full-volume gasp plot twists. I've seen a few reviews that think the villains are too cartoonish but honestly, there's very little that an antagonist character says in this that I haven't seen a real-world white person say or come close to saying when they think no one is looking. Having the two POVs kept me guessing and also gave the author a way to impart the real-world info (eg about redlining) in a way that made sense with the plot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Physical abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty, Dementia, Genocide, Slavery, Stalking, and Vomit

caseythereader's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Violence

hillarydanielle's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Great blend of real world gentrification and racism in action with a thriller/suspense story line. 

The ending was a bit too quick and convenient compared to the slow build up and long character development

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Domestic abuse

amna_a's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Gun violence, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Addiction