Reviews tagging 'Mass/school shootings'

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole

3 reviews

livlamentloathe's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

I loved the build-up. I loved the intricate webbing of the neighborhood and white supremacy and patterns in history. I couldn’t stop reading! I sped through the book cause I was so curious about how it pieced together and what would bring it to a climax. But the ending did not pay off.

It fell a bit flat for me. And didn’t solve a lot of the intricate side plots. This book fell into its own trap. I think the plot got too big for itself so when the ending came, it could never have properly wrapped up all the loose threads. The main problem is a pitfall I’ve seen a lot of books struggle with: the villain became too omniscient.
There were ring cameras everywhere. The cops were in on it. Politicians both local and brand name, lawyers, nonprofits and nonethical companies alike. The white folk too indomitable by the end. And the ending does nothing to combat this. What is there to imply it won’t start back up immediately? If the gang of golden-oldies were in on it, why couldn’t they do more?? All they did was charge in to finish Sydney and Theo’s work?? They should’ve pulled Sydney into the work! They should’ve done more to stop local kids and families getting mixed into it! I can’t just believe everything is all right now. What about Drea and the man dead in Sydney’s house? What about the strange bedbugs?


I have more questions than answers after all that. And while I’m glad Theo helped Sydney through it all, I never trusted him. I was waiting for him to pull an Allison Williams the whole dang time. The ending felt like the end of a battle, not a war. And it’s hard to believe this one neighborhood can fight that big of a fight. Although I did appreciate the friendly neighbor motif and how togetherness is the way to win. I wish there’d been more closure.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

amberinbookland's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes

3.25

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

sheryl_macca's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

When No One Is Watching is seriously intense. It's dark, sinister, psychological, mysterious, challenging and really, really intense.

Although it's entirely fictional it's also based on historical truth. Hideous, racist, historical, shameful truth that should be highlighted. This book shines a floodlight directly at gentrification, fraud and exploitation. There's a serious and important message about institutional racism, capitalism at all cost and the entitlement of rich, white people in positions of power.

The setting is a single location, the cast of characters is few and there are just 2 POVs. This intensifies the suspense, the action and the shock.

I was, however, over half way through when I said to my partner, "if someone doesn't die in the next 10 pages then I just don't get it". Someone did die and much more besides which did bring everything together and focused the plot. The story escalated quickly from there but the brooding, tense build up took a little long for me.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
More...