Every time I get an ARC, I'm hopeful that I will love it and can rave about it and tell everyone I know to buy it. Like some sort of hype woman. But with this one, this was a DNF for me. At 150 pages in, I realized I was bored, not even interested, and I did not like Sydney's character. It got to the point where I was enjoying Theo's chapters more and rolling my eyes when I had to read Sydney's again. I don't know why. This just wasn't for me.

In addition, I really don't like language in novels. I find it to be distracting. So many authors can tell their stories without language so I don't know why some authors choose to use it. It's a pet peeve of mine and the prologue of this book set a very angry tone and went over the top with language.

Not every book is for every reader. This one wasn't for me.

This book tackles many issues that are very applicable to real life and current situation. I read other works of this author before, and she has done a fantastic job. Her writing style is always direct to the point, and I am impressed with this one. This is her first book under this genre, and I hope it won’t be the last. This book is enthralling, hair-raising, and intense!

Timely and relevant to this summer of social justice, this twisty thriller is perfect for fans of Get Out. Cole’s tale will definitely keep you up at night thinking.

Can this kind of thing really happen? Alyssa Cole certainly makes you think so!. In this Get Out style thriller, Sydney starts noticing neighbors disappearing overnight in her predominantly black neighborhood in Brooklyn. is she crazy? Her ex husband certainly thought so. When she teams up with Theo, an unlikely partner, they discover that there is definitely something sinister going on.

Alyssa Cole really does a wonderful job depicting how it must feel for people of color to feel targeted. Although a work of fiction, it really makes you think, especially with all of the racial unrest in our country,

Thank you Alyssa Cole, Harper Collins, and Netgalley for this suspenseful ARC.

Wow! What a fantastic book! WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING by Alyson Cole is not only a thriller but it also has a lot of American history included that was a great source of information. I had no idea that things like this happened on this level so it was very eye opening for me.

I like the main character, Sydney Green. She has a close relationship with her neighbors and they love their Brooklyn neighborhood. They're in the middle of planning a party at the same time that there are new people moving into the neighborhood and old friends are leaving without a word. Theo (who now lives across the street from Sydney) offers to help her with the planning and she accepts. As they get to know each other, it's obvious there is an attraction between them. But even though there's a connection, can they trust each other when it comes to protecting their friends and themselves? I went back and forth on that which added to the suspence and anticipation of the very satisfactory ending. If you're looking for something that'll keep you guessing, WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING is a good choice.

Thank you Book Club Girls, NetGalley and Alyson Cole for this advanced copy. This opinion is my own.

Author Alyssa Cole writes an intriguing tale of on the topic of gentrification. The book pulls you in from the first page into a mystery that soon brings in themes of racism, prejudice, and survival. Some parts of the book tend to go on a bit while others reminisce of the movie "Get Out". The author does make good use of the Brooklyn neighborhoods which puts into focus the cruel realities of gentrification. This book is not for the audience of my library (elementary school) but it is an intriguing read that will stay with you for awhile.

Okay... so maybe this story is EXTREMELY timely or maybe I am just paranoid, but Alyssa Cole was able to create a thriller that seriously has me scared about where I live. I have never seen Rear Window, but I have seen Get Out and I definitely think Jordan Peele will want to use this story for a new movie. It was creepy and so well written. It definitely gave me tips to look out for. I highly recommend if you are looking for a thriller and if you are looking to support black authors!

This was nothing like I expected it to be, and at first, that was a good thing. Not the typical mystery/thriller we’ve seen a hundred times. The main topics are race and gentrification, which could’ve been a great story but about 65% through, I was bored and just couldn’t finish it.

Sydney is working on starting a tour of Brooklyn because the tour guides she sees going through skip over black history. She's been living in the neighborhood since childhood and has seen many of her old neighbors pushed out of their homes by overassertive real estate agents. Disturbing things keep happening around Sydney, and they could be related to the skyrocketing value of her property. Sydney is liberal with her cursing, so if you do not like books with strong language this book is not for you!

Theo has already broken up with ex-girlfriend Kim when the book begins, but their homeownership means they're still living under the same roof. He is disgusted by her racism and "concern" for the neighborhood when black people are just going about their business. He decides to become more involved in neighborhood meetings to make amends for Kim's bad behavior. At his first meeting, he meets Sydney and offers to help her with research for her tour. Theo's attraction to Sydney is obvious, and it appears she may find him appealing as well.

A series of suspicious events keep happening in the neighborhood, spiraling out of control. Racism is rampant among the new shop owners and homeowners, shocking Theo. Sydney and Theo confide in each other and try to figure out what is going on with the shady corporations involved in the neighborhood's demise.

The beginning of the book is a slow build and the action really starts in the last quarter. There are several twists that make you begin to doubt the motives of even the people you're rooting for.

This novel is recommended for those looking for fiction reads that incorporate the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Although fictional, the plot is all too plausible and timely.

Home is where the heart is. In America, it’s also where we store a lot of our wealth - not just the stuff inside the house, but the investment it represents in and of itself. Home can also be a source of great danger, which is the theme of When No One Is Watching.

A difficult divorce finds Sydney Green back in the Brooklyn neighborhood in which she was born and raised, but a lot has changed in the short time she has been gone. Slowly but surely the area is being gentrified, with the Black residents being pushed aside to make way for young, up and coming white couples who are eager to renovate the historic brownstones for which the community is famous. When Sydney takes a walking tour through the district to discover just what is being said about the region, her temper is pushed to its limit. The guide speaks of the distant past when the neighborhood had belonged to white families with nostalgia and respect and mentions nothing of the successful Black homeowners who have made the precinct their own. Sydney starts to add tidbits of information to every spot they stop at, making sure the full history is represented.  Some of the tourists complain about her interruptions but she finds an unexpected ally in her  new neighbor Theo, a guy with dirty-blond hair and “ridiculous cheekbones” who seems to find her additions genuinely interesting.

Theo had moved to Gifford Place with his girlfriend filled with excitement about the diverse, multicultural subdivision and the home they would refurbish and in which they’d build a life together, but their relationship imploded shortly after they moved in. He lost his job and burned enough bridges on the way out that future employment prospects look slim. His girlfriend responded by cheating on him, belittling him and forcing him to live in the part of their home that has no working water or air conditioning. To add insult to injury, she has increasingly displayed  a growing hostility and disdain for the Black denizens of their community, making him extremely embarrassed and uncomfortable.   Now they are barely civil housemates and he has a feeling even that won’t last much longer. He doesn’t want to leave his new home - he loves it - but she put up the majority of the down-payment and he is certain she will either want him to give her money he doesn’t have or get out.

Determined to enjoy his time there while it lasts, Theo attends a planning meeting for a block party and runs into the beautiful, dynamic young woman from the tour. He’s seen her around the neighborhood before but this is the first time he and Sydney have had a chance to do more than exchange casual greetings. When she mentions guiding a walking tour as part of the festivities so that people can learn the Black history of the area, he quickly volunteers to help her with the research. What they discover will put them both in greater danger than they could have possibly imagined.

The star of this story is the history surrounding Black displacement and erasure. Having recently read The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein (as well as several other texts on segregation), I can give full credit to the research the author did into the horrific accounts of injustice from the past (and present) upon which she bases her fictional but believable tale. I also appreciated Ms. Cole’s careful use of location. By placing her narrative in New York City, she highlights the North’s deep participation in racist practices.

The character of Sydney serves as a perfect focal point for this urban horomedy. A local gal who has just recently returned to Gifford Place, she is able to immediately grasp the changes occurring right before her eyes. Many of the residents have been blinded by the gradual pace and practical explanations of the neighborhood’s evolving demographics, but with her fresh yet well-informed-by-past-knowledge eyes she quickly grasps what is going on. I liked her no-nonsense style and her strong, capable personality as well as the vulnerability she displays. Her ex essentially gaslighted her, her mother (whom she calls mommy) has been slowly dying before her eyes, her neighborhood appears to be dying alongside mommy, and all of that has led to Sydney's insomnia. There are moments when our clear-eyed, clever and insightful heroine doubts herself and we find ourselves fearing she will question all she is seeing. This folds perfectly into the tale since it adds an eerie sense of uncertain terror to what is happening.

Theo, like Sydney, feels that life has bottomed out from under him. He’s worked hard to leave his former - not so great - life behind, and is eager to build something new in Gifford Place. Losing everything he’s built up all at once knocked the wind out of him and he’d crawled into a drunken hole to lick his wounds, and he’s been heavily dependent on endless inebriation to get him through the day for some time when we meet him. He gets to know Sydney just as he decides he’s wallowed in self-pity long enough and is taking tentative steps to take control of his existence, but it isn’t an easy relationship. She is naturally irritated by and resentful of anyone who has moved to the neighborhood as part of the gentrification process. Having a racist ex doesn’t aid his budding relationship with her.

I liked that their relationship is a slow burn. Both of them have dark edges in their history and wounds that need to heal, so it works that while the attraction is instant, the love definitely isn’t. They bond slowly over their interest in history and their growing concerns over what is happening in the neighborhood they love.

I liked less that the mystery was also a slow burn. In fact, it was essentially non-existent for the first fifty percent of the book. Combined with a romance that was moving at a near-glacial pace that meant the start of the story read more like general fiction, describing life in a New York neighborhood, than it did a romance or thriller. Fortunately, at the fifty percent point, everything gels and the narrative becomes riveting. The sales blurb promises that ‘Rear Window meets Get Out in this gripping thriller” and the second half of the novel definitely delivers on that promise.

When No One Is Watching is a timely, pertinent tale that I think is a must read, the story just too relevant to this moment in history to be missed. The slow start might make it a bit imperfect but the important history and insight into the perspective and emotions of those whose voices have been silenced in our country for far too long more than make up for that.

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Received this ARC from William Morrow and Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed this book. It follows a Brooklyn neighborhood that is undergoing a gentrification. It’s very timely for what is happening in our nation with the racial tensions and has a great mix of thrills that, even though could be far fetched, for some reason had me thinking it could really happen. Definitely recommend.

4 Gentrification Stars

I went into this one thinking it was a typical thriller, but that was an assumption and this book is so much more! The book focuses on Sydney who has returned home to Brooklyn and is horrified about what is happening to her neighborhood. Many of the neighbors that she grew up with have moved away and new upscale white neighbors are moving in. It all seems to be tied to the deal to renovate the medical center and now “revitalize” the neighborhood.

Strange things seem to be happening and Sydney can’t decide if she’s being paranoid or if there is more going on. Is everyone out to get her? She can’t decide if she can trust her new neighbor Theo or if he’s part of the problem. She’s frustrated trying to take care of her mom’s plot in the community garden and her burgeoning plans to run a real historic tour of the neighborhood are struggling to take off. Sydney and Theo have been doing research into the history of this part of Brooklyn and the many phases and ethnic makeup that it has had over the years.

Powerful forces are at work in this one and the age-old rule of “he who has the gold makes the rules” and redlining is in force here. There is a strong sense of community though and strong roots to this Brooklyn area.

This one was a surprise read to me and helped educate me on this issue. This is a very timeline read for the events going on in our world today.

Sydney goes home to take care of her mother. She notices the neighborhood has changed. Neighbors she has known her whole life have sold their homes and moved away and condos are being built everywhere. Her community was mainly a black neighborhood now rich white people are her newest neighbors. As Sydney is trying to figure out what is happening, she makes friends with Theo a new neighbor. I enjoyed this thriller and the story it told. It has lots of twists and turns and even some romance. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

This is my first reading of an Alyssa Cole novel. Due to the hyped description of the book, I came away a bit disappointed. However, this psychological-thriller story is a good one. The writing is solid and provides readers with plenty to think about.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this digital ARC for review.

I've only recently learned of Alyssa Cole, and I really enjoyed A PRINCESS IN THEORY despite not being much of a reader of romances, so when I heard Cole was releasing a thriller (much more my style), I pounced on it. I was a little anxious because some writers have a difficult time changing genres, but I needn't have worried. This book does have some romance elements and one sex scene, but that's definitely not strange for crime fiction, especially thrillers. Cole's tale of gentrification horror blends history and current events to provide scares founded on truths, and she nods to classics like REAR WINDOW and THE STEPFORD WIVES while matching the modern beats of GET OUT.

I was also a little worried that I wouldn't get into the story because it is set in New York City, a place that, for whatever reason, just does not interest me. Cole builds the character of this Brooklyn neighborhood as effectively as she does her human characters, though, and I was immediately drawn in. Some readers may not like the pacing, which starts off a little slowly, but the first chapters are chock full of foreshadowing if you're paying attention, so maybe it's just as well it doesn't start off with a bunch of spook and flash. There were lots of points where I wondered why Cole made the narrative decisions she did, but looking back on the whole, they make a lot of sense. Even the loose ends feel purposeful to me.

I am purposely not saying much about the plot because I don't want to spoil this for anybody. I'll just say that once that long fuse burns down, things really explode. Cole's perspective on the conspiracy theory trope gives it new, thought-provoking life. The ending may not be super realistic in some ways, but in others it is far too real.

If you liked LOVECRAFT COUNTRY, you should try this. But if you don't know what redlining is, you need to read this.

I have mixed feelings about this one. What I liked was the setting and the main character, Sydney Green, and what she was trying to accomplish. I liked that she was a strong, black woman who was trying to make a difference in her community and bring to light the foibles and misconceptions of her white neighbors. I found the first half to be ok but wordy and wandering at times. The second part was too far-fetched to me and was unauthentic. Still, this was a worthwhile read and left me with a lot to think about.

Wonderful telling of the gentrification of Brooklyn by whites trying to usurp the long term African American residents of their beautiful brownstones.

This is a very timely novel, since the protagonist is a black woman in Brooklyn and it reflects current life. It is a thriller but seemed very much like it could actually happen. Interesting to read about Brooklyn’s history and gentrification. I have to admit I feel a bit like maybe I’m too old To relate to this, and I didn’t like all the use of the f bomb.

When No One Is Watching is my first Alyssa Cole novel, but I know it won't be my last. Let's just say that my expectations were sky high when I saw this described as Rear Window meets Get Out which are a couple of all time favorite movies, and for the most part it lives up to it. It takes it a little bit to get going, but once it does it had me hanging on its every word. It's begins as a slow burn mystery, but it becomes more of a dark thriller and what it does is also very unique. Plus, I enjoyed spotting all of the pop culture references - I really felt that Peter Parker quote. Anyway, I don't want to give anything away, but it's worth trying if you're a fan of those two films or the books of Riley Sager. I can't wait to try more of Cole's work in the future and I'm hoping she'll do more mystery thrillers in this vein.

An unflinchingly honest look at the deep rooted racism that still exists today. Alyssa Cole did not have to educate us all, but that's exactly what she did and damn did she do it well.

The atmosphere this book captured was phenomenal. The two POVs were a perfect way to tell this story. And I have to same, I loved Sydney so damn much throughout. The only issue I had was that the ending wasn't as flushed out as I would have liked.
But overall this was an amazing thriller and I highly recommend it!

Some trigger warnings: gentrification, racism, many many micro aggressions, talk of domestic abuse, drug addiction, death of a loved one.