I began reading this book without any idea of what the content was. I was caught up right from the start. I did not want to put the book down. It was a unique story live for me.I would recommend this book. There is some language and violence but did not distract from the story.

The story opens with Sydney taking a historical tour of her Brooklyn neighborhood. I love historical homes tours, neighborhood tours, history tours, you name it. And I love Boston neighborhoods so I could so easily picture myself on this tour in Brooklyn. But that's the last calm moment as this story is off and running. Sydney meets Theo, a new neighbor and they decide to look into the history of the neighborhood to create their own tour. The neighborhood is changing before their eyes as gentrification takes hold, but something dark is moving behind the scenes. I loved Alyssa Cole's writing style - every scene, no matter how innocuous, could leave me with a sinister and suspicious feeling. The pacing was right on, no forced page-turning in the middle of this one. I couldn't put it down.

I went into the book semi-blind, and if you can do the same, I definitely recommend it. When No One Is Watching is a story of gentrification gone way wrong. Sydney has come home to Brooklyn, and her mother's brownstone, after a bad breakup. She finds comfort in the neighborhood, and the neighbors, she's known since childhood. But things are changing fast in Gifford Place, a little too fast, and more than a little bit shady. I connected with Sydney's character right away. She is smart, sarcastic, big hearted, and somewhat neurotic. I loved her snark. That was the big surprise for me, that in the midst of all the creepiness, a one-liner would pop up and make me giggle. But make no mistake, it IS creepy. And all the more so at this tumultuous time in our country. It feels like the events of this book are less outlandish fiction and more like a plausible situation. I got the chills a few times, and the tension never really let up. The ending did feel a bit abrupt, but I thought it was fitting.
4 stars

I received a review copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Thank you to William Morrow Books and Netgalley.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishing for the ARC of this intriguing thriller. This is 3-1/2 stars for me. I did not want to put it down and was very invested in the main character, Sydney. The story was just very different than what I was expecting; however, it is very relevant to today’s climate in relation to race relations. I expected a bit more “thrill” but it did have some nice twists.

I was excited to read this title because I love a good mystery/suspense book and enjoy Cole's writing style. What I loved most about this book is the foundational work Cole included in order to provide context regarding the dynamics within the neighborhood as well as its history. So much care is placed on outlining those components as it relates to those living within the neighborhood. Speaking of the neighbors, I liked how there was enough character development to distinguish general groupings (the newcomers vs. old timers, those benefiting from the changes vs. those being affected by them, etc.) without having to go into in-depth character histories. There would have been A LOT of ground to cover so I appreciated Cole's ability to seamlessly establish main characters/players from those who are still important to the plot but not necessarily a main character.

The one thing that was off for me was the pacing of the book. When I started reading it, it initially felt like it was going to be a slow burn on its way to a suspenseful end. However, as I kept reading, the buildup continued then came to an abrupt end. It would have been nice to have more consistent pacing; not necessarily even pacing because this sort of story lends itself well to the ebbs and flows that come with a suspense/mystery book. However, something that allows for more time for a buildup would have been fantastic. Overall, though, I enjoyed the book.

4.5 stars

The book was the perfect mix of thriller, suspense, and conspiracy, and I couldn’t put it down!

Gentrification of neighborhoods can be a double-edged sword. While some may see it as beneficial for progress and revitalization, others see it as a means to push out low-income families and change the entire history and culture of a community. “When No One Is Watching” examines the lengths others will go to eradicate people from their homes for their own gain...although the homeowners may not have left so willingly.

Sydney and Theo were fantastic characters. Sydney is rightfully paranoid about what is going on in her neighborhood, and when Theo shows up, it comes as no surprise that she is extremely defensive. Even though Theo is new on the block, he’s open to learning about the history of the neighbors, both past and present, thus gradually gaining the trust of Sydney. But with Theo harboring his own secrets, will Sydney still be able to trust him or will she be the next to disappear?

Overall I really enjoyed this book, though I thought it ended a bit abruptly. Nevertheless, I highly recommend it!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3383208667

When No one is Watching is stunning and powerful in its look at gentrification in a Brooklyn black community. Seeing people forced from their homes by illegal methods, by people who feel entitled, is enlightening about ways this has been done for centuries. While fiction, there is history as a basis. I highly recommend this book!

Started out very slow, not what I was expecting, Very thought provoking and mysterious with twisty turns and a crazy ending.

I enjoyed this historical thriller. This is a new author for me that I look forward in reading more from. This is a well written story that has details that make you feel as if you are part of the story. I also felt that the characters were well developed and they made the story engaging and easy to read. I had no issues connecting with the characters. This is a story about a neighborhood that has become something different before your very eyes without even realizing it. I highly recommend reading this book. It is a great rainy day book.

This is a timely book in the times of Black Lives Matter. The book takes a good look at gentrification & how POC feel when white hipsters & real estate flippers start overtaking a neighborhood. The book raises some questions about government meddling in neighborhoods of color. My problem with the novel was mainly in the timing. It seemed pretty slow going for the first 2/3 of the book. I wasn't really invested in either of the main characters. I actually wanted to know more about some of their neighbors. I did like the neighborhood postings at the end of each chapter contrasting the "Karenesque" complaints of the new white neighbors with the pressing concerns of the longtime residents. There is also a fairly gratuitous sex scene which I didn't really need.

The thriller part of the book really gets going in the last third of the book, but it happens so quickly that it is a bit of a letdown. I would have liked the ending of the novel to have been a little more drawn out.

All in all, I enjoyed the book & would like to read more from this author.

This book would have earned four stars from me but for the last quarter of the book or maybe the ending which not only seemed out of character but also way too violent.

I thought I was reading about a woman who comes into her strength and uses her self awareness to empower herself, well, through most of the book that was what I was reading. I enjoy books about strong women and women who find just how strong they can be but this was way too much. Okay, she’s human, she has set backs but she overcomes and then suddenly she overpowers the story and loses me at that point.

I realize the author was making a point about what is happening today in many cities but it seemed as though she was telling one story about people struggling to hold on to what is theirs and fighting “city hall” and big business and then, suddenly she switched to violence and vigilantism. I found the end of the book very disturbing, although, certainly it was already a disturbing book that made me look at urban renewal in a new way.

Thank you to The Book Club Girls, NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

This thriller looks at the true-story horror of redlining and its role in gentrification and the racism/white supremacy embedded in the American dream. If you're white and reading this book you should be prepared to be uncomfortable and prepared to have an open mind to learning that institutions in this country might be different than what you thought. That caution isn't meant to keep anyone from reading; on the contrary, this is a book that speaks out about issues that need to be heard.

Sydney Green has returned to Brooklyn to help her ailing mother. It's been a while since she's been home, and she notices the gentrification of her formerly Black neighborhood-she actually joins a neighborhood tour and notices the erasure of the many prominent Black artists and doctors who have lived there in the past in favor of discussing earlier white residents. Sydney decides that she's going to do her own tour for her neighborhood party that focuses on the Black history of the place.

Meeanwhile, Theo and his girlfriend Kim, who were actually on the same neighborhood tour that Sydney took, have moved into one of the brownstones. Kim is focused on home improvement and her and Theo's relationship is on the rocks.

The fact that Kim and Theo are able to move into this neighborhood illustrates part of the issues at hand. Rents and property taxes were being raised to the point of forcing people out of their homes (along with other troubles that come from overpolicing) and then the homes are turned around and offered to white people at favorable loan rates. Theo hadn't really thought about the deal they were getting until he starts to see that many of the long-term residents were being stretched to the limit in property that had been theirs for decades. But up until now, he hadn't been watching for stuff like that.

Sydney is struggling badly with depression and anxiety. She doesn't have anyone that she can really talk to, and a past institutionalization from her ex-husband has her gunshy about discussing her emotional issues too much with anyone. She doubts herself and her instincts, and she's also feeling guilt about her mother. But as she does more research into how redlining turned some neighborhoods Black until these neighborhoods were deemed desirable for whites again, and how then the neighborhoods are rolled over, she starts to see a pattern repeating.

This is a really frightening book because there's really nowhere for Sydney to turn. The institutions in place are literally against her, her mother isn't able to help, and she's afraid of appearing too needy to her friends. When one's very survival is at stake, what recourse do you have against injustice? Fighting means literally going up against the entire world.

I may have made this book sound like a textbook, but the author also takes pains to show the richness of the neighborhood, the well-known customers at the local bodega, the elderly man known as "the mayor" because he's in everybody's business for their own good, the local beauty shop, the neighborhood community events with glorious food. It's a lovely place for a novel to be set and I enjoyed visiting it.

Theo is drawn to Sydney, and the least believable part of the book for me is that Sydney would turn to him of all people to trust. The nascent romance really wasn't necessary for me, but I think the author writes quite a bit in this genre and it's not too much of a surprise to see her bring it into this book. Couldn't Theo have been black, though? Clueless white boy getting an education from Sydney and then seeing the rampant injustice wasn't a story I needed.

The set-up made me feel claustrophobic- there seemed to be nowhere to turn. I thought the atmosphere was done well. The climax of the book itself felt more like a movie climax than anything else. Suddenly the guns come out and many, many people get shot. After the emphasis on overpolicing, I had a hard time believing that all these people could get killed with impunity after the build up had been that everybody (banks, developers, police, store owners) were in on this scam and that they all had connections that made them untouchable. It felt too easy for the heroes to exact revenge and bring in justice at the end of a gun barrel. It was the weakest part of the book for me. But I'm not sure how the author could have found a happy ending that felt realistic, which is part of the tragedy of racism in the USA.

Brooklyn resident Sydney Green is watching her neighborhood change before her eyes. When she is out walking one day, she runs into her neighbor Theo. They both have shared views of their neighborhood and soon realize that their streets are changing for a reason ... a bad one! I was expecting more of a thriller but what I received is a thought provoking, suspenseful story! Sydney has heart and determination making her relatable. Born and raised in a city where she is confronted by change can be devastating. Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for an ebook ARC in exchange for my honest review.

If you're looking for a little bit of anxiety and a sneaky sense of unease, pick up Alyssa Cole's When No One is Watching. The comparisons to Get Out are spot-on, with tension built with drive-by microaggressions and a Brooklyn neighborhood gentrifying suspiciously quickly. The story is told in two POVs - Sydney, a black woman who grew up in the neighborhood, and Theo, a white man that recently moved into the neighborhood. I found both perspectives to be engaging, and it constantly makes you question who is a reliable narrator - and why.

The novel builds in the Brooklyn and NYC history of oppressing and harming Black folx, but also strives to show the ways in which Black folx have fought, survived, and built resiliency through community. While much of the tension comes from the microaggressions of the latest white neighbors that move in, the story ensures that you're not left feeling like racism is an interpersonal one, but a deeply structural and institutional problem that has yet to be torn down.

Beyond the issues that the novel tackles, this book is incredibly hard to put down once it gets going, and if you are a reader of Cole's romance (like me!) than you will be deeply rewarded with her brilliant prose in a slightly different way. There's lots of creative twists and turns that kept me on my toes, and will satisfy readers that love thrillers and trying to guess what will come next. If you are scared of what you'll find on your NextDoor thread and are looking for a book that will distract you in a stressful way - this book is for you.

Thanks to NetGalley for the early review copy, all opinions are my own.

When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole had me like wowwwwww, this could really happen. The right amount of fear, anger and anticipation all in the right spots BUT the pacing is so off. I enjoyed all those parts, however, it was so slow paced and some of the plot twist were totally guessable. Overall, I enjoyed the book.

When No One Is Watching is an Alyssa Cole book, and as such, it's intense, thought-provoking, and drenched in history. The characters are well-developed and I feel like I both know and am related to at least a few people we meet in this clever and relevant tale of gentrification and the uprooting of a neighborhood. As much as the book was gripping, the pace held the psychological and suspenseful aspects of the story at bay until just over the halfway point.

Much like a roller coaster, the story rises to the climax then takes off full speed, whipping around shadowy dark corners and dipping into truths about the American narrative that are so frightening we must rethink what's ahead on the straightaway for this country's future. If you don't mind immersing yourself in the ins and out of the characters lives and backstories--and taking a look in the mirror as you do--then this book is for you. Be warned: you cannot read this with eyes wide shut.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC for an honest review!

This isn’t your standard thriller. It took me a bit to get pulled in. I was hoping for more twists and turns. The writing is solid with good characters. It just wasn’t what I was expecting.

Thank you Book Club Girl and NetGalley for giving me this book to read and review.

I enjoyed this book after I was able to get into it after about the fifth chapter. It took a little time to understand where the story was going. Some of it was a little far fetched, but not totally unbelievable.

A neighborhood is slowly being gentrified of its long time predominantly African American citizens. One women who has lived their her entire life starts to take notice of strange occurrences and disappearances. New tenants start moving in and basically taking over the neighborhood. One such tenant befriends her and begins helping her investigate what is happening.

The end was a little too much for me to believe, but overall it was a pretty entertaining story with characters I enjoyed reading about.

Thank you to William Morrow and Netgalley for an opportunity to read this title prior to publication in September.

Sydney Green lives in her mother’s home in a Brooklyn neighborhood. She’s upset that people are moving out at such a rapid rate. She researches local history for a walking tour she’s leading and gets one of her new neighbors, Theo, to help her with the research. This didn't make for a cohesive plot.

The only way I knew this was a thriller was because of the description and it all comes to a head in the last quarter of the book. I want something “thrilling” to happen on the first page if I’m reading a thriller. This book was very slow and I had a hard time paying attention.

Some of the neighbors were interesting characters, but when one disappeared suddenly, nobody seemed to care much.

The history espoused made it read more like a documentary than fiction. The ending was a little far-fetched.

I have to admit, other reviewers loved this book. Some have a history with Cole as a romance writer and love everything she writes.

So, I can’t recommend this title, but read lots of different reviews and you may find this book is your cup of tea.

Tense and timely, a great addition to the thriller genre. A recommended purchase for all fiction collections, especially those trying to diversify their thriller offerings.