I closed out February by reading When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole, as part of my university alumni book club.
Prior to reading the book, I had seen a lot of mixed reviews and was nervous about diving in. Additionally, Alyssa Cole typically writes romance novels so I was also a little unsure when I saw she wrote this thriller.
Honestly, I don’t know what I was worried about. I really enjoyed this novel and while it was a little slow to get into, once it got going it just took off and I couldn’t put it down.
This book use the concept of gentrification as the boogeyman in the story. Sydney who is a black woman and longtime resident of Brooklyn is starting to notice that her neighborhood is changing but there may be a nefarious reason behind it. Along for the ride is Theo a white new resident who has a past but is sucked into Sydney’s charm and spiraling world.
Throughout the story these two grapple with what it means to be black, white, poor, rich, privileged, and oppressed. Additionally they explore what it means to be a community and how generational trauma impacts and shapes these communities.
I will admit that this book gave me so much anxiety and made me genuinely angry at times, but that made for a fantastic story and it allowed me to explore my own privilege.
This novel hints at a potential sequel and I am totally down for that. In the meantime, I highly recommend this book though I caution that it deals with difficult topics such as anxiety, abuse, racism, murder, and human experimentation.