BOOK REVIEW: WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING BY ALYSSA COLE

The gentrification of a Brooklyn neighborhood takes on a sinister new meaning…

Sydney Green is Brooklyn born and raised, but her beloved neighborhood seems to change every time she blinks. Condos are sprouting like weeds, FOR SALE signs are popping up overnight, and the neighbors she’s known all her life are disappearing. To hold onto her community’s past and present, Sydney channels her frustration into a walking tour and finds an unlikely and unwanted assistant in one of the new arrivals to the block—her neighbor Theo.

But Sydney and Theo’s deep dive into history quickly becomes a dizzying descent into paranoia and fear. Their neighbors may not have moved to the suburbs after all, and the push to revitalize the community may be more deadly than advertised.

When does coincidence become conspiracy? Where do people go when gentrification pushes them out? Can Sydney and Theo trust each other—or themselves—long enough to find out before they too disappear?

MY THOUGHTS

This book was very interesting to me. I have always been interested in gentrification so when I saw what this book was about I immediately became interested. 

Sydney Green, a young divorcee, decided to pick up the pieces of her life by moving back to her old neighbourhood. Yet something is amiss. People are disappearing, new people are moving in and these disappearances are really strange.

Desperate not to loose the history of the neighbourhood, she plans an historical walking tour where Theo one of the new neighbours volunteer to assist with the event.

Could Theo be trusted?. Theo himself has secrets.. Secrets that can destroy him. Would he find friendship with Sydney as they work on a project to host a walking tour? Or are they both in danger? 

In the first few chapters of this book I was a bit confused as to why this book was described as a thriller and then somewhere around the middle the story took on the thriller dimension that I didn't see coming. I found it was a very clever way to write about such an important social issue that affects I would imagine similar communities all over the world. 

I would recommend this book to readers not only because it is entertaining but for the amount of issues relating to  gentrification. 

There is also an element of romance, and also psychological thriller vibes making it a good read.

I am going to be reading more Alyssa Cole in the near future.