When No One Is Watching
But Everyone Was …
After the implosion of her marriage and her mother’s illness, Sydney Green returns to the Brooklyn neighborhood where she grew up. However, upon her return, she discovers it’s not the same place. The neighborhood is being redeveloped by wealthy real estate firm and the middle-class black families that have been there for generations are being replaced by young white wealthy ones. The families who are refusing to leave are being besieged by mysterious incidents. This causes Sydney to do her own research/investigation into the history or the neighborhood and the things that are currently happening. Aided by her neighbor Theo, she stumbles upon a truly unbelievable conspiracy.
No One Is Watching is Alyssa Cole’s latest New Times Bestseller is something between a scathing expose on gentrification, Get Out, a dissertation on PTSD, and a conspiracy theory. It is trying to thread the needle and weave all these different plot points together that causes the story to get muddled and even lag in certain places. Each of these plot points would have made for an interesting story and served as a great central story line for the novel. But I think Cole should have narrowed the focus and kept the issue of gentrification at the forefront, the story would have flowed much better.
Overall Popcorn Rating 🍿🍿🍿/5
