When No One Is Watching

by Alyssa Cole

Overview

Rear Window meets Get Out in this gripping thriller from a critically acclaimed and New York Times Notable author, in which the gentrification of a Brooklyn neighborhood takes on a sinister new meaning…

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:"; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; Sydney Green is Brooklyn born and raised, but the neighborhood she loves is being erased before her very eyes. FOR SALE signs are popping up everywhere, and the neighbors she’s known all her life are disappearing. To preserve the past, Sydney channels her frustration into a walking tour: “Displaced: A People’s History of Brooklyn,” 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 efforts 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 – permanently? 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062982650
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	09/01/2020
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	216
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.83(d)

About the Author

Alyssa Cole is an award-winning author of historical, contemporary, and sci-fi romance. Her contemporary rom-com A Princess in Theory was one of the New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2018, and her books have received critical acclaim from Library Journal, BuzzFeed, Kirkus, Booklist, Jezebel, Vulture, Book Riot, Entertainment Weekly, and various other outlets. When she’s not working, she can usually be found watching anime or wrangling her many pets.

Editorial Reviews

★ 07/20/2020

At the start of this outstanding thriller from Cole (A Prince on Paper), Sydney Green decides, as a distraction from her elderly mother’s illness and other personal woes, to take a walking tour of Gifford Place, her historically Black Brooklyn neighborhood, which is becoming increasingly gentrified and considered as the home for a pharmaceutical firm’s massive new headquarters. Angered by the white tour guide’s detailing “the lives of the rich white people who’d lived there a hundred years ago,” but saying nothing about the area’s current African American residents, Sydney plans to set up her own neighborhood tour. As Sydney researches Gifford Place’s complicated history and racial background, she notices that longtime neighbors and friends are starting to disappear. Theo, a new white neighbor she met on the tour, lends some unwanted assistance in trying to figure out what’s going on. Sydney’s paranoia and fear, coupled with her guilt at placing her mother in a nursing home, fuel the tense plot, which builds to a credible finale. This stellar and unflinching look at racism and greed will have readers hooked til the end. Agent: Lucienne Diver, Knight Agency. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Cole deftly interweaves the fraught realities of American history with romance and adventure — this is a spy story, after all — and it is elegantly told.” 

null Vulture.com on An Extraordinary Union

"Suspense at its best... you aren’t going to be able to put it down until you finish it..."

Book Riot (Best Books We Read in June)

Cole is known for romance, but don’t let that fool you into thinking she can’t genre-jump with ease. Her first thriller, When No One is Watching, is a triumph. Sydney Green is a well-crafted protagonist and her paranoia is justified in this poignant story, which has a lot to say about racism and gentrification in America... It’s page-turning and engrossing all the while giving a history lesson on racial disparities and inequality. A timely read, and an incredibly smart writer.

Crime Reads

When No One is Watching is a thriller, Hitchcockian in its essence (those brownstones have plenty of windows, and a love story emerges as well), but with expert character development that demonstrates Cole’s ability to craft a story, it’s just as much about people as it is about place. The themes Cole explores throughout—racism, white greed, sickness, addiction, encroaching gentrification—are ones that are acutely aligned with the current social climate.

Parade

Combining the voyeuristic paranoia of Rear Window with the searing social commentary of Get Out, this thriller from Alyssa Cole turns gentrification into fodder for a horror movie.

Entertainment Weekly (20 New Books Coming in September)

One of our fave romance writers is out with a psychological thriller. This buzzy fiction book follows a woman who's looking into the gentrification of her Brooklyn neighborhood. Turns out there's something a lot more sinister going on. Cue paranoia, suspense, and some ‘Get Out’ vibes.

theSkimm

When No One Is Watching is romance writer superstar Alyssa Cole’s debut thriller…It’s a really creepy, smart page-turner.

Buzzfeed

The novel couldn’t be timelier, and it’s been praised as ‘Rear Window’ meets ‘Get Out.’ So yeah, you’re going to want to read it ASAP. No spoilers, but: holy plot twist.

Hello Giggles (11 Best Books to Read this September)

To turn a knotty social and economic issue into a riveting psychological thriller is no easy task, but then again, should we really be surprised the extraordinary Alyssa Cole has done it? When No One Is Watching uproots the steady gentrification of Brooklyn and transforms it into an eerie horror story where "revitalization" itself is the monster.

Elle (The 40 Best New Books Of Summer 2020)

"From the first page of WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING, I felt like I was right there in the gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhood, filled with sharply etched characters and dialogue that zings. Then bam!  I was knocked over by the momentum of an intense psychological thriller that doesn’t let go until the final page. This is a terrific read."

Alafair Burke

To turn a knotty social and economic issue into a riveting psychological thriller is no easy task, but then again, should we really be surprised the extraordinary Alyssa Cole has done it? When No One Is Watching uproots the steady gentrification of Brooklyn and transforms it into an eerie horror story where "revitalization" itself is the monster.

null Elle (The 40 Best New Books Of Summer 2020)

To turn a knotty social and economic issue into a riveting psychological thriller is no easy task, but then again, should we really be surprised the extraordinary Alyssa Cole has done it? When No One Is Watching uproots the steady gentrification of Brooklyn and transforms it into an eerie horror story where ‘revitalization’ itself is the monster.

Elle

Alyssa Cole’s upcoming social thriller When No One Is Watching is so freaking good... it’s the kind of intense and suspenseful read that you can’t put down, and when you do put it down you can’t stop thinking about it.

Book Riot

08/07/2020

Sudden disappearances and thinly veiled threats coincide in this first outing into the thriller genre from best-selling romance author Cole ("Reluctant Royals" series). The story sees an influx of white buyers of the Black-owned brownstones in the tree-lined Brooklyn neighborhood, where Sydney Green and her ailing mother own a home, begin to seem not so coincidental. Told in two voices—Sydney's, shaken but strong, and her brooding white neighbor, Theo's—this twisty tale tackles with a somber wit ongoing issues of race, class inequity, social injustice, and predatory housing practices. Why is Sydney, whose interest in local history makes her suspect it's repeating itself, paranoid the more she learns about the mysterious corporation moving in, buying up properties, and pricing longtime residents out of their homes? As Sydney's and Theo's interest in each other grows and danger mounts, can they really trust each other? VERDICT This sizzling summer thriller starts on low and heats up fast. Smart, sexy, and surprising, this suspenseful novel revealing the underbelly of urban gentrification will keep readers reading late into the night. [See "Turn the Page: Editors' Fall Picks," LJ 8/20.]—Laurie Cavanaugh, Thayer P.L., Braintree, MA

Library Journal

This book was a lot of fun, sexy, with a compelling story. I really enjoyed the romance... Lots of erotic tension and a deeply satisfying ending. Definitely dive into this one.

Roxane Gay on A Princess in Theory

an international cast of complex, multicultural characters...

Booklist (Starred Review) on A Prince on Paper

an international cast of complex, multicultural characters...

Booklist (starred review)

This book was a lot of fun, sexy, with a compelling story. I really enjoyed the romance... Lots of erotic tension and a deeply satisfying ending. Definitely dive into this one.

Roxane Gay

an international cast of complex, multicultural characters...

Booklist (starred review)

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