A brilliant thriller about gentrification and the history of Brooklyn
—Amanda Khong, Bookish Brews
Bookish Brews Snapshot
When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole
Sydney has lived her whole life in Brooklyn, but ever since For Sale signs have started to go up more frequently, gentrification has taken on a whole new sinister meaning…
💫 Atmospheric 🏙️ City Life 💀 Dark Content 🤔 Thought Provoking
Book Review
Eerie, tense, thoughtful, clever, informative, thrilling, compelling, and mysterious
I’m not usually a person who likes to read any kind of creepy things at all, because I will literally have nightmares for weeks. That is to say I’m a huge chicken. Though this book had some creepy moments, I was (thank goodness) able to survive it!
When No One is Watching follows Sydney, a girl who was born and raised in a historically Black neighborhood in Brooklyn. As time goes on, and Sydney grows up, she notices that her neighborhood seems to change every time a for sale sign goes up on one of the houses. This clever tale spins gentrification into the new monster, and makes us stare society’s evils down head on.
This book was written so well I was astonished the entire time. I loved how the author managed to make gentrification into the truest evil here. Honestly, I love when books make something we know to be bad into the monster. It’s always so clever and it makes a huge statement. It didn’t slip past me that even though there was a villain in here, the entire time I was tense because of racism and gentrification. It really made you look at the terrible harm that racism and gentrification causes communities.
My favorite part about this story was how the neighborhood took on a life of it’s own. It was a living, breathing, beautiful historically Black neighborhood, and you could feel the energy. But more so, you could feel the energy being leeched away. The underbelly of gentrification felt like a parasite that was slowly sucking the life out of the neighborhood, little by little. Even more pronounced by the tunnels (you’ll see), it was literally like the parasite of gentrification was putting in a choke hold the living organism that was the neighborhood. It was honestly beautiful. This may not be a paranormal / science fiction / supernatural story, but it really felt like there was a legitimate monster because of it. It was really cool, to say the least.
I thought an incredibly strategic, but not overwhelming piece of the story was that Sydney finds comfort in directing her time and effort in a historical tour of the neighborhood. Alyssa Cole uses this to inform us and educate us about the history of Brooklyn and New York without being overwhelming. It was a way to tie in legitimate history facts without having to shield it in a veil of fiction, where the reader is forced to not understand completely what is fictionalized and what is a hard fact. Because Sydney was interested in doing a tour of the neighborhood and had to research it, we were able to get real historical facts directly into the narrative seamlessly. It was perfect!
When No One is Watching is a thrilling mystery novel that makes you question who the real monster is. The entire setting is so immersive that it feels alive. The writing was wonderful, and it was really informative in the best way. A wonderful story by Alyssa Cole!
Background Knowledge: Night Doctors
I don’t want to give too much away, but I recommend reading a little bit up on night doctors before you pick this one up. I had some background knowledge (and some stories that I’ve read feature them) that I was really happy to have had before going into this book. It made it creepier but in a very real way. A very enjoyable way! Here are some resources you can read:
Fiction
Night Doctors by P. Djeli Clark — a short story featuring night doctors as supernatural beings. creepy, but really awesome. P. Djeli Clark is so cool you really need to read him if you haven’t already. Speaking of him,
Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark — this one isn’t as directly related to night doctors, but they do play a role in this book for sure. Night Doctors is actually a prequel to Ring Shout, so it is highly relevant!
Non-fiction
Fear Of The Dark: The Night Doctors In Folk Belief And Historical Reality — don’t hate me, I only skimmed this one. (that is to say, if someone notices this article is garbage, let me know I’ll find a new one) Anyway, here is more of an informational article about them.
