Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole

64 reviews

sydneyraereads's review

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Sydney Green is watching her neighborhood change right before her eyes. Her life-long neighbors are up and leaving, white people are moving in and renovating, and businesses are changing hands whiplash quick. Her plan to learn and share about the history of her neighborhood joins her with new white resident, Theo. This story is emotionally-gripping and unapologetically tense. 

All I knew about this book going in was Alyssa Cole is typically a romance writer, this thriller paints gentrification as the entity of evil, and the main character had the same name as me. This is a new favorite, hands down. I was quite literally on the edge of my seat during the latter half of this book and totally enthralled during the first half. I sat and devoured this in one sitting.

I have seen some complaints that the pacing was off for a thriller. I don't read a lot of thrillers, so I can't speak from genre experience. However, the pacing was absolutely on for me. It felt like things were consistently happening and the teetering between the mundane and the extreme was expertly done. Sydney's anxiety was heart-racing and Theo's openness was palpable. The beauty of this neighborhood was so vibrant and rich without distracting from the fact that this was a story under mysterious circumstances. I'm also not mad about the ending because it

was basically just the physical culmination of all the injustice and felt truly like reparations despite the multiple homicide with no follow up consequences being somewhat unbelievable

I honestly have no critiques. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Racism

Moderate: Addiction and Alcohol

shingekiyes's review

challenging dark funny informative mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

(listened to audio book from library)

i am not a thriller girlie but i happened to see Stephen King’s tweet recommending this book and i said, “romantic thriller? okay, let’s do this.” 

and OH MY GOD was it worth it. 

this book is REAR WINDOW meets GET OUT, Hitchcock meets Peele. it carries all of the best parts of the classic thriller genre, but was driven by a timely subject: gentrification. 

i was immediately obsessed with both narrators and how unreliable they both were, even when they tried to be truthful. Sydney and her many secrets and insecurities was lovable from the get, and Theo—poor Theo—was simultaneously hilarious and romantic in all his goofy, well-meaning but off-putting gestures. somehow the combination of the two, one extremely distrusting and suspicious woman and one extremely maleable and dishonest man, was perfect. i was rooting for them the entire time. 

the plot twists were very well timed. twist after twist, i audibly gasped. at one point i had to pause to soak in the information i’d just read. 

overall, a true thrill that made me glad i genre-hopped. thanks Stephen King for the rec. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Slavery, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

Minor: Racial slurs and Deportation

leebeeloves's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Police brutality, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

ret1234's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Absolutely loved this book. “Get out” vibes FOR SURE! Cole did an amazing job covering the racial history of brooklyn and new york and the horrors that gentrification impose. Slow to start but once it picks up I couldn’t stop thinking about it!!!!!!! MUST READ!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Colonisation, Classism, and Deportation

Minor: Addiction

anniexx13's review

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

The ending felt rushed and a bit ridiculous, especially because the plot up to this point was fairly gradual and realistic. It made the action at the end less authentic and hard to follow.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Addiction, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, and Blood

d0505's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Police brutality

mandi_lea's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Torture, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, and Alcohol

madmantha's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

One of the best books I’ve ever read, if not THE best. 
Thrilling, anxiety-inducing, emotional and yet hilarious at the same time. 

Can’t wait to suggest this read to others, I loaned it from the library but will definitely be purchasing my own copy. This is something that deserves to be remembered and celebrated for years to come. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Slavery, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

dcm7918's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Racism, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and Classism

vasha's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Were you watching when your neighborhood, or someone else's neighborhood, slipped away? If you get caught up in this tense novel, a thriller of gentrification, you can't look away, seeing through the eyes of Sydney who's losing her home and Theo who's seeing the destruction of what could be the home he's never had. It's a good thing this book is so well written, its characters are so likeable, and it has a happy ending (more or less); or its basis in reality could make it too grim. All the historical racism recounted in it actually happened; and the fictional events have real-world analogues, even the parts that may seem outlandish (

like the medical experimentation: Tuskeegee was long ago but the experimentation by US corporations in Africa was not, see  Unethical human experimentation - Wikipedia

). The one thing I didn't think so highly of was the way it goes from a creepy slow burn, with detailed setting, to the ending being an over-the-top action-movie cleanup of villains.

All the heads of a major corporation meeting in an abandoned hospital? Seriously?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Physical abuse, Suicide, Blood, and Vomit

Minor: Addiction, Genocide, Slavery, and Cultural appropriation