Reviews tagging Dementia

When No One Is Watching, by Alyssa Cole

3 reviews

alexandrapaul's review

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

This book was crazy, but generally in a good way.  I could feel the unease and paranoia in the writing, however it could also be a bit confusing at times. I thought the conspiracy of gentrification being linked to

Spoiler

a corporation trying to take over marginalized neighborhoods was really cool

Spoiler

and I liked how the author linked it to the actual history of Brooklyn.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical content, and Violence

Moderate: Dementia, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, and Sexual content

sarah984's review

dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This starts out with a romcom atmosphere and then just keeps ramping up the tension. There were both laugh-out-loud moments and full-volume gasp plot twists. I've seen a few reviews that think the villains are too cartoonish but honestly, there's very little that an antagonist character says in this that I haven't seen a real-world white person say or come close to saying when they think no one is looking. Having the two POVs kept me guessing and also gave the author a way to impart the real-world info (eg about redlining) in a way that made sense with the plot.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Physical abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty, Dementia, Genocide, Slavery, Stalking, and Vomit

bexshelf's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Racism, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Dementia, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Sexual content, and Xenophobia