Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole

23 reviews

kumquats87's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual content, Slavery, Terminal illness, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Infidelity, Vomit, and Police brutality

shingekiyes's review against another edition

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

toorsdenote's review against another edition

mysterious slow-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? Yes

2.0

Picked up a quick thriller, it was meh.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Murder

Moderate: Hate crime, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

exlibrisabigaillee's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Insanely slow until about 3/4 of the way through, at which point it goes insanely fast. Pacing is way off with romance that just draws from the plot. Good racial commentary at times, fell flat others.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Cursing, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Classism

vasha's review

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

vmgonzalez1003's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism

taelights's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

Honestly I had such high hopes for this book so I'm very disappointed about rating this so low because this idea had so much potential but I thought a lot of it was wasted. While I love a murder mystery type thriller this was completely different with it focusing on gentrification and racism and real world problems so I was so hopeful and so disappointed when it fell flat. 

I loved the general concept and what we found out was going on was very interesting and fucked up. However, it took forever to get to that element of the book and nothing really seemed to happen until the later 75% of the book. There seemed to be way too much filler in this book and not enough of the payoff. In fact it felt like there wasn't a true conclusion to the book at all with it stopping abruptly and the epilogue leaving so many unanswered questions. 

Sydney I thought was underdeveloped and I hated Theo. His POV was always so annoying to read and I thought he was a major creep. Like he's always watching Sydney in the apartment across the street and getting boners for her and acting like a teenage boy going through puberty with how often he's getting horny for her and it's like dude.... Yet he's supposed to be seen in a good light and as like the only non racist and non threatening white person who moved in…. Yikes. Like sure he's not part of the overall group of bad guys but. The bar is in hell. 

The romance between Sydney and Theo was unbearable too. Like I hated them together and thought Theo didn't deserve her and her suddenly wanting him after treating him like a crap until they hooked up made the romance make zero sense. So much of the book is developing this boring gross romance though. Like I know now that this author is a romance author trying her hand at thrillers but my god this seemed like a romance with a side of a fucked up plan featuring gentrification and racism rather than an actual thriller. 

I didn't vibe with the writing style. I saw someone say it read like a YA and I kind of agree. The characters felt very immature and Theo's especially it felt like reading a teenager's POV. 

Overall this thriller really disappointed me and was lacking in so many areas. I have way more complaints about this book than praise unfortunately. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Classism

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Cultural appropriation and Colonisation

cheye13's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I have quite a bit of Alyssa Cole on my TBR because I like romance, but for some reason this was the first I picked up. This was masterfully done – there were moments I felt Sydney's anxieties as if they were my own. The "everyday" anxieties – having a creepy uber driver, a local pub suddenly closed – are woven into the extreme so seamlessly that I bought into every second of the story.

I think this genre in general – the horrors of gentrification, the racism and eviction at play – is a deep well of content, and I haven't seen/heard of many other stories like this. It's a great way to bring attention or a perspective shift to a topic while also providing a good story.

From reviews, and knowing Cole is a romance author, I expected a lot more on the romance front. I didn't exactly like the romance scenes, but it didn't take anything away from the story imo. Theo fell a little flat as a character, but I liked them as a pair, and I was very relieved that Sydney wasn't alone/totally isolated through everything.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Classism

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Confinement, Drug abuse, Terminal illness, and Police brutality

additionally: bugs

mostlyliterate's review against another edition

dark funny informative mysterious tense slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, and Gaslighting

Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Slavery, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

girlonbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻 (five stars as rated in Sydney’s mamma's sunflowers)

The residents of Gifford Place are disappearing. One by one they are being pushed out of their homes - some forced to sell to highfalutin property investors while others just up and vanish. Sydney Green knows that there’s more going on here than meets the eye and is determined to get to the bottom of what’s happening to her friends and neighbors. 

This book blew me away. Gentrification is a nasty business and this book succeeds in giving it an even more sinister spin with a very Get Out feel. Every twist and turn was genuinely enjoyable to me and the ending had me completely gripped! I love a good thriller, particularly one that is believable. I think what was most chilling about this book is that it isn’t really that far-fetched. After all, what’s more terrifying and depraved than the 400+ year legacy of white supremacy? 

"People bury the parts of history they don't like, pave it over like African cemeteries beneath Manhattan skyscrapers.”

✨ Rep in this book: Black author, Black protagonist, own voices

✨ Content warnings for this book: medical stuff, forced institutionalization, wrongful accusation, racism, death of a parent, murder, domestic violence, abuse, dysfunctional relationship, white supremacy, abuse of power by police and government officials 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, and Murder