Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole

61 reviews

tillysg1's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective sad slow-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? Yes

4.25

I feel that one character had a fair amount of growth and development while another didn't.  Overall, the story was good, the twists were interesting.  The character of the neighborhood and the personal look at race issues is what really caught me here.  Great look at neighborhood culture and what that loss can look/feel like.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Hate crime, Racism, Sexual content, and Police brutality

Moderate: Addiction, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Bullying, Death, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Deportation

One short, but quite graphic sex scene (would be easy to skip if you prefer)

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

_cooper_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Deportation

caitlyn_rehs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Addiction, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism

hilarylouise's review against another edition

dark 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, and Murder

Minor: Domestic abuse and Sexual content

Gentrification

lesseraliterary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense fast-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

when alyssa cole releases her next thriller… i will be there standing in line even for the hardcover 🤧

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Police brutality

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Slavery

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

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 against another edition

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

neverlandpages4's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

• The cover is what first made me want to read it, but when I saw it was inspired by “Get Out”, I knew I had to read it because I love that movie. 

• I will say that there aren’t many resemblances, but they both have that energy of suspense and dread throughout the entire book/movie. 

• If you’re a fan of Get out or Ace of Spades, then I’d recommend this!

• I’ll be honest and say that I had no idea what gentrification was before I read this, so it was a very informative and interesting book that was unlike anything I’ve read before. 

• I absolutely loved how the writing was so casual and witty, it’s definitely very easy to read because it was like every day conversations that you hear, so the dialogue flowed easily. 

• I also liked the main character, Sydney. I loved reading from her perspective, seeing the world through her eyes to truly understand the way she felt. 

• This had so many great discussions about history, gentrification, racism, slavery, segregation, and so much more that I thought was very important and eye opening, and a lot of it was just heartbreaking to read, knowing that those things actually did happen. 

• I also adored the community and neighborhood in this book, the way that the neighbors looked out and cared for each other was really wholesome. It was like a big, loving family. 

• I was looking forward to the ending the entire book because I was constantly seeing people talk about the shocking twist at the end, and for me, a lot of it was predictable. There were still some shocking parts, but it was nothing I couldn’t see coming tbh. 

• Aside from the twist, the ending was really infuriating. I won’t spoil anything but some of the characters had my blood boiling. Just the audacity and the lack of humanity that they had was disgusting. 

• Overall, I’d highly recommend this book, and I think that it would be informative for everyone, but check the trigger warnings because it deals with a lot of heavy topics.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Gun violence, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, and Murder