Reviews tagging 'Gore'

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole

39 reviews

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

kaylamoran's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.0

This was a lot.  Wow.
I've seen a lot of white reviewers complain that this book wasn't thrilling, wasn't creepy.  As a white person myself I'd just like to ask if they read the same book.  This book was the definition of unsettling.  The creepiness, the dread, it starts in chapter one and never stops from there.
I loved Sydney and Theo.  I loved how easily I could get into both of their minds, how well fleshed out and how human they both were.  Both were so flawed but had such good intentions, and I was rooting for them both the entire time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Torture, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Cursing, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Stalking, and Cultural appropriation

ivana's review against another edition

dark 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

amberinbookland's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder

lucyreadsfbe8a's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, and Murder

sheryl_macca's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

When No One Is Watching is seriously intense. It's dark, sinister, psychological, mysterious, challenging and really, really intense.

Although it's entirely fictional it's also based on historical truth. Hideous, racist, historical, shameful truth that should be highlighted. This book shines a floodlight directly at gentrification, fraud and exploitation. There's a serious and important message about institutional racism, capitalism at all cost and the entitlement of rich, white people in positions of power.

The setting is a single location, the cast of characters is few and there are just 2 POVs. This intensifies the suspense, the action and the shock.

I was, however, over half way through when I said to my partner, "if someone doesn't die in the next 10 pages then I just don't get it". Someone did die and much more besides which did bring everything together and focused the plot. The story escalated quickly from there but the brooding, tense build up took a little long for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders

moonlit_paperbacks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Racism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Gore and Panic attacks/disorders

n_asyikin_'s review against another edition

challenging dark 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

A thriller with a twist, having a unique take on the horrors of the gentrification of a primarily Black neighbourhood. The book should appeal to fans of the thriller/horror genre, but it brought with it a different approach to the genre by exploring it through racism & its many facades (e.g.,  microaggression, policing, systemic racism in housing, etc) which allowed readers to face the horrifying reality of these human rights' abuses to its victims.

The story was written evocatively, with the narrators state of mind being the central voice that coloured my perception as I was reading it. I found myself anxious when Sydney was anxious;

questioning, when Sydney/Theo was questioning their own perception particularly in scenes where their accounts could be considered unreliable, e.g., being drunken, or under influence of medication.

I think Cole's writing would not only roped you in by empathizing with the characters, you'd also experienced exhilaration & even disbeliefs as more mysteries were unraveled.

I think one of the main takeaways was that evil came in many different forms, & often, those who perpetrate them don't appear monstrous. Murder might be the most extreme form of violence, but this story highlighted the need to not overlook the less corporeal or physically "gory" aspects of discrimination & bigotry. If any, it should be talked about more due to its insidiousness, & subsequent long-term consequences (as reflected through the history Sydney stipulated for her tour).

That being said, some may perceived the ending with incredulity, particularly with the number of people involved in the conspiracy. But I think it was an ending fitting for the story; the antagonists should be considered as both a manifestation & carricature of systemic racism. For me, that was what made the story more effective; even with the tangle of conspiracy, it never felt farfetched. In fact, it made perfect sense.

'When no one is watching' is thrilling in every sense of the word! One of the best from the genre that I've read in recent times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Forced institutionalization

whatcassiedid's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

A spooky horror take on gentrification

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Medical content, and Death of parent

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Forced institutionalization

spellboundchapters's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This gave me huge Lock Every Door meets Get Out vibes. Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it. I learned a ton of stuff about gentrification, redlining, black people being kept from owning land/pass it on to their children, and that creepy amusement park??? Still horrified that such a thing existed.
I really liked Sydney's character (Theo was alright too - not a fan of the romance though but I didn't mind it), and the first 2/3 of the book overall got me really engaged (although there were some parts I found were a bit too slow paced). There were some really good twists and the atmosphere was very creepy and got my heart racing quite a few times.
But I found the pacing weird : one moment it's super slow, then something creepy is going on and then it's back to being slow and sometimes it's like that scary situation never happened ? And the ending was way over the top for me and felt too easy.

You wanna make me believe a facility owned by a multi-million company doesn't have any security guarding it and that everyone can just come in by a secret door?

The villains were super caricatural and we know from the beginning who they are.
This one is a personal preference but I just don't like when characters are being made unreliable with substance abuse - imo Sydney's paranoia/anxiety was already enough to make her unreliable.
And lastly, I would've liked for the epilogue to be another chapter, and have an epilogue set a few months later to see what happened to the neighbourhood. There were just too many plot holes and unanswered questions. They're all quite spoiler-y so I'm gonna hide them, except for this one : why is no one on social media?? The protagonists are in their 20s/early 30s and yet none of them uses social media to alert about the shady stuff happening and people disappearing? I don't buy it.

What was that whole bed bugs story line about? Were they real or was it just Sydney's anxiety/lack of sleep making her have hallucinations? Who was on the phone when Sydney called her mum/writing on the shared doc to Theo? Where is Sydney's mum's body? Who took it? How did they hack Sydney's phone during the Uber ride? Was Theo drugged the night Mr. Perkins disappeared and why? Who killed Drea and how? What happens to the kidnapped people at the end? Do they just go back to regular life? Do all the white people move out from the neighbourhood after the fire? Is Sydney keeping her house? How does she get away with everything?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, and Violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, and Murder