By Alyssa Cole
William Morrow & Co, 2020. 352 Pages. Fiction
Sydney Green is Brooklyn born and raised, but her beloved neighborhood seems to change every time she blinks. Condos are sprouting like weeds, FOR SALE signs are popping up overnight, and the neighbors she's known all her life are disappearing. To hold onto her community's past and present, Sydney channels her frustration into a walking tour and finds an unlikely and unwanted assistant in her neighbor Theo. But Sydney and Theo's deep dive into history quickly becomes a dizzying descent into paranoia and fear. Their neighbors may not have moved to the suburbs after all. When does coincidence become conspiracy? Where do people go when gentrification pushes them out? Can Sydney and Theo trust each other, or themselves, long enough to find out before they too disappear?
The seamless way Cole weaves mystery with romance, science fiction and the cultural and racial implications of gentrification is an impressive feat. If you’ve enjoyed any of Jordan Peele’s films, this book is very reminiscent of his style of filmmaking. The setting was richly detailed, it’s a Brooklyn that’s recognizable, but Cole really excelled at creating an uneasy atmosphere and neighbors that are, somehow, both overtly and subtly sinister. You could really feel Sydney’s paranoia which made her a protagonist to root for, even with her own shady backstory clouding your ability to fully trust her. I recommend When No One is Watching to anyone looking for a suspenseful read that is issue-oriented. It succeeds on all fronts.
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Twenty-six-year-old editorial assistant Nella Rogers is tired of being the only Black employee at Wagner Books. Fed up with the isolation and microaggressions, she's thrilled when Harlem-born and bred Hazel starts working in the cubicle beside hers. Soon a string of uncomfortable events elevates Hazel to Office Darling, and Nella is left in the dust. Then the notes begin to appear on Nella's desk and it's hard to believe Hazel is behind these hostile messages. But as Nella starts to spiral and obsess over the sinister forces at play, she soon realizes that there's a lot more at stake than just her career.
By Oyinkan Braithwaite
Doubleday, 2018. 226 pages. Fiction.
Korede is bitter. How could she not be? Her sister, Ayoola, is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola's third boyfriend in a row is dead. Korede's practicality is the sisters' saving grace. She knows the best solutions for cleaning blood, the trunk of her car is big enough for a body, and she keeps Ayoola from posting pictures of her dinner to Instagram when she should be mourning her 'missing' boyfriend. Not that she gets any credit A kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where Korede works is the bright spot in her life. But one day Ayoola shows up to the hospital uninvited and he takes notice. When he asks Korede for Ayoola's phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and what she will do about it.
BW
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