You know a novel is working when you read through it in 48 hours and cannot stop eulogising about it. Alyssa Cole’s When No One Is Watching has seeped into my bones and inspired me to look under the bonnet of city life.
When No One Is Watching begins as a lament on the effects of gentrification. Sydney Green is mourning the rapid changes to the Brooklyn neighbourhood she grew up in. ‘For Sale’ signs and moving lorries appear every day, and the local population is becoming unrecognisable. The once clear skyline is now blighted by cranes and the continuous noise of rapidly built condos. Taking part in a local history tour, Sidney is dismayed when no mention is made of the black families that lived in the area. By contrast, the lives of rich white residents, who lived in Brooklyn a hundred years earlier, are well documented. Out of frustration, Sydney decides to create a walking tour of her own.
As she begins to research her tour, she learns of a pharmaceutical company’s rumoured plans to build their headquarters in her corner of Brooklyn. Sydney’s neighbours continue to move out, and local businesses disappear at an alarming rate. Incidents of racial profiling, harassment and misunderstandings leave Sydney shaken and paranoid. Have her neighbours moved out voluntarily, or is something more sinister going on?
Alyssa Cole beautifully evokes the twitchy-curtain hypervigilance of paranoia with a social media platform, “Our Hood”. If you are familiar with the regular contributors of “Next-door Neighbour”, you will recognise the judgmental tone. The comments of “Our Hood” are snippy and vibrate with racial undertones. Tension increases as Sydney finds herself besieged by unwanted visitors, late-night phone calls and noises coming through the walls. If you loved ‘Get Out’ Alyssa Cole’s thriller is a perfect accompaniment. This novel deals with racism, gentrification, capitalism and exploitation of the poor wrapped up in the tropes of a thriller. Cole manages to weave history into a thrilling narrative with a lightness of touch that is to be envied.
Clear Copy UK can understand why When No One Is Watching has been given such high praise. A Hitchcockian thrill ride for the twenty first century.