I enjoyed this book! It kept me on my toes, wanting to know what the HECK was going on in that neighborhood. ( )

This book was absolutely terrible. I rolled my eyes all the way until the end because this was for a book club. And out of 25 of us only 2 liked it. Overall consensus is it’s not worth reading. In fact, so far this is being marked my worst read of 2024. I can’t possibly think a book could get worse than this…
Essentially the story is ridiculous and absurd about a cranky racist black chick who meets up with this nice new white guy in her neighborhood so they can study the history of the neighborhood for a tour she was going to be conducting. She’s ungrateful to him the whole storyline and then for some reason at the end they go shooting people up together. It’s literally one of the most stupid plots I’ve ever read.
It’s obvious the author has a huge problem with white people, and essentially any modern day issue. She literally brought in modern day issue she could think of. She’s made her main character a depressive racist who needs to get a life. She’s a romance author who tried to write a thriller. The first 250 pages are just black people this, black people that, white people are bad and taking over, oh no! Her paranoia over gentrification shows either personal trauma (probably self-inflicted) or the fact that she simply doesn’t know anything about true gentrification. For those of us who’ve actually been through it, it’s a long time coming, it’s not fast, and it’s not that noticeable.
She almost made gentrification to be comedic. The last 100 pages of the book were laughable. It was like she all of a sudden woke up and remembered she was trying to write a thriller….and it came out more like a bad Sci Fi movie with an unrealistic ending. And she had to bring in a white boy punching bag who her main character disliked for most of it until she screwed him so it was obvious she should’ve just written another romance, it’s what she knows.
And she should fire her publishing team. Her editors should never have let this one get through.
★ Don’t waste your time. ( )

Sydney moves home to her Brooklyn neighborhood and immediately notices a lot of changes. A lot of gentrification is taking place and she's not sure she likes it. A pharmaceutical company is looking to build its headquarters in her neighborhood and it's not going over well with some folks. When people start mysteriously disappearing, including her best friend, she's not sure who she can or should trust. One night, during a blackout, everything comes to a head. ( )

Thriller

This is definitely a "Get Out" style horror, where the very real racial tensions are covering up an even more sinister plot. Gentrification and underhanded property grabs set the scene for the undercurrent of dread you feel, and towards the end you start to wonder if that feeling was an overreaction. It's not. Very good, tho the relationship woven in wasn't my favorite. ( )

I feel like this one is barely a thriller, lots of set up, nothing moves quickly until 3/4 in. Overall a cool idea that was clever but it just fell flat for me. ( )

Very good book. But this woman (the author) has to seriously reconsider her POV on White people. Trust me, she is a racist -no doubt. She essentially blames White people for anything bad that happens to her or her neighborhood - even blackouts "we shutdown so the richer (read "White") can stay cool." Sorry, ah, no. Like I said, a good book by an author with a chip on her soldier and a racist attitude to boot. ( )

[I listened to the audiobook version narrated by Jay Aaseng and Susan Dalian]

Hnm.

This went from a 2 to a 5, and then to a middling 4 for me by the end of the narration. This felt like an imaginary neighborhood that was created in order to make the overarching conspiracy work. The conspiracy itself felt very genuine and scarily possible (and probably based strongly in reality), but the lack of diversity in the neighborhood itself is a bit off-putting for it being Brooklyn. There's mention of a sympathetic, but non-factoring, Indian woman (if I remember correctly), and a lesbian couple who the main character 'wishes they wouldn't be so visible in order to counteract a preconceived notion that black people are always homophobic'. I know some folks like that.... but... it felt like the queers were there just to have that line be included in the book to make a 4th wall breaking statement.

[side tangent, a lot of lines in this book feel like 4th wall breaking culture critiques. not a bad thing, but misplaced, I think, for the tone of this narrative]

These other folks are rarely mentioned, they don't factor into the story, and for the main character who is sad about all of their neighbors being displaced and (allegedly) aware of them all prior to this, I would think that there would be more queers, more non-black POCs, and more older grumpy white people.... but perhaps all of those people are already gone? Couldn't tell you but something felt off about that lack of incorporating more of these people in the neighborhood during this restructuring. Or at least showing that they're there, but simply indifferent to the changes happening since it doesn't affect them, which would have been a LOT more impactful than simply having every new neighbor being a racist. Those that standby to the plights of others are more frightening and dreadful in situations like this than the outright racists.

2/3 of the book is creating this neo-Brooklyn backdrop, and the last 3rd is when the book becomes the thriller it's suppose to be.... ugh, maybe the last sliver of it. It felt like the story got good when there was about 2 hrs or so left in this 8.5 hr audiobook.

I'm glad that I didn't stamp this as a DNF, and the narrators were killer. Which is why its a 4 star and not a 3. The book itself probably deserves a 3. ( )

I was really looking forward to reading this but it starts out very slow and just stays that way for most of the book. It didn't really turn out to be a "psychological thriller" in my opinion. I felt nothing except irritation with the main character. A 30 year-old woman calling her mother "Mommy" really got on my nerves.

The saving grace was the history that was brought up throughout the book. Although I'm not American, I am half-black so I found it really interesting albeit very disturbing. ( )

This was good, but the pacing is not the best. ( )

The gentrification of Brooklyn was at the core of the book. Race contentions and conspiracy theories were also at play. I listened to this book on audio, so that might have made a difference in my opinion. However, the writing and the tone didn’t sit well with me on this book. The twist at the end was somewhat predictable, yet it delivered a much greater punch...but still left things flat. ( )

Found the first half interesting, but the second half was just a blood bath. Surprised anyone was left alive. ( )

In a close Brooklyn community that has found itself in the center of a gentrification process, the changes that are happening take on a more sinister and darker meaning for long time resident Sydney Green, and new neighbor, Theo, is soon wrapped into this ominous world with her.
I will admit that when I started this book the language usage kind of turned me away, with a grown woman referring to her mom as 'Mommy' and an excessive, almost random use of foul language - not that I have a problem with cussing, it just seemed a bit obnoxious at the start. I think this later gets blended into the character and becomes normalized. On the whole this book focuses on a lot of racial discussion and experience, often jumping between the two main characters who are respectively black and white to give their differing perspective and thoughts. It also uses oppressive racism as the building factor of horror and unease, which work really well to make one feel ill at ease and there were times I had to put the book down and walk away out of disgust at certain interactions, but also I couldn't stop reading after the climax of the book and didn't want to put it down. The thriller part of this novel actually hooked me, which is rare, and made it exciting.
I don't think I loved the characters or thought this book really stood out - it has some faults, but it was a well done concept and definitely delivered on the feeling of a psychological thriller. ( )

2.5 stars. I loved the premise - not so sure about the execution. The way things resolved took everything a step (or two!) beyond believable. ( )

CW: mother commits suicide by overdosing, death of loved ones, medical experiments of kidnapped people, domestic abuse

Well that was a bit traumatic and very difficult to explain without spoiling the experience for others.

The majority of the novel is a slow burn psychological thriller, not a ‘running chasing’ thriller. The writer captures the growing unease in the community incredibly well. A few comments here, some inexplicable actions there and gradually these events start to chip away at the Readers comfort levels. Eventually I was quite rattled and angry as the ‘revitalisation’ project revealed it’s true and sinister nature. It wasn't a surprise who was involved and the extent of the corruption because it was sign posted fairly early in the novel.

THEN.

Then suddenly we are running and screaming and terrified and horrified and absolutely shocked and suddenly it’s over. I sat for a full 10 minutes in silence after finishing then let out a slow ‘jeepers’. To be honest I preferred the slow building tension throughout the majority of the novel and thought the gentrification theme was important as it actually happens and can be socially, culturally and economically damaging for some people. Don’t get me wrong, the last 10% was gripping. It just took the main idea in the book to a level that felt unrealistic (I hope it was unrealistic otherwise I will be in foetal position rocking under the table). A riveting and disturbing read. ( )

Fresh out from turning the last page, I had to put my thoughts down.

I’m giving this a 3.5.
The beginning was very slow. There is a definite feeling of unease as you’re brought into Gifford Place, a neighborhood in Brooklyn. Late summer and the author does a wonderful job of conveying the heat and mugginess, and launches into that feeling of something not quite right.
Main character, Sydney Green, is trying to recover from a bad relationship, moving back in to her mother’s brownstone. Her mother appears to not be well, and is absent for the most part, only revealed through bittersweet memories that Sydney has. The sweet neighborhood that Sydney was used to is changing quickly in front of her. Gentrification is sweeping down the street, watching her lifelong neighbors suddenly moving and selling their homes.
Across the street, into one of those newly purchased homes is Theo and is not-really-his girlfriend anymore. Earlier met by Sydney while doing a walking tour of the neighborhood. Sydney and Theo end up being brought closer together by working on a more accurate tour of the neighborhood, one that would really reflect who lives on the block currently, or in the recent past. But as Sydney and Theo begin to unearth the horrifying past of redlining real estate, they begin to see history repeating itself right in front of their eyes.
I would have enjoyed the plot moving on to bigger things sooner. So much of the development starts to really snowball in the last 1/3 of the book. The final reveal being unveiled in the last 30 pages was like literary whiplash, with a twist that didn’t really come out of left field but did give me a bit of pause and had me saying WTF?
I sincerely debated if this story was for me for the first 61 pages. Yes, I just went back and checked. In all honesty, I found it hard to read from the perspective of an adult black woman in America who is experiencing racism and gentrification. Because what goes along with that is the inevitable “white people bad” overview. And for those first 61 pages, I had trouble understanding if that would be the entire story. I also had to overcome my own assumptions of how the story was unfolding. I’m glad I stuck it out. I think the story is from a perspective that needs more voices and to be amplified to the mainstream media.
This was my first real thriller. Perhaps my perception of the plot timing is skewed due to that. That timing and the ending is what really caused me to rank this around a 3.5. ( )

This is the second Alyssa Cole book I've read and the first I was able to finish. She's a decent writer with some great ideas but she needs a better editor or critique partner or something cause her execution fails. Pacing is irregular, characters lack depth, inconsistent tone, etc. But the story is fun and if they made a movie, I would absolutely watch it. ( )

Though marketed as a thriller, this book is really more psychological suspense. It is rather slow moving for much of the book, as readers get to know the characters. Finally, the book concludes with an exciting and horrifying end. The book deals with gentrification of a poor neighborhood, much to the dismay of its inhabitants. People who have lived there their all their lives are disappearing. Stores are changing as new owners move in. Sidney is distraught with the neighborhood changes and her mother’s illness. She meets a new neighbor, a white man, and they gradually become friends. But the worst is yet to come. It was hard for me to like any of these characters. They could hardly express a thought without profanity. They admitted to being thieves, and worse. They all committed crimes, and blamed others. The author appears to be making a point about something she believes in, but she failed to get me on her side with such disreputable characters. The writing itself was disjointed, with questions left unanswered, story threads left dangling, and no justice for anyone. ( )

Mentioned in a blog post at https://booksbeyondbinaries.blog/2020/07/06/veronica-mars-but-make-it-queer/ ( )

The pacing is a little off for a thriller, but the originality and intrigue of the plot makes up for that overall. I could tell Alyssa Cole primarily writes romance novels because I was fully invested in Theo and Sydney's "will they or won't they" relationship. Timely escapism with substance, what more could you ask for in 2020? ( )

2022 pandemic read. Brooklyn meets Jordan Peele. ( )

I have never read any books by Alyssa Cole and clearly that is a mistake on my part if her other books are even half as good as this one. Highly recommend. ( )

One of the best thrillers I've read in a long time. Tied in with some timely topics and it's just *chef's kiss*. ( )

Gripping thriller about gentrification

I’m so delighted I read this Book Club Pick! Gentrification of a Brooklyn neighborhood takes on a sinister new meaning in this gripping thriller best described as Rear Window meets Get Out. When Sydney’s longtime neighbors start to move away suddenly, she thinks she's going crazy. Is she or is there something really wrong in her neighborhood? ( )

Nice combination of thriller, history lesson on race issues, and a little romance thrown in for good measure. It took about half the book to build to the suspense, and there were some holes in the plotting and story. But still a good book. ( )