When No One is Watching

Suspense/thriller/horror isn't really my genre of choice, but Alyssa Cole is such a talented writer I gave this a shot anyway. I loved the NextDoor-style posts that started off a lot of the chapters, and the community garden/gentrification theme of the book reminded me of [b:Open House 46155804 Open House (Uptown, #2) Ruby Lang https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1565202407l/46155804.SY75.jpg 71108926], but obviously from a very different angle. I'm not sure what purpose Theo's Russian mafia connections and possible teenage-murderer backstory served, but it seemed pretty undeveloped and I think there was enough going on with him to make that unnecessary. Sydney's POV was stressful and exhausting, but that seemed to be the point - I was legitimately worried for her at times, which is a weird thing to think about a POV character in a work of fiction, but like I said, Alyssa Cole is just that good. The pacing was a little wonky toward the end, but I thought there was a really good gradual buildup of suspense throughout the earlier sections of the book. I probably wouldn't have read this if not for Alyssa Cole, but I enjoyed it more than I expected to.