When No One is Watching

People bury the parts of history they don't like, pave it over like African cemeteries beneath Manhattan skyscrapers. Nothing stays buried in this city, though.

The first thing I need to say is that I read horror nearly every day of my life and can count on one hand the number of horror books that have scared me, yet this thriller gave me chills time after time and had me so anxious I was physically nauseated while reading it. Despite how much I loved it from the very first page, I had to set it aside for a few months because I knew I wasn't in a headspace where I could handle how immensely nerve-wracking this story was — mostly because it feels so terrifyingly, painfully real.

There's not a lot I can say that other reviewers (namely reviewers who can relate to this story's themes firsthand) haven't said better, so all I'll say is that this book is incredible and tells a story that way too many of us white folks still need to wrap our heads around. I loved every single page of this book, I loved Sydney and Theo and so many of the incredible side characters, and the ending was everything I wanted and more.

“They can break, but they can't erase. They can build, but they can't bury us.”

Representation:

Content warnings

racism in every imaginable fashion, parental death, murder, violence, abduction, drug abuse, divorce, previous abusive spouse. history of a character being unwillingly hospitalized for mental health