Sara-Jayne Townsend is a published crime and horror writer and likes books in which someone dies horribly. She is founder and Chair Person of the T Party Writers’ Group. http://sarajaynetownsend.weebly.com/
Sydney Green is Brooklyn born and raised, but her beloved neighbourhood seems to change every time she blinks. Condos are sprouting like weeds, FOR SALE signs are popping up overnight, and the neighbours 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 one of the new arrivals to the block – her neighbour Theo.
But Sydney and Theo’s deep dive into history quickly becomes a dizzying descent into paranoia and fear, as they uncover something more sinister than people just simply moving away from the neighbourhood.
The two main characters in this novel are initially unlikable. Recently divorced, Sydney is grieving and seems angry at the world. Theo is passive and lacks ambition, letting himself be bullied by his social-climbing girlfriend, until she decides he’s beneath her and boots him out of the house they are renovating together. Both Sydney and Theo are hiding secrets, and once those secrets are revealed, they do become more sympathetic characters.
The book takes a while to get going, focusing initially on the rather complex relationship that develops between the two main characters. The first two-thirds of the book are a bit like going uphill on a roller coaster – you know there’s something exciting coming, but it feels like it is taking forever. However, once Sydney and Theo pick up the thread of the sinister plot behind their neighbourhood’s gentrification; they reach the top of the roller coaster, and the rest of the narrative-ride races along at breakneck speed.
The issues of white privilege, black oppression and racism underscore this story all the way through – all highly topical in today’s world. Sometimes these themes make uncomfortable reading, but the book succeeds in raising awareness of these important themes, and are crucial to the story.
Anyone interested in the history of New York, or black history in general, will enjoy the history lessons that feature in this book. Fans of romantic suspense novels and stories featuring strong female characters will also find much to enjoy in this thrilling tale.
