Oh wow! This book is beyond intense! Vivian works at the CIA, specifically on Russian sleeper cells. She accidentally comes across some Russian agent’s pictures. One of the pictures just happens to be of her husband.

When I started this read, I was sure I would not like Vivian. I honestly did not think the author would be able to pull her off and not come across as stupid. But, this author did and did it in a big way. Vivian is smart, hardworking and absolutely not someone who should be taken in by a Russian agent. But taken in….oh she is! And with four children, how is she going to get out from under this.

Matt! Oh Matt! He is one cool customer! He plays his hand so smart and smooth. I had a hard time knowing what to believe. Then….THE ENDING! There has to be a sequel to this! It did not end right. I NEED TO KNOW! AND SOON!

This read is fierce! I agonized right along with Vivian. What are her choices? What will her next move be? Will she go to jail? Will Matt?

I received this novel from Netgalley for a honest review

Fast-paced, easy read, interesting details! It was a wonderful accompaniment to the Homeland marathon on Showtime! Mystery/spy/thriller is not usually my genre, but I truly enjoyed this one.

I really thought I would enjoy this book more than I did. A nice beginning, laying the groundwork for the thrills to come. However, the thrills never came.

Our heroine is a naive college grad who lands a guy and a job at the FBI. She's not a secret agent, but a lowly analyst, sifting thru computer files for clues to Russian Sleeper Cells in the US. Many years, and four kids, later, she stumbles across a file that includes her husband as one of the sleeper agents.

Maybe I'm too logical, too 'by the book', too expectant that an experienced FBI analyst would know to do the right thing. But her first reaction is to delete the file. And I'm not computer whiz but even I know that isn't going to take care of the problem.

Thus begins a journey of nonsensically lame decisions on her part, all in the guise of protecting the children. Even when its painfully obvious that her decisions are terrible for the safety of the children! I just didn't get it. There was no tension, just me yelling at the book after every stupid decision she makes brings her kids closer to being put in the crosshairs of the Russians.

And don't even get me started on the 'is he or isn't he' question of her husbands culpability in all this. In my mind the answer was pretty evident from the get go. And even so, after many twists and turns to get to the ending I saw coming, I still was so ticked at the pat title tying of knots into a bow that I slapped the book shut and forced myself not to toss it into the trash Which was good since I read it on my E-reader.

En bref, j'ai aimé plonger dans cette aventure, découvrir les personnages, ce qu'ils sont amenés à faire pour défendre leurs convictions et leurs familles et on ne peut qu'être toujours plus curieux de voir ce qu'ils vont traverser. J'ai aimé la façon dont l'autrice nous apporte les réponses que l'on pouvait en attendre, si j'avais vu venir certaines choses d'autres m'ont laissée sur les fesses et j'ai été totalement prise par la fin et ce dénouement. Très bien fait et addictif !

A political thriller about the Russians trying to interfere with our government agencies seems pretty far-fetched, right? All sarcasm aside, this was a solid thriller. The characters are forced into horrible situations, requiring them to make impossible decisions to ensure their own safety and the safety of those around them. I probably would've given it 5 stars, but I'm still holding out for a thriller that manages to genuinely surprise me with the ending.

This is the most engrossing book I've read in some while! The action starts from page one and just keeps on until the end. There were so many possibilities for where the story could go it would be difficult to predict the next turn. Sometimes when a story is so gripping through the beginning and middle it can be a let down at the end. I found the end of Need to Know very satisfying! Hard to put down, you'll be looking for extra moments away to stick your nose back between the pages. A strong debut, this should be your next read.

The twist of balancing a CIA analyst’s family’s future against her doing the right thing provides an interesting platform for inner turmoil, doubts, and actions.

While this somewhat unique storyline mechanism provides an environment to explore actions and reactions based on the combination of patriotic and family responsibilities, I found that the decision-making as described was far too shallow and the eventual outcome very unrealistic.

+ moral questions about family and marital values were somewhat unique in the spy-thriller genre
+ technology and “fake data” were used effectively, making me wonder how to tell truth from fake (as I assume CIA analysts do every day)
+ Vivian, the CIA analyst, was faced with truly difficult situations and decision-making, but ...

- the process got out of hand with ever-increasing unlikely results and decisions
- interactions between Vivian and her husband and her boss were contrived, obvious ways to further the plot while shedding credulity
- final plot resolution totally unreasonable

If you like deeper spy/techno thrillers, then I recommend that you spend your time elsewhere. If you want an easy-reading “soft” spy thriller, then this book can be enjoyed.

Although I was provided a pre-release copy of this book vie NetGalley, these comments are not influenced in any way.

- posted on Amazon & Goodreads

Need to Know is a book that will not let you sleep. I had not heard of the author and I decided to take a chance. Boy, was I ecstatic. The book kept me up at night, and I could not wait to finish it.
Vivian Miller is our hero, a CIA analyst who is looking for Russian sleeper cells within the United States. What she discovers is what makes Need to Know such a fine and entertaining thriller. The author, who has first-hand knowledge of the intelligence community also gives us insight into that murky and dangerous world. There is a lot going on in this well-crafted thriller. I recommend that you take this one with you on a long flight or another journey. The time will fly.

This book grabs you from the start, gets a little redundant in the middle (in other words get on with it)) and spectacular at the end.

This kept me guessing right until the end...and guessing again right until the last paragraph or so of the epilogue. I wanted to believe that some characters were truly strong or truly good! So many life choices piling up!!! Thanks to Netgalley/Ballantine Books(Random House) for the ebook.

5 "Holy crap, I didn't see any of that coming" stars.
READ. THIS. BOOK.

Viv is a CIA Analyst, with a perfectly normal home life until the bomb of all bombs comes right across her desk. I can't say much more without giving away the twists and turns of this amazing thriller, so I'll just tell you to read it for yourself.

3.5 not rounding up but again wavering.

Hooked almost immediately; it is a real page turner that keeps you guessing. Is Matt telling the truth -- or not?

But I couldn't help thinking I was reading a version of The Americans --a somewhat twisted around/ inside out version.

I do recommend it if you want an easy, entertaining read.

The author is a former CIA analyst; this makes some of the scenario quite believable.

A great political thriller that you will not want to put down! Great, strong lead character in Vivian, a wife, mother and CIA analyst working in the Russian department. As Vivian begins to uncover this Russian sleeper cell, she becomes more involved than she ever thought she would be. A very suspenseful plot line keeps the reader engaged to the very end. I can't say enough about what a well written book this is. There better be a sequel coming after this book.

I was sucked in immediately. Completely engaging. I had to keep taking breaks as the suspense ratcheted up--I couldn't handle the tension. Definitely recommend for fans of political thrillers, but also those who are interested in the new subgenre of domestic thrillers as well.

Pulse pounding is a perfect description for this book—I couldn't put it down! This story has everything...suspense, intrigue, romance...with twists and turns! I loved Vivian, a woman torn between her love for her husband, her children and her moral turmoil of doing what is right. I appreciated the way the writer took us into the past times in her life that now impacted her present-day decisions. Throughout this story, Karen made me love and want to believe in Matt's love and loyalty to Vivian and his family. Needless to say, I highly recommend this book to those who love a thrilling ride that keeps you guessing. I just want to know when the next book will be published! (I received a copy of this book for my review and am so pleased that this was offered to me; however, I would have gladly paid to read this...it is that good!)

Let me first say I thoroughly enjoyed this book from the time I started reading it to the end. So much so that I wanted the story to continue. For me that is the sign of a good book. The book opens with you finding out that Vivian Miller works for the CIA as a counterintelligence analyst. She mainly sits at her computer and goes through information. This one day she is given a computer to go through and get all of the information out of it as possible. The women loves her job, her children, and her husband. Going through the computer she comes across a file friends. Looking for a Russian sleeper cell she opens the file and sees five separate files. She begins to opens each one of the files and by the time she gets to the last one she feels sick and if her world is falling apart. The author takes you through Vivian’s life to the moment she is here and what she is going to do. What is she going to do? This is not one of those books that you can figure out as you go along, no the author will add a little bit here and there to keep you guessing, but at the same time keep the story true to its bones. The way the author has Vivian second guess herself and yet at the same time she still needs to be a mother is fantastic. This is a wonderful story and very good characters. Like I said from the beginning I did not want this story to end but even that caught by surprise. A wonderful book!

A fast-paced, pulse-pounding, and very timely spy thriller. Completely warrants all the advance praise it has received.

Holy page turner Batman! I can not even imagine what I would do if my husband turned out to be a spy. Really enjoyed this one.

Lilian is a CIA analyst working on Russia when she discovers her husband is a Russian sleeper agent. The story follows the danger their family is in and what they do about it. I really enjoyed this book. The CIA aspect seemed authentic ; the author was a CIA analyst herself. It was suspenseful and I read it in one sitting. However, several times, there was mention of Matt being upset that Vivian was having difficulty trusting him, and he forgave Vivian for not trusting him. I had a real problem with this. She had to reason to trust or forgive him, and the fact that he thought she should was ridiculous to me. And made me angry that Vivian would even feel guilty or need forgiveness. I had a suspicion about what the twist would be, so I wasn't completely surprised, although it was still a great ending!

"Perfect Husband. Perfect Father. Perfect Liar."


Karen Cleveland's Need To Know is being sold as a ripped from the headlines debut novel by a seasoned CIA analyst. Cleveland apparently spent eight years as a CIA analyst, the last six in counter-terrorism. The author writes about Vivian Miller, a CIA Counter intelligence analyst, a wife, and mother who works in what's called the Russia Division. Her current job led her to create an algorithm that allows her to hack into the computer of a suspected Russian Spy named Yury Yakov.

But, while accessing Yury's computer and discovering a group of sleeper agents living in the US, Vivian also uncovers
something so damaging that it may end up shattering her world and cause her to lose everything that she's worked hard for. There is a huge plot revelation as soon as you open this book. No worries though, it isn't until much later in the book where the issue has to be dealt with in its entirety. In the meantime, we have to watch in agony as Vivian is forced to go against every thing she's ever stood for thanks to the lies and secrets from the man she loves.

Need to Know is a suspenseful book that will keep you focused on what is happening to Vivian as she struggles to keep her composure, keep her family together, and to not go down in flames like others have who have attempted to steal classified material and sell it to the Russians. This is a timely story for the most part. As I grew up during the Cold War, these sort of stories took the public by storm. I could never in a million years imagine how anyone, let alone someone who claims to love their country, would easily be swayed by Russians who use blackmail, and intimidation against those they target.

I would say that I think Cleveland gives the story a bit more realism having been in the same boat as Vivian. As a counter terrorism analyst, you are a prime target for Russian spies attempting to gain access to the most secretive aspects of what this country uses to protect not only its citizens, but to also attempt to stop another 9.11 from happening in our lifetime. But, I have a caveat for my rating and this is the reason for my rating.

After everything that happens to Vivian and her family, especially her older son, the author leaves a huge cliffhanger ending without resolving it. One could say it is a message to readers that they shouldn't get too comfortable with the way things were wrapped up. Or, one could say that you never can really know who is actually who they say they are, and who is actually someone else entirely.