A brilliant and impossible to put down novel by Karen Cleveland coming out in early 2018 about a CIA analyst who suddenly comes across a document indicating her husband is a Russian spy. Is it true? Can she risk her family and her job to find out? This was one of my favorite books of the year, in part because of the great job the author does of moving between the details of family life and the stress experienced by the heroine as she agonizes about what to do.

A nifty thriller that fails on one critical level- Vivian thinks only about herself and not about the impact of her actions on others. She's a traitor. Sorry people but she is. The positives in this are that Cleveland doesn't have her running around assassinating people and the very well done sense of panic she feels when she finds her husband's photo. One the other hand- why does she never ask herself how Matt knew to target her? Those of you who think you know who was responsible, review the timeline for that individual and you'll see it can't be that one. (That's not a positive in terms of what was going on at CIA, btw.). I know this book had to go through the review process and to that extent Cleveland has done a good job of walking along the narrow line of what can and cannot turn up in a novel. However, I remain horrified at what Vivian did. Horrified. She thinks only of herself and not repeat not of all the others she might impact with her actions. She committed treason. AND, for those of you who think the end is cool- things just wouldn't happen that way. They can't and they don't. No witness protection on South Pacific Islands. This will make a good movie, I'm sure. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

This novel is firmly placed in the middle of our modern concern of Russian involvement in American lives, but it also works on a deeper level as a novel of marriage and children, work and the hard choices parents have to make in order to do the right things - and how difficult the right thing can be to figure out.

Vivian is a career CIA agent working on a program to discover Russian agents in the US. She's also a married mother of four, who has the more reliable job, the one with the insurance, and she has the terror that comes with an infant born with a heart defect and the day to day issues of daycare pick ups, school drop offs and coordinating daily life with her husband, Matt. One day at the office changes the way she sees everything and gets her into the field on a case that means everything.

I could not put this book down - it resonated on so many levels. As a career bureaucrat, I loved how the granular details of Vivian's office life, such as PIV card, pins, swipes, server rooms and cubicles (down to posted childhood art!) were perfect. The backstory of one couple's life as they become a family was compelling and real. This novel poses real questions on how far people will go to save their families.

This is an excellent political thriller!

Vivian Miller works for the CIA and is assigned to the Russian division trying to uncover sleeper cells. One day, she is analyzing the computer of a known Russian operative and finds a folder named "Friends", when she opens it up her life is turned upside down and her family is immediately in danger.

This story is a suspense-filled journey. The story is told from the point of view of Vivian and it gives you a glimpse into the everyday life of a CIA analyst. The author worked for the CIA for a few years and the novel is being adapted into a movie.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and highly recommend the novel to readers of thrillers and contemporary fiction.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this publication in exchange for an honest review.

I flew this fast-paced thriller in just a couple hours. I'd characterize it as a domestic spy thriller--it centers around espionage, but also Vivian and Matt's home life. There was a bit too much about daycare schedules and the like for my tastes, and it was a bit Lifetime Movie-ish, but it was certainly a fun read. It would be a perfect airplane book and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to get lost in a good thriller and doesn't mind a lot of details about family life and parenting.

Pretty exciting read but also a relatively predictable one. No spoiler but I guessed who the mole was early on in the story. My other issue was the backstory, which I felt stalled the other-wise fast-paced thriller. I found myself skimming pretty heavily through these parts. I got that she loved her husband and I got that she felt conflicted about not trusting him, her insecurity, and her fear. I got all this, and it made me wonder how Vivian could pass a psychological test to become a CIA counterterrorism operative. So three stars because I finished reading it. Possibly a good TV series.

5 stars - Not just “Need to Know” but also “Need to READ” 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

Need to Know came highly recommended from several of my Goodreads friends. I read the blurb and wasn’t sure. To be honest, it sounded a little dry, based on my typical reading preferences, but this is not my typical genre. That said, I trusted my friends. Wow, were they ever right!

I thought several times while I was reading that the CIA angle felt authentic, and when I looked up the author’s bio, it clicked. She had been a CIA analyst! I also think this went beyond the typical spy story because Need to Know was family-driven. Vivian and Matt’s children were adorable and very much in the forefront of the story.

I’m walking a tightrope on what I want to tell you so I don’t spoil anything. I will say I was on the edge of my seat and completely paranoid worrying about what would happen to this family! Who was trustworthy? The suspense builds and builds, and I was reading chapters in that “oh just one more” way that we avid readers do. There was such an intricately woven web in this story that I second guessed myself throughout.

Even if you don’t typically enjoy spy or political thrillers, this is a fantastic read! I flew through the pages and wish I could do it all over again! Well-done, Karen Cleveland! I’m hoping there was enough of an opening that there’s room for a sequel or even a series. I loved Vivian as a strong female character and would love to see more from her!

Huge thanks to Karen Cleveland, Random House Ballentine, and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC.

Need to Know will be released on January 23, 2018.

4.5 glorious stars. Guys, what just freaking happened!?! It's super rare that I don't have everything figured out before the end, but that ending...PLOT TWIST!

Vivian is a wife and mother to four small children and anyone who has ever had to be a working mom can vouch for the hectic life and mom guilt that goes a long with it. Vivian is part of the CIA counterintelligence working on cracking a Russian sleeper cell on U.S. soil. They are close, so close in fact that when a familiar face pops up while investigating literally everything and everyone she thought she knew and trusted over the last decade has been brought into question.

We all have the picture in our heads that given any circumstance we would do the right thing. But when your family and your children are at stake that ‘right thing’ might be hard to determine. For CIA analyst Vivian things just got harder. She has discovered that her husband Matt is part of a Russian sleeper cell, the very people she is tasked with finding. Now she has to discern who she should trust and just how far she will go to protect her family. The book does a good job of keeping you guessing who wears the white hats, and will leave you wondering just how well you know your spouse.

I read this book in one night. It’s not incredible prose, and it won’t change your life, and it ends on a cliffhanger, but it’s a keep-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat thriller. Is Vivian’s husband loyal to Russia or to America? Loyal to the terrorists or to her? I kind of guessed the big plot twist at the end (I guess I’ve watched too many crime shows), but I wasn’t expecting the Epilogue, which contained what is arguably the even bigger plot twist. Sure, there was a bit too much do-I-love-my-husband and I-love-my-kids-so-much from Vivian, which I could’ve had less of, and she was pretty naïve, considering she’s a CIA analyst. But honestly, (1) READ THIS if you like spy thrillers and (2) WHEN IS THE NEXT BOOK COMING OUT?! OH, also the film rights for the movie adaptation of this book were just sold to Charlize Theron! 3.5/5 stars

“My God, Vivian, what’s it going to take for you to trust me?”

Need to Know is an espionage thriller written by a former CIA analyst. I read it free and early thanks to Random House and Net Galley. This book will be available to the public on Tuesday, January 23, 2018.

Our story is told in the first person by Vivian Miller, a CIA analyst with a mortgage to meet and four small children. In the course of her research she comes across the identity of someone she knows and then the whole house starts to tumble, as she makes one bad decision after another, punctuated with the occasional wise choice to heighten suspense. Around the sixty percentile I found myself reading it for giggles as it becomes increasingly clear that our protagonist is as dumb as a box of rocks.

With this in mind, I have devised a drinking game for rowdy book clubs that meet in real life. Here are some ideas:

• Take a drink every time Vivian refers to Matt as her “rock”.
• Take two drinks every time she refers to Matt as their children’s “rock”.
• Take a drink every time you run across the word “ringleader”.
• Spin around three times and take a drink for every rhetorical question you find in the narrative.
• Take a drink for every stereotype you see.

Spoiler alert (*snerk*): you may want to clear your calendar the day after your book club meets, because it’s going to be a rough one.

Now I understand that there may be abstainers in your drinking book club, patient souls that either really like the people in your club, or that can’t find a book club made up of tea-totters. For those people I have special instructions:

• Take a drink when you find a well developed character.
• Take a drink when you find a positive female role model .

Another spoiler alert: provide this second group of people with water, because otherwise they are going home thirsty.

I can also recommend this title to women that are newly divorced, mad as hell, and looking for something to throw. For these ladies, I recommend obtaining a hard copy, because you won’t want to ruin your expensive electronic devices. Before commencing with this title, remove pictures, monitors, and china from the wall where you’ll be reading. Broken glass is nobody’s idea of a fun Tuesday night.

“They’re good, the Russians.”

Newly divorced, mad-as-hell, book-throwing women that have recently divorced a Russian man may even want to pre-order a copy. I’d do that right now if I were you.

Купить книгу.

I really enjoyed this book! I chose to read this one because it seemed like it would be a fast-paced novel, but also have the CIA/FBI aspect to it, and I always love those types of books and TV shows. I liked that this book wasn't overly complicated and focused more on the story of being a parent and doing whatever it takes to keep your children safe, rather than details of the work that Vivian was doing with the CIA. I think that could have taken away from the storyline. I definitely would read more from this author in the future!

This book was so unbelievably good because on one hand, I couldn't believe it could happen in real life, but on the other hand, I can believe it could happen, and I wondered the entire time how it was going to end up. I can't say anything else without spoilers. Except to say it was heart-pounding the entire time, and I couldn't wait to read it every day.

This spy novel explores what a mother will do to protect her children when the 1 person she trusts the most, her husband, turns out to be a Russian sleeper agent. Vivian has a good life, a loving husband, 4 children, a nice house, and a job she enjoys in the Russian section of the CIA. But her life is not what it seems when in the course of her work she discovers that her husband is a Russian sleeper agent. In her quest to protect him she endangers herself, her family and the United States. How can she trust? A fun read that has you yelling at the pages and rooting for her to succeed.

This was a fast-paced thriller that was part spy novel, part family drama. I could not put this book down! Need to Know centers around VIvian, and a CIA analyst whose world gets flipped upside down when her work and home lives collide. Lots of suspense and you never know who is the good or bad guy (even until the end!) I hope there is a follow to this book, I’d love to read more about these characters!

Thank you to Random House and Netgalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review!

Posted on Momma Says: To Read or Not to Read Blog on January 13, 2018

While I do love thrillers and suspense, I don't read a lot of CIA/Spy type stories, but the blurb for this one intrigued me. I started reading and I have to say that for most of the book, I wasn't sure how I would rate this one. I went back and forth between rolling my eyes at Vivian's decisions and being so aggravated with her that I wanted to shake her until her teeth rattled, especially a memory from the past would feature a big red flag. At the same time, I couldn't stop turning the pages. I had to see how it all came out. Then, I thought about her situation. It's easy to sit back with a bird's eye view and say what we would do in her shoes, but when faced with extreme circumstances, when everything we hold dear is on the line, what would we really do? In the end, I realized that this is not just a story about spies, it's also a tale of a seemingly good life disrupted by betrayal and deceit. The book is wonderfully written and any time that an author can keep me turning pages, stir up that much emotion, and leave me with gasp, she's done her job and done it well.

I finished Need to Know three weeks ago and it still lingers in my mind. One of the best thrillers I've ever read with twists that were far out in front of me. After I finished this terrific and fast paced book all I could think was "I didn't see this coming." Perfect plane reading, beach reading or anytime reading. If you enjoy thrillers don't miss this one.

This was a great book to read. I found it fast paced and exciting

“Need To Know” by Karen Cleveland is a spy thriller distinct from most others. It opens similarly enough:
“a flash drive, the little rectangle, nondescript.”
“So small, but with so much power. POWER.”

But then … the unthinkable…
What does a “sleeper cell spy chaser” do when the spy is someone she knows; not even just knows, is married to? Readers are thrown into the rollercoaster life of imbedded spies, sleeper cells, and Russian espionage, with personal deceit, deception, and betrayal. It is just like the movies, but the face of the spy is that of her husband. (Not a spoiler, readers find out in the first few chapters)

Now what? Through flashbacks we learn all we about this relationship in the past, but it is the future of this relationship that is problematic. The situation is complex and fraught with complications to say the least, her background, his background, the conspiracy, the children, and on and on. Day by day life becomes more and more complicated. Without giving anything else away, the story moves desperately forward. Who can be believed, and who cannot? What about her husband and her children? The children?

“There’s no danger to the kids… I work for them. In their mind, the kids are …THEIRS.”

The plot is amazingly intricate and specifically current in today’s brutal world of intelligence and surveillance. The action, suspense and intrigue will keep readers on the edge of their seats all the while looking behind to see who is watching. The characters are complex; the action is non-stop, and the ending unexpected.

I received a copy of “Need To Know” from Karen Cleveland, Random House Publishing Group, and NetGalley. I could not put it down. It was like all the TV spy show and espionage movies, but way, way better. This is absolutely a “must read” book for everyone. It will not disappoint.

I liked this story.  The story itself had plenty of twists and turns and kept you guessing as to what would happen next.  However, the main character, Vivian, could act so dumb at times.  It made it harder to sympathize with her.  Adding to the situation for me was her job.  Vivian works as a CIA analyst.  I expected better choices from her.

The writing was done well.  This author has potential.  I would read future books by her in case it was just me thinking the main character was dumb.  Because, as I have already stated the story itself was good.  I love a fast paced read.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read this advanced copy.