Need to Know is a fascinating novel that will keep readers guessing from beginning to end. The suspense is riveting. Who can Vivian trust? Is her family safe? This tale takes readers on quite a ride and doesn't let go.

Thank you Netgalley for an incredible read.

WOW! What an amazing, thrilling, and scary book. It's a brilliant maze of did he, did he not and is she or is she not. A crazy ride that will have you glued to the edge of your seat and you'll never see it coming! Just when you think you have it figured out it will change and then change again and again. A fantastic suspense novel!

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Need to Know would make a fantastic movie (thankfully the movie rights have already been sold to Universal Studios for Charlize Theron. Ms. Theron is not exactly how I envision Vivian, who is a mother to four children under the age of 8-but she will definitely up the "glam" factor). Need to Know is also timely and relevant (potential Russian collusion in the 2016 presidential election, anyone?). Vivian Miller is a CIA analyst charged with finding Russian "sleeper cells" hiding in America when she stumbles upon information suggesting her husband Matt may be involved in one. Vivian then faces a series of agonizing decisions-should she turn her husband in knowing it will tear her family apart, or protect Matt at the expense of her job and national security? Despite the heavy plotline Need to Know has a fast paced "breezy" feel that will lend itself well to the big screen. The scariest thing about Need to Know is there are CIA agents looking for Russian sleeper cells at this very moment-and the Russians have become so good at avoiding detection they literally could be the people next door. Vivian doesn't always make the best choices, and some of her fellow agents aren't much better-but you can feel her angst and desire to protect her family bleed through every page. Need to Know has a very clever and unexpected ending, one that seems to suggest there's more to know about the Russians than we might think.

A fast-paced, intriguing story, Need to Know kept me reading - and reading, and reading... until I had turned the very last page. It kept me guessing right up to the end and made me wonder, more than once, what I would do if I had to choose between the ones I love and the truth. I fell short of giving it 5 starts simply because I found the ending lacking. It felt rushed in a way I can't quite put my finger on. Additionally, while I enjoyed reading the book, it's not likely to stay with me in any meaningful way.
Edited to add: I LOVE that there is little-to-no vulgarity in the writing. Today's novels tend to be littered with crude -usually unnecessary- language. Not the case with Karen Cleveland. Noticed and appreciated!

Wow! I simply loved this spy thriller that in many ways is so unlike any other spy thriller I have read (and there have been quite a few).
Karen Cleveland does a brilliant job describing the desperation, hopelessness and distrust going through the mind of the main character throughout the book. Cleveland also uses frequent flashbacks to help pieces of a complex puzzle fall into place.
The reader is in for a emotional and super exciting rollercoaster ride in the ruthless world of espionage and counterespionage, and I loved the book from cover to cover with all its twist and turns - including one at the very end (no spoilers!). I can't wait to read more from this very interesting and talented author!

After finishing Karen Cleveland’s novel Need to Know, I was amazed to discover this is her debut. This absolutely stunning book grabbed my attention from the get go and held it to the final page.

Vivian and her husband are struggling to keep afloat, juggling their two jobs and four young children, including one of their infant twins who was born with a heart defect. Sleep deprived but still determined to prove herself at her CIA counterintelligence job, Vivian has developed a state of the art system to seek out Russian spies within the US.

While putting the system into action, she discovers a link to several operatives that completely blows her world apart. No longer knowing who she can trust, she starts down a path to save her own little corner of the world while making multiple questionable choices. The farther she proceeds down this path, the less she’s certain who to believe or how to escape from her mistakes.

With so many intriguing plot twists, this book will keep you guessing to the very end. A conclusion I never saw coming!

An exciting read which keeps you guessing. Can’t wait for the film!

Reading Karen Cleveland’s spy novel, “Need to Know,” is reminiscent of a trip to the dentist. Friendly at the beginning, moving to slightly uncomfortable from the chair with a view of all the instruments, then a slight mistrust of the dentist in spite of the gentle probing with a forefinger, then a stick in the gums that starts a procession of ever increasing hurt, eventually becoming a time of much squirming and butt-clenching until blessed dismissal is reached.

So it goes with the story. Vivian Miller is a counterintelligence CIA agent with a loving husband and four children, all of whom she dearly loves. Her life isn’t easy because she works hard, the kids have various health problems, there’s a little money trouble, and Matt, the husband, seems a bit of a drag. Then she discovers her husband listed in a top-secret file of Russian agents operating in the United States. She confronts him, he admits it but professes deep commitment to her and the children, swearing that he has never passed any damaging information to the Russians. It’s her responsibility to turn him in but there’s more, of course.

It all turns into a monstrous lie, ever-increasing tension, and, finally, out-and-out fear. Her life becomes something she has no control over. Her vow to protect the country becomes a numbness she can’t shake or get rid of (remember the dental comparison?). The Russian connection becomes increasingly threatening, Matt’s insistence on innocence becomes less convincing, and she is faced with impossible choices to make.

Cleveland, herself a former CIA analyst who rotated briefly into FBI duty, knows her stuff. She has a captivating way of slowly bringing the reader into the sordid world of betrayal and suspicion that lurks just below a layer of love and trust. Each transgression had me yelling at Vivian to not fall for it, to do what was right, to not be manipulated. Of course she ever heard me and her decisions dunked her into a cesspool that she couldn’t escape from.

I thought the story was great and the writing exemplary. The book was spellbinding and I couldn’t put it down. She left room at the end for more story. Heartily recommend.

Need to Know by Karen Cleveland
Need to Know
by Karen Cleveland (Goodreads Author)
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Lou Jacobs's review
Oct 16, 2017 · edit

it was amazing

Delicious! Chapters 1 and 2 end with a gut punch that sets the hook. And, much like a desert addict, I would not be satisfied until I gobbled up this book. It was devoured in two parcels with the unfortunate need to go to work in between. Karen Cleveland serves up an amazing psychological thriller that proves to be a roller coaster ride. Her plotting and prose are reminiscent of the best of Dean Koontz.
The protagonist is Vivian Miller, a dedicated CIA analyst who is relentlessly working on an algorithm program of "Athena" in hopes of uncovering a nest of Russian operatives who are silently embedded into our society. Suddenly, she clicks into a folder that forever changes her life. With one click a series of photos appear that will test her resolve, love and loyalty.
Cleveland provides a masterful tale of deceit propelling to a satisfying and yet unexpected denouement. I certainly hope this is not Vivian Miller's last dilemma!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher in providing this proof in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for sharing the arc with me!

What an exceptional read - full of espionage and double-crossing thrills, peppered with family and motherhood realities. I stayed up way too late, as I couldn't stop flipping through the pages. Like a John le Carré novel, with an addiitonal layer of complexity. I've never read anything like this. Makes us all ask ourselves what we would do in a similar situation, if it meant saving our loved ones. Congratulations Karen Cleveland on a standout book!

Side note: The UK cover is much more effective in my opinon, for the target audience. The US hardcover and kindle cover is too cold and sanitary; it doesn't convey the connection between Vivian's struggle and her family.

*Will review on Amazon when book is released

What would you do to protect your family?

Vivian Miller, a CIA analyst specializing in Russian sleeper agents, must ask herself this numerous times when she discovers a shocking intersection of her work with her personal life. Her beloved husband, father of her four young children, is a Russian agent. Following this devastating revelation, Viv fights to find a way to keep her loved ones safe, even as others try to use her for their own ends and she struggles to know whom she can trust.

Viv isn’t your usual superhuman thriller heroine, somehow miraculously defeating the bad guys and rarely making a misstep. Along the way, she makes some stupid decisions and some not so stupid ones as she does the best she can to protect her children. More than a few times, I wondered how she could have been fooled, especially with her experience in the CIA. But I suppose that’s the point. When it comes to the welfare of those we love, we delude ourselves, lie to ourselves, see or believe what we want to see, all if we think it will keep them safe. In that respect, Viv is very human, making this more a novel about human foibles and family than a spy thriller.

Even though I became frustrated with Viv for some of her decisions, I remained engrossed in her story. That, truly, is the mark of a successful novel.

First, thanks to the author, publisher and Net Galley for providing me a free copy of this novel to preview. It’s a fast-paced, thriller about a CIA analyst whose life is shattered by what she finds while searching for Russian sleeper cells in the U.S. Vivian is bright, intelligent and devoted to her job and family. Suddenly, she finds herself confronted by threats to everything and everyone she loves. As she maneuvers through a myriad of twists and turns, I was constantly surprised by this unlikely hero. If you are looking for a real page turner, this one is coming for you in January 2018!

Excellent and perfectly twisty. The close personal perspective of the main character was different from most spy novels, not least because it's a woman. She makes for an excellent narrator and guide and quickly draws empathy from the reader with her point of view on personal, family and work issues.

SPOILER ALERT: The basic premise (which is a surprise at several points) of Karen Cleveland’s Need to Know is laid out here; so if you want total surprise, stop reading! But I’m not giving away the BFD ending which is designed to be a real shocker, so if you don’t mind reading a plot outline, have at it!

I had read some of the hype about this book (optioned as a film with Charlize Theron, so my image of protagonist Vivian Miller was of Charlize), so I was pleased to get an advance copy of this book from Random House/Ballantine and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. As the story begins, we meet Vivian Miller (Charlize), a super-dedicated CIA counterintelligence analyst who has been working for years on a project that, if successful, will uncover the identities of people living in the U.S. as members of Russian sleeper cells. She has developed this system to identify the people who appear to be normal residents of the U.S., but who are actually working as Russian agents.

Vivian’s life has gotten complicated as she and her husband Matt and their four children live the lifestyle of a middle-class couple, complete with a big mortgage and some medical problems for one of their kids that guarantee they can’t just walk away from her job on a whim. One day, while she is online accessing the computer of someone she thinks may be a Russian operative, Vivian stumbles on a secret file that contains information about deep-cover agents in the U.S. As she scrolls through the photos of the agents assigned to the suspected handler, she is stunned to see her husband Matt’s photo. She is torn about what to do – if she turns him in, her job will be over, her kids will be devastated, and everything that matters to her will be gone. Should she confront Matt? Maybe tell her boss? Or tell her trusted friend who works with her on the special project, FBI Agent Omar?

She seems to be faced with impossible choices. She starts looking back at her entire relationship with Matt – how they “met cute,” fell in love, got married, had kids, lived together for a decade – is it possible she is wrong, her life’s work of developing a method to identify the sleeper agents a failure?

I really enjoyed the process of reading this, and it was pretty much all-engrossing. But it required a bit of willing suspension of disbelief, because this genius woman seemed to keep making some dumb decisions. But then, I’d think, “Who knows what I’d do in her situation?”

Good plotting, good character development, good escapist entertainment. More than a bit unsettling, TBH. Just like you sometimes find out the seemingly normal guy down the block is a serial killer, you might have a member of a sleeper cell in the neighborhood, coaching your kid’s soccer team. Four stars.

Quite literally from the very first page this book grabbed me.. it was a wonderful concept, well executed and deserves the success that will hopefully come it’s way. Each character is well drawn, understandable and feels right on target until suddenly everything changes and then things change again and again. Each time you almost get chest pains from the tension. This is a book that once started, you just don’t want to put down. What’s next? How would I react in the same situation? What would I do? All is well paced, well written and a very fine book. I received an advance copy for an honest review. At times like this, I feel privileged to be able to read a book like this one with no preconceived notions and then write up my thoughts. In this case it is very easy. Grab this book, find a nice comfortable spot and enjoy the ride this book takes you on! It is time well spent! Every time I thought I’d figured out this story, something new would be revealed. This is a fabulous story quite literally to the very last page when things morph all over again and you are left quite literally speechless with an ending you never saw coming!

This book demands your attention at the 1st page turn and that's it... You can't put it down! Very well written!

Any mother can sympathize with Vivian Miller. Her four children are the mainspring of her joy, pride, and life. Keeping up with their needs and the demands of a stressful position as a CIA intelligence analyst on the Russian desk means that she needs someone to take up the slack when she is at work; someone on whom she can rely. That is where Matt Miller, her husband, comes in. He fills all the gaps and makes the family home function like a well-oiled machine. Life is good, and things are running smoothly, right up the day she learns that she has been sleeping with the enemy.

“Need to Know” brims with the mixture of love, stress, and responsibilities that all modern households face, but then adds blackmail, espionage, and betrayal. The pace is fast; the characters are evocative and all too human. As the denouement comes you relax, it's a happy ending, right? And then comes the twist at the end. I recommend this book to those enjoy cloak and dagger tales of the Cold War style.

Random House Books and NetGalley provided an advance digital copy for this review.

Friday, October 13, 2017
NEED TO KNOW BY KAREN CLEVELAND
If I could rate it 6 stars, I would. This is the rare kind of book that makes you question your reality. It is utterly consuming in it's exploration of truth and deception. The characters are minimally developed, just enough to make the reader all too aware that this could be you. Unlike so many stories of it's type, it is not a roller-coaster ride, it's the ride that paralyzes you with ever increasing centrifugal force. Need to Know by Karen Cleveland is a thriller without physical violence, a spy story with no trade-craft, a family novel without pathos, sympathy, and with problems you never want your loved ones to face. Insidiously powerful images juxtapose a home-cooked meatloaf with a thug watching your kid leave a school tainting everything that's familiar with terror. The ending is stunning.


I could not put this book down! Not to be biased, of course anyone could read this, but this is a spy novel written more for a woman. A female criminal analyst finds herself fighting for her family, caught between Russian spies and her love for her country.

I love spy novels. I have had a hard time getting into the books I have been reading. This book was one I could not put down. This book will not be out until January, so remember the title.
Posted by Brigham City Carnegie Library at 11:46 AM

This is the most terrifying book I have read in a long time. It is completely realistic and creates an environment of fear and desperation. In the world of espionage no one can be trusted. The question is what would you do to protect your family? I had my heart in my throat for most of the book. Even at the end, masks continue to slide. Most of the characters are very real. The style of writing is sparse, which supports the story well. Perhaps everyone involved in some form of espionage develops a different world view which must be reconciled with the.. demands of their human relationships. Once you identity with the characters in this book, you are in for a gut-wrenching ride.