I loved this book. So well written. I found this book unputdownable!!

2.5 stars

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

CIA analyst Vivian Miller is assigned to uncover Russian sleeper cells. She is working on developing a system to identify the undercover agents that live as normal people in plain sight. After finding a dossier of sleeper agents living and operating in the USA, everything she cares about, including her family, is threatened.

The first few chapters of this book was promising, but the story quickly nose-dived into clichés and predictability. Considering Vivian is a freaking CIA agent, it's ridiculous how enormously stupid, naïve and annoying she is in this story. Her thought-process is nonsense and for an allegedly smart woman, her decisions don't make sense at all.

I love the mystery/thriller genre and especially when I get pulled in from the very first page. While I was pulled into Need to Know when it started, it quickly felt like it was going all over the place for me.

I really liked the main character Vivian Miller, but absolutely didn't buy into the fact that she would break so many laws and rules. I understood wanting to protect her children and her husband, but I just couldn't see a high level CIA counterintelligence agent not seeing signs along the way. Maybe because she was high level CIA, I expected more of her. I have to say that Matt played her like a fiddle to make it look like he was the wronged individual. I just never bought his innocence at any point in the book. Maybe I'm too jaded when it came to this story. I will say the actual mole within the CIA was a surprise to me, as I had picked a different character as the mole. I really liked that twist to the story.

While Need to Know didn't really end up being the book for me, I did enjoy the author's voice and would give her another try in the future.


Rating: 3 Stars (C)

Don't read this expecting a spy thriller. I'm sure that this book will be made into a movie, a cheesy Lifetime network movie. In fact, some of the plot points have already been used in the TV series The Blacklist. If CIA agents really behave this way then perhaps "draining the swamp" is actually called for. Vivian Miller is a CIA counterintelligence analyst searching for leaders of Russian sleeper cells in the US. Wouldn't it be nice if she spoke and could read Russian? I guess competence is too much to ask for. A woman who should be intelligent behaves like a dithering, easily manipulated idiot throughout the entire book. We get a lot of internal monologue about betrayal (both of a spouse and of the country). Should I or shouldn't I be a traitor? Gee, we could really use the money, especially with all these kids including an infant with a cardiac condition. And there is way too much domestic detail about the four children. I disliked everything about this book - no suspense, predictable twists and an ending that is no surprise at all. Russia is clearly going to win this battle.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Slow to start. Main character seems to be more involved with herself,householding, husband (who is a sleeper agent) et al. It is more like good housekeeping than spy thriller. I was given an e-copy in return for an honest review.

I enjoyed this spy thriller but I have to admit it was not my favorite read. It took me awhile to finish, it just did not hold my attention, which is odd because I love this genre. I give it 3 stars, I do not think i would recommend this to my book friends.

"Need to Know" eBook was published in 2018 and was written by Karen Cleveland (http://karen-cleveland.com). This is Ms. Cleveland's first novel.

I categorize this novel as ‘PG’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story is sent in the contemporary Washington D.C. area of the US. The primary character is CIA Analyst Vivian Miller.

Miller is part of a group within the CIA in pursuit of Russian sleeper agents. As she investigates a sleeper candidate she discovers her husbands photo. Soon she learns that her husband is a Russian sleeper agent. She is torn over what to do. She should turn him in, but that would mean the end of her CIA career and more importantly the end of her marriage. How would she manage to raise her four young children?

Then comes her attempts to cover it up. To save her family. That leads to involvement with the Russian spy masters. How can she save her family? How cans she protect herself and her children?

I was not impressed with the 5.5 hours I spent reading this 306 page thriller. In my opinion it was dull and spent far too much time dealing with Miller's emotions. The story was a little slow, particularly in the first half of the novel. Nor did I like the character of Miller. She was weak and far from a heroic leading character. The cover art is OK, but does not make me want to pick up the novel and read it. I give this novel a 3.4 (rounded down to a 3) out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

This was a fantastic book! What I would have considered the major plot twist comes at the beginning, of the rest of the story revolves around how the characters deal with it. Loved this change and pace and am anxiously hoping for a sequel!!

There were a few parts were the plot really lagged, but boy did it pick up at the end! Well-written and full of suspense and intrigue. This has been sold as a movie and will be a great thriller!

This is an exciting tale of espionage starring an American wife and mom. Vivian works as a counterintelligence analyst for the CIA--a nice, safe desk job, even though she works on the high profile Russian account. One day her work turns up information about a sleeper cell and one of the members is someone she knows! Afraid that speaking up will put her family at risk of retaliation, but knowing that not speaking up makes her essentially a traitor, Vivian is torn over how to handle this information. From the outside, it was easy for me to second-guess her decisions, but how do I know what I'd really do if I were in that situation? Suffice it to say that her life becomes increasingly complicated and the book becomes increasingly suspenseful!

This would make a great movie and apparently one is in the works.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me a free e-ARC of this book.

Karen Cleveland's "Need to Know" is a great read. The twists and turns in the plot are dizzying up to the final pages, yet somehow Cleveland manages to develop her characters fully even while the action of the plot drives the novel. The reader cares about the people in this novel and can identify with at least one person in this story. This novel is especially relevant in 2018 as Russia dominates the news and Americans are learning who is working for the current administration and who is working for Russia--and who is playing the role of double agent. Surprises await the reader in the fictional world of "Need to Know" as well as in contemporary politics.

A CIA analyst discovers a horrible secret about her husband and must decide between her job and her marriage. As she grapples with her loyalty to her country and her loyalty to her relationship, she discovers that her devotion to both aren’t as airtight as she thought. Author Karen Cleveland, a former CIA analyst herself, gives readers a stereotypical plot and a helpless protagonist in her novel Need to Know.

Vivian Miller spends her days looking into other people’s lives. As a counterintelligence analyst for the CIA, Vivian specializes in Russia—that is, she uses the technology at her disposal to spy on people suspected of being Russian agents hiding in plain sight. Sleepers, they’re called, but her project keeps her up at nights. Despite developing an algorithm that has the potential to identify Russian sleepers, Vivian’s piece of the project is in danger of being shut down after a dismal lack of results.

When she gets into the computer of a confirmed Russian sleeper, then, Vivian feels relieved. Finally, something is going right. Until she pokes around in the sleeper’s files and finds a picture of her husband, Matt, staring right back at her. Contrary to protocol, her training, and her allegiance to the United States government, Vivian doesn’t tell anyone. Instead, she goes home and confronts Matt.

Matt doesn’t deny anything. Vivian’s dread turns to horror when she learns he’s been aligned with Russia since he was a teen, taken in as an orphan and groomed to spy on the United States. Through the years, given the nature of her job, Vivian shared limited information about her work with Matt; he’s quick to reassure her now that he’s only passed on benign facts. His marriage to her may have been by design—direct access to the CIA through one of its own—but somewhere along the way he fell in love with her and now wants only to protect her and their four kids.

Vivian finds herself testing the limits of her commitment to her work and the country. By all reasonable accounts, she should turn Matt in immediately. In fact, he urges her to do so. It’s the right choice. But she loves him, and her heart clenches when she thinks of what their four young children might have to face if their father gets sent to prison. With her marriage vows in the forefront of her mind, Vivian begins making compromises until she’s left with the worst choice possible.

Author Karen Cleveland writes with authority about the CIA. Her own time as an analyst serves her well in writing fiction. Readers will have no problem seeing Vivian’s work as real and an organic part of what keeps our country safe.

It’s a shame, then, that Cleveland allows her plot to undo Vivian’s intelligent, self-assured, enterprising spirit. Had Vivian joined the CIA mere months or a year before her discovery of Matt’s identity, her willingness to turn a blind eye to her husband’s deception would be easier to justify. For someone who has spent a decade working to outthink and outsmart political enemies, it comes as a major disappointment that she refuses to utilize her training even at the risk of losing someone close to her.

As the story progresses, Matt cajoles, pleads, and stonewalls Vivian into making choices that only benefit him. Even as he tries to convince Vivian to turn him in, readers will be able to see through his lies. He may feel strongly for Vivian, yes, but he didn’t survive decades as a Russian operative only on his charm. The story is told in first-person, so readers only get Vivian’s side of the story, but Matt’s strength and sheer grit to stay loyal to his interests come through loud and clear. Vivian melts into a puddle of indecision by the end, which may leave readers shaking their heads and wishing she had remained steadfast to her work and, ultimately, herself.

Despite the many opportunities to redeem herself and the book, Vivian doesn’t do either. In the current day and age, readers would have welcomed a strong female CIA analyst with the guts to use her training and intelligence to do her job well. I recommend readers Bypass Need to Know.

Need to Know is one of those books that you cannot put down! I read it in less than two days and have recommended it to friends, patrons and family. If you like Vince Flynn or Alex Berenson, give this book a try. Vivian is an interesting main character with an incredible story to tell. Karen Cleveland is a fresh voice in the suspense/thriller genre who brings a unique perspective to Vivian's story from the author's experience as a CIA analyst. I loved the twists and turns in the book and can't wait to read Karen's next book.

In pursuit of a Russian sleeper cell on American soil, CIA analyst Vivian Miller uncovers a dangerous secret that will threaten her job, her family—and her life. How do you make the hard choices when it's all important to you?

I was a huge fan of this book. It started off quickly and moved along at a great pace. I couldn't put it down and finished it in two days. How do you even begin to make choices when faced with a decision like this?! I'm a new mother, which gives me a new perspective on books like this. How far would you go for your family? What would you risk? This was an absolute nail-biter from start to finish.

What are you willing to do to protect your family?

Vivian Miller is a CIA counterintelligence agent working to uncover a network of Russian sleeper agents hidden in the USA. She's married to Matt, an IT guy, and has 4 children. Just a normal family with two working parents and busy hectic lives. Except that Vivian's job is going to take them all to the brink of disaster because she's uncovered a secret that calls into question everything she knows and believes.

This is an incredibly fast-paced suspenseful thriller that draws you in so fast -- by the time I got to the second chapter, I felt that I WAS Vivian. And that this was my life and my problem. Told in the first person, it ricochets from one tense moment to another mind-numbing revelation. You can feel her anxiety and her fear -- and you are almost afraid to read on to see what happens next. Vivian's main goal is to protect her family and to avoid being a traitor to the government she has sworn allegiance to serve.

NO SPOILERS, but if you haven't read this yet, put it on your list immediately. It's one crazy, wild ride and would make a fantastic movie. It's not often I gush about a book, but forgive me this time because I loved this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the e-book ARC to read and review.

This book is like a Matroshka doll- one inside another inside another... so many layers! Believable characters, a twist at the end that upends everything.

Vivian Miller is a CIA counterintelligence analyst who has developed an algorithm that will enable the identification of Russian sleepers who live within the United States, and therefore present a threat to national security. When Vivian accesses the computer of a Russian operative, it should be cause for celebration, but what she discovers threatens her life and those of her family.
There are so many twists and turns that the reader feels like Vivian--who can be trusted? Who is lying? What can she do to protect the life she has been living?

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. Wow! The twists and turns in this book, I just did not see coming, all the way to the last sentence! Meet Viv and Matt. Viv works for the CIA in the Russian intelligence section. Her husband is Matt, they have 4 kids. Average family in D.C., right? Wrong! Matt has a devastating secret that can tear their family apart. Viv is looking for sleeper cells in the US. Sometimes the things you are looking for are closer than you think!

Great book! Clever and believable, a real page-turner! I stayed up until 2 am reading this. At that point, I forced myself to close the book to get some sleep, then got up in the morning and immediately began reading it again. I couldn’t pry myself away even to make coffee. A first for me.
Vivian, her husband Matt, and their four children seem to have a wonderful life, but there is a terrible secret lurking underneath this bliss. Something is about to happen that will reveal this secret and blow their world apart. Vivian is a CIA analyst working on a team tasked with uncovering Russian sleeper cells in the US. She loves her country and her family, but hiding this secret forces her to make difficult choices, all with terrible consequences.
The author, Karen Cleveland, worked as a CIA analyst specializing in counterterrorism for eight years, so she is able to reveal a world that is hard to for most people to imagine, full of spies, counteragents, clandestine meetings, communication interception, hacking, encryption, blackmail, and more. All of the players are highly intelligent of course. They plan strategies that anticipate outcomes many steps ahead, and foresee many possible moves, not unlike a chess game. Each side is trying to trick, persuade, blackmail, terrorize or otherwise force the other side to comply with its own goals. They try to recruit agents from the other side to work as moles. They also wonder if there is a mole in their own midst, funneling top secret data to the enemy. Even if you’ve read a lot of books or seen a lot of movies about how intelligence agencies operate, you will be amazed by some of the things you learn.
Warning: You won’t be able to stop reading this, so it may be best to start on a weekend to a long plane trip. Wherever or whenever you read it, prepare for a smart, fast paced, white knuckle ride, with a surprising conclusion.

Note: I received an advance copy of the ebook from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.