First book by Karen Cleveland for me can’t wait to read more books by her.Tense chilling an edge of your seat thriller a mother’s horrifying choice so multi layered characters that come alive a terrific read.
#netgalley #ballentinebooks.

I was a huge fan of Need to Know so I was so excited to read this book and maybe my expectations were too high but it fell flat for me. It seemed very repetitive and parts were very predictable. There seemed to be endless half-finished conversations between Stephanie and Zachary. I wanted them to just set aside 5 minutes to have one real, honest conversation that would save them hours if future confusion and they didn’t.

A fascinating, fast-paced novel with some terrific twists and a huge cliffhanger. Can’t wait for the next installment!

I was once again amazed by Karen Cleveland's quality of writing. Her previous novel, "Need to Know", set a high level of expectations, and I have to say she managed to live up to it and more so.
This is the story of a mother's live for her child, and her willingness to go as far as needed to save him. There is a strong bond between the two.of them, and the reader will find himself rooting for then. I strongly recommend this nivel to any person that loves domestic thrillers and exhilarating drama.

FBI agent Stephanie Maddox is the single mother of a teenage son, Zachary, whom she would do anything to protect. Years ago, she moved from her old posting in Chicago to to keep him safe from potential retaliation by mob for her role in taking down high-level criminals. Now she discovers a gun hidden in her son's room and imagines that he is up to something horrible, but it soon becomes clear that he knows nothing of it and is being expertly framed--a conclusion no less terrifying. There are plenty of bad guys who might wish Stephanie and her family harm, ranging from your garden-variety organized criminals to at least one high-ranking politician and various Russian agents infiltrating American institutions. Some or all of these could be operating simultaneously or working together.. The action is propulsive, with more trouble and threats to Stephanie and her family with every chapter. The book is a compelling page-turner in the same riveting vein as the author's Need To Know, but with what feels like too much improvisation. I'm willing to suspend disbelief for the sake of the story, but this book asks the reader to believe an awful lot of implausible things about an awful lot of people all at the same time. However glued you are to the immediate action, you also want it to lead somewhere satisfying, and this is where things get shaky. The ending (such as it was) doesn't really make a lot of sense, and in general I find it preferable to have fewer loose ends and more good guys still standing at the end.

Stephanie Maddox has sacrificed everything, including her family, to put in the time to have a job that exposes corruption at the highest levels of the U.S. government. But her personal life has suffered, and now she regrets losing the close relationship she always wanted with her son Zachary. When she finds a loaded gun in her son’s bedroom and gets a visit from the counter terrorism squad that alerts her that her son is involved in something unthinkable, Stephanie wonders if her ambition drove her son to commit a desperate act. Yes, this is a thriller, but underneath it all is the underlying guilt all working women feel (and are made to feel) when they cannot spend all the time they would like with their children