This story was so fast-paced, it was hard to keep up at times! I did not see the ending coming, which is always nice. However, I felt like the characters were quite flat, it was hard to really connect with them. That coupled with the forward movement of the story, it was hard to stay engaged.

This twisty thriller is a must buy for collections where suspense and domestic noir are popular. Also has crossover appeal for high school collections where thrillers are especially popular.

Karen Cleveland writes BRILLIANT thrillers... I reviewed her first novel, Need to Know, on here last year and couldn't wait for her to release another. She has a gift for crafting compelling, believable, strong women who aren't perfect and don't need to be - they are instead real, and that is infinitely more readable...

This is another book about secrets. Cleveland is (apparently) obsessed with secrets: the ones we keep, the ones we spill, the ones we uncover, the ones we misunderstand. That obsession is translated into marvelous suspenseful novels that weave together complex story lines, emotions, and rationalizations. The result: fantastic tales that are easy to read, wholly engaging, and startling in their presentation of the baser nature of humanity. <!--more-->

A particular area of focus for her is family and the way that lies undermine (and often, underpin) the relationships between family members, be they spouses, children, or parents. I love that she works espionage into that mix; the blend should probably feel odd but it never does somehow. I chalk that up to her writing, which is as crisp as a spring morning and just as glorious. If that wasn't enough to grab your attention, she manages to work contemporary global and socio-political issues into her narratives in a way that makes them feel not only current but spot-on timely. And she does so without ever feeling like she's forcing them in or using them as props to garner attention. Her touch is infinitely more subtle than that, and the result is marvelous.

If you're not familiar with her work, you should be - the stories are fabulous, full of characters that often seem brittle or fragile but have a core of steel that comes through at just the right moments.

3.5 Stars* (rounded down)

A Fast Moving Mystery / Suspense!

FBI Agent Steph Maddox hears a knock at the door. Another agent appears. He accuses her son Zachary of being a part a domestic terrorist group. Her first reaction is that he is being framed. Of course, everyone always say that, she would know - after all, she works in Internal Affairs.

Forget the fact that moments earlier, Steph found a loaded gun hidden in Zachary’s closet in a nondescript paper bag. Even though they pass like ships in the night.. Steph knows her son.

Lives are at stake. The problem of course, is determining whose.

“Keep you Close” moves at breakneck speed. It is extremely suspenseful and it started out quite strong. While I enjoyed this mystery, I didn’t quite love it as I felt like the author threw in a few too many curveballs for me to catch.

This is a follow up to Karen Cleveland’s “Need to Know” and it’s clear based on both books what a fabulously strong writer the author is. I am definitely a fan and can’t wait to see what she comes out with next.

This was a buddy read with Ms. Kaceey! So glad we got read this one together.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House - Ballantine and Karen Cleveland for an arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Published on NetGalley and Goodreads on 4.30.19.
Will be published on Amazon on 4.28.19

This was an incredible book. Steph Maddox is an FBI agent and Chief of Internal Investigations, which gives her a lot of power and knowledge. But the person she needs to know the best is someone she might not know as well as she thinks -- her seventeen-year-old son Zachary. She finds a gun in his closet and then she receives a visit from a friend/fellow agent who informally lets her know that her son has been connected to the Freedom Solidarity Movement, an extremist group plotting against the government. She does not believe this is true and begins to suspect that someone is trying to frame her son to get back at her. She has some rather significant secrets in her past -- one of which involves Zachary's father (whose identity she will come to find out Zachary has learned) -- that involve some very powerful people. The story focuses on her efforts to figure out the enemy and the endgame, while keeping her son safe.

While the basic plotlines are not new (powerful people abusing power; corrupt government officials; terrorism; Russian interference; setting up fall guys, etc.) and some of the plot twists are predictable, the author has created one of the most in-depth overarching plots that I have run across. The book has plenty of surprises. The ending is masterful and the sort of ending that I had long hoped an author would have the courage to utilize. I strongly recommend this book.

I received a review copy via NetGalley.

I was really looking forward to reading this book, the premise sounded really interesting. Unfortunately it just did not hold my interest. I found the characters kind of flat and did not really connect with them. Also the story was a bit convoluted and hard to keep straight. this just wasn't the book for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Karen Cleveland and Random House Ballantine for this ARC.

I'm not usually a fan of political thrillers, but I liked this one a lot. Steph Maddox is a great character, and I'd be interested in reading more about her in future books.

This book was a super quick read that I was determined to finish because I had to know what was happening. I didn’t quite connect with the main character.. Steph is aloof and hard to sympathize with, to be totally honest, and it’s hard to understand the motivations behind her decisions. Still.. I’d recommend this book to fans of tv shows like Alias or The Blacklist, cause it reads like an episode of one of those.

Also.. so I totally did not make the connection between the characters in this one and the characters in her first novel. I may have to bump up the stars upon a reread. 3.5 stars, rounding down. :)

A good book that really held my interest throughout. Characters were well developed and interesting. The age old question, do we ever really know what is going on with friends and family? I will continue to follow this author, and recommend to family and friends.

This is a gripping mystery thriller with an engaging if flawed main character.

The plot is full of twists and turns with the eternal question of how well do we know our children at its core.
When the main character is put in an impossible situation, the question becomes who to save your son who seems to be engaged in a criminal activity or do your duty and protect your country?

Thanks Netgalley, the publisher and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Karen Cleveland likes to tackle ethical dilemmas and how much you really know about the ones you love. Stephanie Maddox is the FBI agent in charge of Internal Investigations, so needless to say she has a strong sense of right and wrong. Which makes it even worse when she discovers a loaded gun in her teenage son’s room. I mean, anyone who’s raised teenagers knows they grow distant and moody, they stop communicating. But a gun? That’s way outside the norm.

We’re quickly given glimpses of Stephanie’s past interspersed with the current story. This book moves at a fast pace. But I can’t say I ever really connected with Stephanie. For some reason, she and the rest of the characters felt flat. Too many of the story lines have been done before. I didn’t feel like this broke any new ground.

This is a good story and an easy read, it just isn’t great. And I thought Need to Know had been great.

My thanks to netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book.

Keep You Close is the latest book by Karen Cleveland. Keep You Close is an excellent story that gives you some edge of your seat moments and makes the reader think about what they would do in the heroine's position. Looking forward to the next book by this former CIA analyst. I was given an early copy to review.

The premise of Keep You Close by Karen Cleveland sparked my interest right away. Immediately I wondered what I would do in the same situation. What would you do?

Stephanie Maddox makes tough decisions every day. She has her hands full heading the FBI’s Internal Investigations division, policing wrongdoers within the Bureau. But, as a single mother, the most important thing in her life is her teenage son Zachary, who’s anxiously awaiting college acceptance letters. So when she discovers a gun concealed in Zach’s room, her world reels. And then an FBI agent on the domestic terrorism squad shows up at her door and utters three devastating words: “It’s about Zachary. . . .”

Has she been wrong about her near-perfect son? Is Zach embroiled in something criminal–something deadly? And, if so, what is her greater duty: To protect him? Or to protect her country?

How well do we really know our kids?

This was an intriguing read with twists and turns, with drama, and a flawed main character which is always interesting for the reader!

Keep You Close, like Ms. Cleveland's previous book, Need to Know, kept me on the edge of my seat. While it's not a sequel, we do meet up with Vivian Miller again.

It's difficult to write a review of this book, because it would be too easy to include spoilers. I don't want to go into much detail here, because the twists and turns are a large part of the appeal of this book. There are a number of these twists, and Ms. Cleveland is not afraid to kill off characters as necessary for the plot - so you just can't sit back and assume that all will be okay in the end.

It's a nail-biter of a book!

I was initially interested in this book because it was about a mother and son and if the mother really knows the secrets her child can keep. I was unable to connect to the main character and found the plot to be boring. It was unoriginal and I stopped at almost half way through the story. This didn’t stand out to me as other thrillers have. I enjoyed the authors precious book but this one, not so much. I look forward to what’s next from Karen Cleveland.

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Steph Maddox has worked hard to finally be where she's at in her job. She works for the FBI, her job title is Chief of Internal Investigations. Yes, her job has taken her away from her son, Zachary. She felt she had no choice. He's now seventeen and graduating, getting ready for college.
She has always been patriotic. She loves her country and her job. Now she has to make a decision should she commit treason and work for the Russians. The other option is watching her son get killed or go to prison.
She's already lost her mother and a special friend. Will her son be next? All she has to do is make one phone call.
This was an intriguing rollercoaster ride of a story. Phenomenal!

3 Stars-- Keep You Close by Karen Cleveland-- Out May 28, 2019
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Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for free copies of this book in exchange for my honest review.
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What I Loved: The fast pace. Keeping chapters short, Cleveland keeps the pages turning. I was able to read this in two sittings. The premise was different and something that would make for a good movie as well.
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What I Didn't: I felt the writing-- compared to Cleveland's first book-- was extremely choppy. The prologue vaguely relates back to the end game of the book. And too be honest, I had to go back and reread the prologue because it seemed so unnecessary. The character development is non-existent. I am not sure if Cleveland was going for the flawed hero with Steph, but it fell short.
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Though I only gave this three stars-- I gave her debut 5-- Cleveland is still an upcoming author, who truly writes books I cannot put down.

This was interesting, but the plot became way too convoluted for me. Our heroine is a single parent who is an FBI Internal Affairs Chief. Her background story is that when she was interning at Congress, she was raped by her boss, a US Senator. She left his service that night and ultimately realized she was pregnant and decided to keep the child, Zachary, who is now a senior in high school. Steph, our heroine, has reason to suspect that someone is setting up her son as a terrorist and she is paranoid enough to believe it is because of her. Her personal relationships all appear to be distant, including those with her Mother and Son. Although they try to stop her, she continues her investigations, particularly when people begin dying around her. I won’t go any further into the plot because of spoilers. Thanks to Net Galley and Ballantine for an ARC for an honest review.

This is quite the thriller from page 1 and kept me reading all the way until the end. Stephanie is an FBI agent and also single mother to Zachary, her 17 yo son. One night she stumbles upon a gun in a bag in his closet and, after some subtle questions, realizes that he has no idea it is there. Her questioning is interrupted by a colleague at her door, there to alert her that her son is involved in an extremist terrorist group planning attacks on US government officials. She is stunned. The action literally never slows down from page 1. Steph is constantly chasing down leads, trying to find out if Zack is involved and if not (which she is sure he is not), who is framing him. This books i non-stop action involving the FBI, weaving in different parts of Steph's pas, how she came to have Zack and be an FBI agent, and who in her past might be after her. I found this book really interesting and read it in two sittings. The only issues I had was with the very end of the book which I found somewhat confusing. I am still not 100% sure what exactly happened and who was behind the entire situation. Besides that, I really enjoyed the plot, characters and writing. Great book! Thanks so much to NG for the ARC!

This was a very well written and thought through book by an author I have never read before but thoroughly enjoyed. I definitely recommend this book to others and thank NetGalley for letting me read this book in exchange for my unbiased review.
The premise of the book is how much you would do to protect your family. Would you betray your country or those you love?
Thankfully most of wouldn’t have to worry about this problem but even so it raises questions for all of us.
Normally I stay away from any books mentioning FBI, CIA, or the Russians but I did not have a problem with that in this book.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and give it 4 stars and will definitely read more from this author.