If you love a CIA blackmailing thriller, you must read this book!! I thought I had it all figured out but it kept on twisting and turning. I couldn’t put it down and WOW the ending!!!!! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher of The New Neighbor for and ARC of this book!!!!

I LOVED this book. The pacing, the story, the twists - I couldn’t put it down and was sad when it ended! I need more books like this!!

When I first read CIA, I thought this might be an espionage thriller, but thankfully a solid mystery! Another advance read by @netgalley and a new author for me #karencleveland. The lead character runs through a myriad of suspects, but I didn't guess the guilty party nor the twist at the end.

Beth and Mike Bradford are living large in McLean, VA. He’s a doc (don't quote me on that detail) and she’s a CIA analyst (on the Iran desk). They’ve raised 3 kids on the cul-de-sac. Got great neighbors who also have various positions ‘in government’ including the CIA cuz it’s nearby; they’ve all become like family. Beth and Mike's two older girls are out of college and on their own. Their son is heading out for UVa. Beth and Mike are empty nesters now and preparing to sell their home and downsize. Little does Beth realize just how much they will be downsizing.

For example, About the time of closing on the house, Mike tells Beth he’ll be moving into his own place, preparing for a life without Beth.

If that isn't enough, the Agency has made potentially career-changing decisions for her. Beth has been an analyst tracking mostly attempted incursions by the Iranian security agency into the security apparatus of the US. She’s been successful at it, too. She knows her Iranian counterpart and has been able to stay one step ahead of him, but one case, The Neighbor (a recruiter for Iran), has her and others stumped. She’s been trying for years to get a lead on The Neighbor. Cryptic notes are about all the CIA has, like 'use their children.' As a result, the higher-ups in the Agency think maybe Beth has lost her touch and demoted her to a teaching position at The Kent School – the CIA's school for rookie analysts.

Beth has a hard time accepting things. The pending divorce. Her demotion. Being told stop looking for The Neighbor. Now living alone, she develops a healthy case of paranoia to compete with her own self-loathing about how life has shit on her.

To maintain some sanity, she carries out her own clandestine search for The Neighbor that eventually narrows down to what she (and the reader) believe were her friends on the cul-de-sac. Staking out her old haunts becomes commonplace. And what’s a little breaking and entering amongst old long-time friends. Maybe a little harassment of the young couple who purchased her old home is a sensible endeavor.

And all this goes on for probably 75% of the book. I rarely put a book down once I’ve started. I figure that the author has put a ton of work into the book and if I start, I owe it to the author to finish. I’ll admit to having thought about quitting on a few occasions only to continue thinking the story has got to develop some teeth. Beth really wasn’t a character that made me want to care about what happens – she groans, she gripes, she fuses, she moans. The last 15-20% of the book does, thankfully, rock as Beth comes to realize the proximity of The Neighbor. My only hope is that a sequel won’t tread all that tired, old ground. But that’s just me. I can see some readers lapping up Beth’s descent and subsequent rebound. Not me.

The jacket blurb says that the author is a ‘former counterterrorism analyst’ an NYT best-selling author of three other (CIA and FBI) books. Her first book, Need to Know, has been optioned to Universal Pictures and is rumored to have Charlize Theron playing the lead. All her books focus on a strong female lead. The descriptions all sound interesting (particularly You Can Run). I just hope the lead for any of those other books isn’t as whiny and paranoid as Beth Bradford.

Wow, what a roller coaster ride this book was. The story was about a CIA agent who is dealing with a lot of changes in her life. She is selling her house, her husband leaves her, her children have all grown up and left home and now she gets removed from an investigation that she has been working on for years. One that she just cannot give up on. The story twists and turns as circumstances point to first one person and then the next and then the next. And when the villain is finally revealed, well, what a shock. I would highly recommend this book.

Readers will know from page one that everyone who lives on this cozy McLean, Virginia cul-de-sac and works for "government" is involved in the Iranian intelligence plot. Who is the New Neighbor--the person behind recruiting Americans to provide information to Reza Karimi? Author Karen Cleveland provides a page-turning thriller through Beth, a CIA intelligence officer who sends youngest child to college, sells her home, finds out her husband wants a divorce, and is demoted to a teaching position. Good engaging story.

Beth Bradford lives in a great cul-de-sac where almost everyone has ties to the CIA. Beth has been working on a case for a long time, trying to find out who "The Neighbor" is.

As Beth is getting ready to sell her house, she finds out her husband is wanting a divorce, and she is getting taken off the case that she has poured her heart and soul into. She has no idea why and no one is willing to tell her.

To make maters worse, there is something strange about the couple who has moved into her old house. Beth is starting to suspect she might be "The Neighbor"!

Beth decides to work on the case on her own time. What she finds out is worse than she ever imagined.

Read this one! You won't regret it. Thanks NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book!

When a former CIA agent writes a book, you know you are going to get a lot of subversion and twists and turns and this book will not disappoint. NOthing is what it appears to be. Neighbors are a tricky sort to begin with-don't offer sugar, stay in your lane!! After reading this, I'm sure I will be.

I loved this mystery. Lots of twists and turns to keep you guessing. I removed one star just due to my lack of knowledge about CIA/Iranian intelligence. Some of those topics were a little confusing to me, but overall was a great story. Thank you NetGalley, Random House (Ballantine Books) and Karen Cleveland for the opportunity to read this in advance for my honest opinion.

Overall a compelling read. The first half was much slower compared to the second. Entertaining with several twists towards the end.

I may be the exception here but I just couldn't finish it.
When I find myself reading word for word just to finish a chapter and just can't "get into it", I know it's time to put it down.
It just wasn't interesting to me at all and from the very beginning the CIA stuff seemed to "complicated" to continue to take in.
I had to "think" to understand constantly what was going on because this book just couldn't keep my attention or pull me in even from the very beginning.
Maybe for someone who is really into "spy" books this would be a good read but for me I didn't enjoy reading the few chapters that I did.

Honestly this book did not knock my socks off with a wow factor. It did however keep me interested enough that I wanted to finish it. I enjoyed the plot twist at the end

I went into this thinking it would be like a mindless thriller, all suspense and no heart. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how the story was balanced. It was equal parts tense and nostalgic.

As someone with young children, it made me feel sad for Beth, how much her life and relationship with her children changed as they got older. I’m not ready to think about that yet! But it was affective for garnering sympathy for Beth, and understanding why she’s so dogged. It also helps drive the story, as you see the dynamics at play.

The story makes you suspicious of everyone, and I’m glad my early suspicious panned out. The hints are all there, nothing comes out of left field. It built tension very well, not knowing who to trust, in addition to feeling the frustration that no one trusts Beth. I found it really enjoyable!

Beth Bradford, a CIA analyst, loves her neighbors, her job and her family. All is great until she returns to work from an absence and finds out she has been demoted with no explanation. Not only, but her husband is leaving her and her children are out of the house which has been sold. For most of her career she has spent her time tracking an Iranian Intelligence Agent, The Neighbor. Beth still wants to find The Neighbor and becomes obsessed with who is moving in her house and what her neighbors are doing. This is where the mystery begins . The plot will keep you guessing until the final chapter. Alll’s well that ends well, or does it?

Thanks Net Galley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for a review.

WOW!! THIS one was a keeper!! I cannot wait for the sequel - because there has GOT to be a sequel!!

CIA agent Beth Bradford has a perfect life. She has a job she loves, three wonderful children, and lives in the perfect house in the perfect neighborhood, filled with friends who all have ties in some way to the CIA.

But when she returns from dropping off her youngest child at college, and is preparing to move out of the perfect house and neighborhood,, her husband tells her he is leaving. At loose ends, alone in a new apartment, she returns early to work, only to be told she is no longer working on the case she has diligently worked for 15 years and is being transferred to an end-of-the-road assignment elsewhere.

Not quite able to let go of her old life, she begins stalking the woman who has seemingly taken over her perfect life, and then begins to think maybe the "new her" is more than she seems. Maybe she is the spy that Beth has been chasing all these years?

Secrets, the lifeblood of the intelligence service, play a huge part in this story and I LOVED IT!!

Summer readers are in for a treat with The New Neighbor! Karen Cleveland is so reliable and I use this word as a form of the highest praise! You know when you see she has new book out it will be filled with relatable details of everyday life which draw you into the web the characters weave all to lead to a finish you never saw coming! The toughest part with finishing The New Neighbor is the wait for Cleveland’s next book. If you haven’t read Need to Know add that title to your must list as well! Happy Reading!!

This book was a page turner and with the narrator’s voice being unreliable, kept me constantly guessing. And the twist at the end was perfect!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

CIA analyst Beth Bradford has it all, or so it seems. A loving husband, three wonderful children, a beautiful home, great neighbors, a challenging career. Then everything falls apart at the seams. Beth and her husband, Mike, now empty-nesters with their youngest off to college, should be starting the next chapter of their lives together. They decide to downsize, selling their house on an idyllic cul de sac where a majority of their neighbors are also government employees who don’t talk about their jobs. Instead of beginning a new chapter together, Mike tells Beth he is leaving her. Sadly, Beth is more upset at the loss of her former life than an impending divorce. She is insanely jealous of Madeline, the woman who has moved into Beth and Mike's old house. Madeline is living Beth’s old life, full of children, friends and love. Beth just can’t leave her old life behind, and she drives by, parks and watches Madeline enjoying the life that was hers. And there is something about Madeline that is unsettling to Beth.

Beth then finds out she has been removed from the case she has worked for 17 years, trying to unmask the Iranian intelligence officer behind recruiting Americans. Code-named The Neighbor, Beth has no intention of letting go of what she considers her case. Beth is convinced that Madeline is The New Neighbor, the spy recruiter she has been looking for all these years. Is it envy and bitterness motivating Beth, or is there some substance to Beth’s assumptions? I can only tell you Beth uncovers a web of secrets and deceit, but who will believe anything Beth says? By this time, all her friends, family and coworkers believe Beth’s paranoia is fueled by Beth’s fantasies, not reality.

While the plot is excellent with quite a few twists, I found myself becoming bored with Beth after a while. She really is a bit crazy, but I guess she needed to be for the plot to work. One part that didn’t work for me is that later in the book some things are revealed which Beth never bothered to check. For someone so thorough, it just didn’t ring true. All in all, it was still an enjoyable book and will keep you guessing to the very end.

https://candysplanet.wordpress.com/

Oh my goodness. What an incredibly suspenseful story. There were so many twists and turns that you just can't stop reading until the end. Beth is such a sympathetic character that you can really relate to with all of the sudden life changing events happening. As the story progresses, you really begin to question the reality of her actions but never really knowing what might happen next. I look forward to reading more books from this author

4.5 creepy stars

I have become a fan of Karen Cleveland, so I jumped at the chance to read her newest book. This one kept me turning the pages and suspecting everyone, just like I like it!

Beth is a CIA analyst living in a neighborhood near Langley with lots of other CIA employees, all raising their families and working for their country. Now things are at a crossroads as Beth and her husband drop off their youngest child at college. They’ve decided it’s time to sell their house and look for something smaller. There are changes for her marriage and job too and soon Beth wonders what happened to her perfect life.

This one kept me guessing and was a quick read. It made me think more about how much I share with my neighbors! Just like her last book, this one ended with a cliffhanger ending so I’m wondering if I’ll get to read more about Beth, the CIA, and her family.

This one made for an excellent buddy read with Mary Beth.

Thank you to Ballantine and NetGalley for the copy of this one to read and review. Scheduled to publish on 7.26.22