Karen Cleveland did not disappoint at all with this story. Lots of twists and turns. I definitely would recommend this to friends who enjoy reading spy thrillers.

Absolutely enthralling! Thank you NetGalley and Random House for this free galley of The New Neighbor by Karen Cleveland.
This is the first novel I have had the pleasure of reading penned by Karen Cleveland but I can assure you it will not be the last.
The story centers around CIA counterintelligence agent, Beth Bradford, and her search for a mole for Iranian Quds Force known only as The Neighbor.
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The first day of the novel focuses on Beth's empty nest, selling her home and ending her long-term marriage. Things only go downhill from there. She learns she has been removed from the case focusing on finding the indenity of The Neighbor. Does this character fall under the pressure of all of these life-changing events? Heck no! She refuses to give up her search even when it leads her to her own cul-de -sac and her group of friends, when her job is threatened or even when her own life is in jeopardy.
This is one heart-pounding, thrill ride of a book and is not to be missed.

Buckle your seat belts. You are about to take a bumpy ride. I literally read this in one setting. Beth Bradford raised her children in the ideal cul-de-sac. While the kids were playing outside, the moms would visit in their lawn chairs. Dads in the background, drinking cold brews. The kids are grown now, Beth's son is off to college. The Bradford family is selling the house and downsizing. After dropping her son off at college, the floor falls out from under her. She goes to work (at the CIA) and she has been removed from her case she has worked for 15 years. She goes home to find that instead of spending the last night in the house with her husband, she finds that he is leaving her. Her home and work life are in disarray. She throws herself in to solving the case she has been working for 15 years, even though she has been kicked off the case. At times, you may think she has lost her ever loving mind!! This book will take you on twists and turns and the ending will be just as shocking as the ride.
Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for allowing me to read this book and give my honest opinion.

Thanks to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for this ARC! I went into this book pretty blind, but I ended up being so pleasantly surprised.

Beth Bradford is going through a lot of change. She's been recently made an empty nester, her and her husband (who's also leaving her) are moving out of their beloved home and neighborhood, and she has just found out she's been taken off a case she's dedicated her life to for more than 15 years at the CIA.

One of those aspects alone is enough to make a woman feel a little disoriented, but combined, Beth's life goes into a complete tailspin. She is determined to stay on the case, and our nation's security is literally depending on her.

I absolutely loved that Beth was a CIA analyst, I feel like often in these types of books, the husband is the big shot, high security clearance career man. Beth was so competent and dedicated-- definitely one of those times you want to scream at every other character for not listening to her! But at the same time, I second guessed if I should be listening to her too?? Haha I highly recommend picking this one up when it comes out on July 28.

I rated this five stars, which I don't often do! A five star read for me is one that grips me until the very end, seems like a unique story line that I haven't heard before and has me thinking about it when I'm not reading it! This checked all those boxes and then some!

At first this story was intriguing, then the middle fell a little flat, and the ending was all over the place. From the middle of the book on, I thought this was going to be another “main character as a woman goes crazy and needs a psych eval because no one believes her and thinks she’s crazy” which put me off. It wasn’t that though.. Was Beth Bradford acting unstable? Sure, but she had many things happening in her life to cause her to be that way. I enjoyed the ending up until the epilogue, when you find out what you’ve been trying to figure out with Beth since the story started. Overall, an enjoyable read that keeps you turning the pages to figure out what is happening.

Karen Cleveland has done it again! The New Neighbor is a great thriller, surrounding the main character Beth, a CIA analyst. Her life gets upended when she divorces and gets rid of her house. A new neighbor moves in and Beth starts to think this woman has ties to Iranian intelligence. All of the neighbors seem suspicious throughout the book, and it kept me wanting to read until the very end!

The New Neighbor by Karen Cleveland


Idyllic neighborhood, perfect family, meaningful career. CIA analyst Beth Bradford has it all—

Until she doesn't.

Now, facing an empty nest and a broken marriage, Beth is moving from the cul-de-sac she’s long called home, and the CIA is removing her from the case that’s long been hers: tracking an elusive Iranian intelligence agent known as The Neighbor.

Madeline Sterling moves into Beth’s old house. She has what Beth once had: an adoring husband, three beautiful young children, and the close-knit group of neighbors on the cul-de-sac. Now she has it all. And Beth—who can’t stop watching the woman stepping in to her old life—thinks the new neighbor has something else too: ties to Iranian intelligence.

Is Beth just jealous? Paranoid? Or is something more at play?

After all, most of the families on the cul-de-sac have some tie to the CIA. They’re all keeping secrets. And they all know more about their neighbors than they should. It would be the perfect place to insert a spy—unless one was there all along.
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Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The New Neighbor. Wow I loved this book! I loved that I never quite knew who was suspicious throughout the whole book. I couldn’t stop reading this book and it truly kept me on my toes without being too scary. Loved!
5⭐️

I grew up in a neighborhood similar to the one described in this novel, and the early characterization of the relationship among the neighbors felt real and believable. While at times it was a challenge to keep track of who was who, the book was enjoyable overall. I guessed correctly who The Neighbor might be, knowing that those most touted as being guilty probably were not. The view of the inner workings of the CIA structure was interesting. Not the most intriguing book, but it held my interest and was worth the read.

Beth had the perfect life. A wonderful husband and three children, two girls and a boy. Her youngest kid just went to college in Virginia and she is now feeling so alone. Her marriage is nothing like it used to be and her work is now taking her off a case she has put so much time and effort into. Beth feels like the whole world is passing her by and she is just stuck in time in her life where nothing is going right. She is determined to solve the case and put herself back in the game. Will she be successful? I was given an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Meet Beth, a mother and wife who works for the CIA- and for the last 15 years has become obsessed with finding a spy referred to as "the Neighbor", a person infiltrating U.S. intelligence agencies through recruiting agents through blackmail.

Beth is also in a huge turning point in her life: her youngest child leaves for college, her and her husband sell their beloved home, he announces that he's leaving her, and worst of all- the CIA abruptly pulls her from her case.

All while, Beth knew she was getting close to solving the case and the Neighbor's identity- she keeps trying to solve the case even though all of her privilege's are revoked and she is not trusted by her colleagues anymore. A new family moves into their home and Beth believes it isn't a coincidence. What happens next?

Right from the beginning, this book captured my attention and toward the end, there were many twists; one predicted but the ending caught me off guard!

I thought it was interesting and apparent after reading this book and finding out that the author spent eight years as a CIA analyst, she made the government details easy to understand. This is my first "spy" thriller persay, and I really enjoyed it!

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Ballantine for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Living in the northern Virginia area very close to the locations that were mentioned I felt a real connection with this book. It starts off strong but then becomes slightly confusing with so many different characters but overall this was a very enjoyable book.

This one gripped me from the start and I kept suspecting literally everyone. I didn’t know where to turn and the story was creepy.

Karen Cleveland’s 2018 debut, Need to Know, was one of the best books I read that year. I’ve read all her subsequent thrillers — but with diminishing returns. And this time, she lost me. Beth Bradford, the main character, is supposed to be a CIA agent, but her actions—and reactions—are totally off the rails. I could’ve done with less “it’s her/no, it’s him/oh, it’s got to be her . . .” The final twist was interesting but hardly earth-shattering —and not a surprise considering Cleveland’s other ending twists. And she used the word ‘cul-de-sac’ about a thousand too many times.
Thanks to @netgalley for an early read.

For any woman to say good-bye to a house where she raised her children and had a good marriage would be a whammy. Add to that, putting her last child in college and looking forward to an empty nest is going to be a double whammy. But both of those were planned and expected. ON THE SAME DAY her husband told her he was leaving her and then when she went into her long time office at the CIA to have some feeling of normalcy, she found out that she’s been demoted and will have to relocate to another building (away from her colleagues) and will lose access to all the work she’s done ferreting out a mole. WOW! Quadruple whammy!

With all of the above hitting her at the same time, it’s no surprise that she goes off the rails. She starts spying on the couple who bought her house, even following them.

After 40% with getting nowhere except caught up in more drama and angst, I decided this book was not for me. I appreciate the ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, Ballantine Books, in exchange for an honest review.

3 for neutral. Unfortunately, this one was just not for me or my at least my mood! Will definitely update if able to finish, but the beginning just didn’t grab me!

I’ve read several of Karen Cleveland’s novels and have always found her work to be engaging and compelling. She knows how to tell a story, knows how to keep me guessing. And because she is a former CIA counterterrorism analyst, I feel like I’m in good hands when she’s walking me through agency culture and procedures.

The New Neighbor has an intriguing premise. Three families, all living on the same cul-de-sac, each home inhabited by one or more government employes, all with sensitive government jobs—and one of them is an agent, known as The Neighbor, who has been turned by a notorious Iranian spy who holds a deep grudge against the U.S. Beth has been working for fourteen years to try to unearth The Neighbor’s identity. Just as she feels she’s getting close, she is suddenly pulled off the case and sent to an outlying CIA facility to teach. At the same time her youngest child has just left for college, she’s sold her house and is leaving her comfortable life, and her husband is leaving her. Talk about upheaval! But Beth has not lost her commitment to unearthing the truth and she continues probing, going around agency protocol.

What follows is a skillfully-woven plot that keeps us guessing. Probably not a good idea to read this book at bedtime because it will keep you turning pages late into the night.

The plot twists are abundant and surprising, right up to the final chapter with a reveal I never saw coming. Really a fun read!

I struggled to finish this one as the opening chapters are just one character going round and round saying that someone is the Neighbor! I really wanted to like this because I've heard such great things about the author, but this one was not for me. I'll try another one by her!

Beth works in counterterrorism at the CIA. Life as she knows it is slowly unraveling. Her youngest child has just left for college. Her husband has told her that the marriage is over and he is leaving. And, probably the unkindest cut of all, she is unceremoniously removed from her team at work, and all her clearances are revoked. All of these changes occur early on in this book, and things do not slow down until the end. It is full of red herrings that keep the reader guessing. With all of the clues and things that may or may not be a coincidence, it is hard to know what to trust. Much like it would be in the real world, Beth does not know what is meaningful versus what is not. Neither does the reader. While I thought there were a couple of plot points that didn’t really ring true, the author is a former CIA counterterrorism analyst, so she would know. All in all, this was a propulsive and entertaining domestic thriller that I would definitely recommend.

I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. NetGalley neither asked for nor received any editorial input.

I spent most of this book feeling like I was on a chase to hunt down The Neighbor which is exactly what I hope the author intended. I was flying through the pages to find out who it was: this neighbor, no, maybe that neighbor. Maybe even the new family who moved in? A great read that surprised me at the end!

This was a fun and twisty…very twisty thriller. It’s going to be loved by people who love as many twists as a book can offer up! Now I’m looking around my own neighborhood and wondering… I really enjoyed this one. Everyone, and I mean everyone is a suspect. I enjoyed the often funny neighborhood gossip, the drunken soccer moms with high power jobs and the relatable train wreck Beth. Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.