A suburban neighborhood outside Washington, D.C. becomes the focal point of an Iranian espionage plot in this fast-paced thriller, as a CIA counter-terrorism analyst realizes she doesn't know who to trust -- friends, neighbors or even her husband. This novel has lots of plot twists and engaging characters. I could not put it down for the last 200 pages. A must-read!

When CIA employee Beth sees her youngest off at college she knows her life will change. Just how much it will change she doesn’t know. When they return home her husband tells her he’s leaving. He wants a divorce, and he’s already rented an apartment for himself. Well, she thinks, I still have the stability of my job. But does she? Beth finds she’s been removed from her long term project and moved to a teaching facility. She’s been trying to find an enemy operative known as The New Neighbor for several years. Now she’s relegated to a non-investigative office, but Beth is certain she has new clues to trace on her own. She goes round and round fighting dead ends and suspicious coworkers and neighbors.

The New Neighbor is a good who done it or more a who is doing it. There are lots of twists and turns that can leave you quizzing as to who might be the enemy. It’s a good intense read.

Beth Bradford, who works Counterintelligence for the CIA, finds herself at an uncomfortable crossroad in her life. After leaving her youngest child at college, and the sale of their family home, her husband announces the end of their marriage. Wanting to get back to normal, Beth returns to work early, only to find Langley informs her that she is being transferred off her “mission” of the past 15 years, “The New Neighbor” and “essentially” put out to pasture in a teaching position. Feeling “out of sorts” on all fronts, Beth takes us on a wild ride through her “adjustment” and her pursuit of The Neighbor on her own terms, thwarted by Langley and the FBI, at every turn. While everyone around her believes her to be suffering from depression, or anxiety, Beth remains committed to finding the spy among them.

The investigation of the suspects, all of her former neighbors on the cul-de-sac, and CIA, or family members of CIA, find Beth feeling more unsettled, but determined. She cannot process the idea that one of the people she has befriended for years could be the elusive “Neighbor”, the object of her obsession for fifteen years. Her secretive operation focuses on the new owner of her former home, Madeleine, who turns out to be the FBI agent, now in charge of “The New Neighbor” case. Using bits of clues gleaned from her surreptitious sleuthing within the agency, using methods legal, and legal, she methodically investigates each of the people in the cul-de-sac. Everything she has known to be true in her life, soon unfolds into a domino of untruths, revealing the “ New Neighbor” to be eerily close to home.

Thanks to NetGalley for the early preview! I thoroughly enjoyed the twists, and turns, in The Neighbor, by Karen Cleveland. Five stars for me!

I spent my teenage summers staying up all night reading books. But I can't tell you the last time I couldn't put a book down. I almost finished The New Neighbor in one sitting; it was so addicting. If you like thrillers with three-letter agencies, you will love this book!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for this honest review. The New Neighbor arrives on July 26, 2022. You MUST pre-order this one for your end-of-summer read.

Beth Bradford has it all; perfect family, idyllic neighborhood, a meaningful career at the CIA. On the day she drops her youngest off at college, her life is going to change more drastically than she ever could have imagined.

I'm finding it difficult to discuss this book without revealing any spoilers. A testament to the layered details throughout the book, I changed my mind at least five times trying to figure out the case. There was the right amount of suspense without making me anxious. I felt like I was watching a spy movie rather than reading a book in bed.

The New Neighbor is the perfect travel companion; you'll completely lose yourself in this tale. I hope there is a sequel; there are definitely more stories in this neighborhood.

Exciting story with spy/espionage themes. Beth, the protagonist, is friends with and lives on a cul-de-sac with several other families associated with the CIA. Beth's Iranian counterintelligence job has been to safeguard the intelligence community's intranet from the Quds Force's attempts at cyber malware. She is suddenly--and suspiciously, relieved of her duties while another woman with the CIA and Iranian ties moves into the cul-de-sac. Many leads and secrets follow. This is a thrilling story, I read it in 24 hours. Couldn't put it down.

Makes a person wonder just who you really can trust! What a great read! I really enjoyed this book more than I thought I was going to. It caught my attention from the very beginning and held it throughout the entire book. There are a lot of characters so it was hard to keep them all straight at first but became easier once you got into the heart of it. There is a bit of a cliff hanger so I imagine there will be a sequel and I would look forward to reading another one. Thank you too Netgalley, the author and publisher for the free advanced copy. I'm voluntarily leaving this review.

Wow! This book read just like a movie! Thank you to NetGalley and Karen Cleaveland for the arc copy in exchange for my honest review.
This really makes you question if you really know your neighbors. I wonder what is going to happen next after that twist at the end?!

I loved this author and the cover of this book the book itself is brilliant and awesome thank you so for letting me read this book

Fast pace, entertaining definitely a book that should be made into a movie. Characters are great and I really liked that there was several things going on at the time time. Type of book that you can't put down until you get to the end.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for sending my an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.



I have to admit that at first this story was a slow ride. The turn of events changed rather quickly for me though as I kept reading. I am glad I stayed with it and did not add it to my DNF shelf.



The Neighbor was a suspenseful story about Beth who is a CIA Agent and a case she has been tackling for the past 15 years. She is suddenly taken off the case and it is a devastating loss for her. Everything in Beth’s life starts to fall to pieces at the same time. Her marriage begins to finally crumble, and her career seems to now be over.



I started to question Beth’s sanity and let me tell you, there were moments in this story that spooked me! I did find a quote from this book that I loved that seemed perfect for a setting of a scene out of the story.



“Nothing good comes from the woods at night”.



If you’re reading this I encourage you to give this story a shot, I don’t think you will be disappointed.

I don't read spy novels very often, but I suppose I should reach for them more often.
I'm not going to give away any details about the book, just outline my thoughts.
I really liked the mood of the book, I was excited all the way through wondering what was going to happen.
I was not bored for a minute, which is a good sign for me.
Beth as the main character was sympathetic, a mother who has raised 3 children.
I liked the typical line that the book represented. I wonder who can be trusted? Is it just the main character overreacting or not? How far can someone go? Where is the limit?
The end of the book was a disappointment, not everything was crystal clear.
The biggest negative was the repetition of the word 'cul-de-sac'. It drove me crazy. I think that is a bit much.
Overall, it was okay, but the book didn't offer me any pluses, so I can only give it an average 3 stars.

Ok, seriously? And is it going to be a series?? As a general rule, I love Karen Cleveland spy stories. She tends to tell a compelling tale that is fast-paced and easy to fall into. But sometimes she does seem to go a little farther into suspension of disbelief territory than even a willing reader finds palatable - and such was the case with this book.

From start to finish it felt over the top and it was very hard to believe that a seasoned CIA analyst would behave as the main character behaved. The piling-on of horribles as obstacles in our fearless heroine's way started to feel unnecessarily harsh very early on, especially since you knew she was going to overcome them all because it was going to be That Kind Of Story. The Big Reveal didn't make a lot of sense, because it relied on "shocking" realizations that the main character - again, a seasoned CIA analyst trained to look for signals - should have identified as relevant early on but somehow conveniently forgot about or ignored. It made the revelation feel forced and not entirely authentic with the previous experience of the character in the book, which was a big stumbling point for me.

I'm constantly intrigued by the seemingly endless fascination the world has with reading and writing stories that seek to peel back the curtain on suburban life to reveal a roiling cesspool of deception and lies. It's like it's become the new Fairy Tale flip side, Like with so many tropes though, the first few times you stumble across it are surprising and shocking and fun, but after awhile it starts to feel overdone, and so authors start piling on additional elements intended to startle and surprise the reader - but too much of a good thing isn't usually a good thing, and that's what I felt happened here...

The concept wasn't engaging one, and it drew me in from blurb. Cleveland's writing is always easy to fall into, even if you're rolling your eyes in disbelief while reading, so I never had a problem continuing with the book. It did start to feel a little too much fairly early on though, and I actually found myself wondering if the twist was going to be but there was in fact no vast conspiracy underpinning it all but instead a bout with mental illness - which might actually have been more plausible, if less satisfying for most readers.

Still I will happily admit that the second twist at the end was one I did not see coming but thoroughly enjoyed. It is what led me to think there may be more books coming, and what leads me to the conclusion that I would be willing to give another book following these characters a try. That twist and my general feelings about Cleveland's storytelling were strong enough to leave me curious as to what happens next - which, after all, is the hallmark of a good writer...

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for allowing me to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.

The New Neighbor is a twisty, creepy, highly entertaining novel . If you enjoy reading spy novels with a detailed, analytic feel , then this is the book for you. Beth, is a CIA agent looking for "The Neighbor" when her job pulls her off her case. Beth moves out of her house and soon she finds herself spiraling into a world of angst and anxiety. No spoilers, but Beth becomes obsessive with who moves into her home and makes some wild decisions. This was a fast paced read, so make sure you carve yourself out sometime to read it straight through. I would love to see The New Neighbor adapted into a movie!

Yessss this felt like Need to Know, which I loved so much and recommend to everyone I know. As with that one, I couldn't put this one down, and I had to read while cooking, eating, etc because I was so into it.

In a Virginia suburban cul-de-sac located near the HQ for the CIA lurks a bunch of spies being run by Iran. It is an interesting and entirely plausible scenario, and this novel takes things to the extreme when Beth, one of the residents, is summarily reassigned to another job at the CIA. Many of the neighbors also work at The Agency, some in very sensitive positions. How they have come to be compromised, how Beth investigates her neighbors, and how the Iranians try to penetrate the CIA's internal networks will tickle your imagination. The tech is mostly believable, and the pace moves just quickly enough to be interesting. And this is one novel that you will want to read to the very end that will make you think it could happen here. It shows how tracking down spies can hinge on very subtle clues that could be interpreted as both damning and exculpatory. Highly recommended.

Everyone seems to be suspect and just when I thought I had the ending figured out, I found out I was wrong. This book had me hooked from the beginning and the last few chapters were so twisty I felt like I was on a roller coaster. It was so good - fast-paced and suspenseful with the surprise ending! Absolutely loved reading this one!!

I loved Karen Cleveland’s new book “The Neighbor” and had a hard time putting it down. That’s the test of a successful thriller-the reader not wanting to take a break. Reading “The Neighbor” inspired me to read “You Can Run” next. If you want pure escapism and love spy thrillers, read one of Karen’s books. I’ll definitely share this title with friends and my book clubs.

I started this, but once it got to the political talk, I was done. I can’t keep up with all that. Too much thinking for me.

The New Neighbor by Karen Cleveland takes place in a neighborhood cul-de-sac outside Langley, Virginia in which the long time neighbors all have ties to the CIA. Shortly after moving out of the cul-de-sac, the main character, Beth, is taken off the case she’s been working for many years. The case involves searching for the identity of an Iranian intelligence agent who has been recruiting agents in the US. When a new family moves into her recently vacated house, Beth begins to have suspicions of the new family and keeps investigating the case she’s been removed from. In doing so, her search leads her down some unexpected paths.

I felt the main character’s paranoia could have been tamed down a bit, but this did lead to my feeling she was an unreliable narrator, which may have been the author’s purpose. The epilogue had a twist that I didn’t predict and that’s always a bonus for me!

This book turned out to be a surprisingly good read! I almost put it down to start with - all the espionage stuff was too much for me. I'm so glad I didn't because after the beginning moved to Beth going home, the story took off. I finished it in 2 sittings - I raced through the second half. The ending was definitely a surprise - I did not see that coming. I highly recommend this book.