This was a really engaging spy thriller with one heck of a twist ending! It kept me hooked from early on and, even though I don't usually gravitate towards spy thrillers, I really had trouble putting it down. The writing style is very easy to digest, yet compelling, and I never felt that I was confused even when they were explaining CIA back-channel hacking and things like that.

Even though the subject was not an original idea, the author was able to breathe new life into the spy genre by taking things from a slightly different angle and I really enjoyed this read!

Did not finish so will not be leaving a review. I had this on my list for too long and cannot remember all the details about why I did not like it or finish it.

This has been on my shelf for much longer than I'd like, but I finally got a chance to pick it up. I listened to the audiobook.

The first few chapters of this book gave me vibes that were very similar to Karen Cleveland's newest release, The New Neighbor, and I was a bit worried it would be very very similar. It turned out to be quite different and took a lot of twists and turns. Overall, it was a pretty enjoyable listen and kept me interested throughout. Especially at the end, when you thought things were wrapping up another twist was thrown in.

I'd recommend this to others.

I received this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Vivian Miller is a CIA counterintelligence agent, her job is to look for Russian sleeper cells in the US. While using someone else’s computer, she discovers a secret file of deep-cover agents, including her husband.

A fast paced thriller that makes you wanting more.

Vivian Miller is a CIA analyst working on trying to track down Russian sleeper cells in the United States. She has been working on an algorithm to get into the computer of a known handler, and when she accesses his files, she finds pictures of the five agents he handles... and one of them is her husband, Matt Miller. She finds out that much of her life is not what it seems, but she decides to work to find out what's going on in order to clear her husband and keep their family together (they have four young children). I don't want to go into too much detail to spoil the plot any further!

Pros to this book: great twists and turns, NO bad language or sexual content, a main character that you really feel for and hope for her success. Some people complained about the flashbacks slowing things down, but I liked them because they helped you get to know Vivian better, and as you got to know more of what was going on in the present day, you could see hints of foreshadowing in her flashbacks. Cons to this book: some of it got really repetitive, and the pace slowed down sometimes as Vivian was waiting to see how decisions she made panned out or tried to figure out what to do next. For a CIA analyst, Vivian was awfully naive and trusting sometimes, and there were times where I really felt like she should have been more capable in the situation than she was. Also, I found it completely unrealistic when she would come home with this bombshell to talk about with her husband, and rather than discuss it as soon as the kids were in bed, they would first go about their normal routine of doing the dishes and tidying up the kids toys. Um, no, if I had this insane thing going on in my life, we would be talking about it ASAP! This happened more than once!

The biggest con for me was the epilogue. Objectively, as an ending to the book, it was a great twist. To me, it touched on some things that are completely unacceptable to me and was a total gut punch. Like, it almost ruined the entire book for me, it bothered me so much. That being said, it was an overall good book, and I was so impressed by how clean it was, so I don't want to ding it too much. I'd probably give it a 3 1/2, but I'll round up to a 4. Thanks to NetGalley for the free ebook.

I got this book as an ebook ARC from NetGalley a long time ago. I just checked and it was published back in January of 2018 so it really was a long time ago. Dang. I sometimes really suck at the "advanced" portion of the ARC deal...

Anyway, I waited so long that I was able to enjoy the audio version. And I did enjoy it. The narrator did a good job - a very nice job - and I was sucked into the story pretty quickly. I thought I knew where the book was going but there were some twists and turns that made the experience even more than I expected. I don't normally read spy books but I'm glad I picked this one up.

My only real issue was that the ending was pretty anti-climactic and felt like it happened a bit too easily and quickly. It didn't take away from my enjoyment overall though.

OKAY! Scratch that. That'll teach me to start my review while still listening to the ending. I thought I was listening to the epilogue but I wasn't. :-)

So if you haven't read Need to Know yet because you meant to but your TBR pile got away from you, here's your reminder!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for putting it on my radar!

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for this reader's copy. In exchange, I am providing an honest review.

If you've watched The Americans then this storyline will ring familiar. Not the same but familiar.

Vivian Miller is a wife, mom, and CIA CI analyst working on Russian sleeper cells. Her life is very full and very busy. She's created an algorithm at work to track down Russian handlers and their sleepers. It works great and she finds herself staring into the face of someone she knows. Someone who happens to be the father of her four children. There's no way she is married to a Russian operative and hasn't caught on by now. There's just no way...or is there? What follows this revelation is a downward spiral for Vivian as she grapples with the truth, or reality, of her life and what the next steps look like. All along the way the thing she keeps coming back to is trusting her gut, her instincts. Can she? Should she? In the end, for better or worse she's got to.

I got done with the book and felt slightly sick. Just like I felt while watching The Americans. All of this spying and subterfuge. I could never do it and I don't understand people who do. I read this book pretty fast, Cleveland wrote a story that grabbed my attention and kept me wanting to get to the next chapter so I could find out what would happen next. Cleveland, in her former life, was a CIA CI analyst so she writes from experience as far as the job goes. So if Cleveland is crafting fiction stories from her very real work once-upon-a-time I guess that means there is still, in this day and age, all this spy crap going on in countries all over the world? It just seems so infantile. Anyway. This was a good read. I liked it. I might read other Cleveland titles in the future.

I loved this book! I had anxiously awaited this book and it did not disappoint me. Highly recommend it.

I definitely enjoyed the premise of this book and the main character. It was a bit predictable and seemed to lose a bit of steam at the end, but still enjoyable.

Wow...just wow. I've had this title on my stack of books to read for over a year. I wish I would have picked it up sooner. It was so good!

National security. Family lies. A mole in the CIA. A woman trying to save her family. Russian operatives. All of this and more. Then, just when you think it's safe...the book ends...and is it really safe???

Shivers up my spine. Great thriller.

This book .....grabbed me at page one and I didn't want to put it down! Suspenseful, thrilling, full of twists and turns.....it keeps you on the edge of your seat. My first read by this author and I will definitely be reading more of her books. Highly recommend!

It's been a while since I read a thriller. When coming across this ook on net galley back in 2018, I was immediately intruiged with the synopsis of the book. It made me want to read it badly, which isn't something I'm often experiencing anymore when coming across thrillers. I was lucky enough to actually get an arc of the book, but it took me a while to pick it up - I'm a mood reader.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the book and after finishing it, I'm definitely aching to get my hands on more of these kind of thrillers.

The authors writing lured me in right away and the story was truly compelling to me. I liked the characters a lot. The character development was really well done and there's truly nothing 'negative' I can say about it all.

I sometimes found myself losing a bit of concentration with the politic elements, but all in all I've had a wonderful reading experience! I'm definitely excited to read more of these kind of books and more by this author!

In Karen Cleveland's Need to Know, Vivian is a wife, a mom to four small children, and she works a plain old office job. Okay, well, maybe it's a little more than plain. Vivian is a CIA counterintelligence analyst. She spends all day combing through records and picking through data in hopes of finding and shutting down Russian spies. She's not out James Bond-ing it so she should be safe, but when a new program she creates starts getting too close for Russian comfort, Vivian's whole life hangs in the balance. What will she risk to keep her family safe? What really comes first, family or country?

I have actually never read a spy novel before and this one was really fun. I needed something a little different and a little lighter. Life is crazy enough right now and I can't be bogged down by my recreational reading. Sure, there were plenty of plot points that seemed more than a little far fetched, but that is the contract we accept when we pick up books like this. Suspend disbelief for a bit and just have a little fun. Would I have made the same choices Vivian makes? Maybe, maybe not. With stakes this high, who knows? If you're in the mood for a little fluff and a little good old fashioned spy fun, add this one to your vacation bag, even if maybe you'll be taking a stay-cation this summer.

I really enjoyed reading this book! I read this book in one sitting because I could not put the book down, I highly recommend reading this book!

This book kept me awake all night. I really like reading novels in the thriller/action-adventure space which are a bit different. But still able to keep me riveted. I am looking forward to reading her other novels.

Vivian Miller is just back to work after giving birth to twins. She and her husband Matt have 4 kids now, and while she loves her job as a CIA analyst, she also adores her family. But she’s worked hard to get this assignment. Being a part of the team investigating Russian sleepers is a plum assignment, and she dosen’t want to turn her back on that. Not that she can. Between the mortgage, daycare, two car payments, and health insurance for the family, Vivian has to keep her job to keep the family afloat.

And now, when their intelligence team has figured out a way to get access to the computer of Yury, known Russian agent and probable handler of five Russian sleepers, now the fun is just starting.

Vivian looks at the files on Yury’s computer, opening one folder after another, finding nothing. Their intelligence says that each handler is in charge of five sleepers. She’s looking for a group of five individuals. Five names. Or, five photos. Viv finds a folder that has five photos, and she opens them one by one. A man with glasses. A woman with red hair. Another. Another. And then there is a photo of her husband.

As Vivian tries to figure out what her husband’s picture is doing on the computer of a Russian agent, she also has to help him juggle all the details of keeping a home and raising four kids. Should she confront him? Should she turn him in? Are they being set up, or is it real? Could it be possible that her husband of 10 years is actually a Russian sleeper agent?

And what will happen to her family?

Need to Know is a family thriller about CIA agents and Russian spies, written by a woman who worked as a CIA analyst for eight years. Author Karen Cleveland took her own experience home (not that her husband was a possible Russian spy, just the analyst part) and wrote about a family suddenly in crisis.

The novel spends a lot of time going back through the relationship, from the day Vivian and Matt first met, through their wedding, their first kid, their first house, and everything since. Viv thinks back through everything, looking for clues, rethinking her whole adult life. As her thoughts turn over and over, she can’t decide if her whole marriage is a lie or if her husband is a victim, recruited into the system as a teenager and doing his best to get them out of the situation they find themselves in.

I listened to this on audio in a handful of days. Once I started the book, I didn’t want to stop. I enjoyed the reflections on the marriage and the family, but I found myself wanting more information on the job at the CIA. But it was a very compelling story, and in some ways, really eye-opening. If you’re looking for a good thriller with a CIA twist, then Need to Know is one to read.

Galleys for Need to Know were provided by Ballentine Books through NetGalley, with many thanks, but I bought the audio book myself through Audible.

I'll try my best to get my point across without spoilers.

I've had this book on my to-read list for a while now. It piqued my interest, thinking it could be similar to Homeland. It's not (lol), but can still be enjoyed by fans or non-fans. It honestly doesn't focus too much on the actual CIA job part - it's more about trust and family.

Need to Know follows the life of CIA agent, Vivian. She has a pretty stable job, good family (lots of kids), and 100% trusts the people around her when she shouldn't. I enjoyed the book as a story, and it was very well-written. My biggest issue was around actually believing the story as if it could be true. I know it's fiction, but I kept wondering how this woman would want, could get, and could keep a job with the CIA.

Honestly, I could not get over Vivian's stupidity. Throughout the book, I was wondering how gullible could she possibly be? The entire time, I was waiting for a twist that never happened. So maybe she knew better, but I still don't see how she would have a job with the CIA.

*Thank you to Netgalley, Random House, and Ballantine Books for the ARC, for which I have given an honest and unbiased review*

I couldn’t put this book down. It grabbed me from page 2. Really enjoyed it! Hope there is a sequel.

Stars: ✦✦✦✦.5
So as usual, I'll tell 4.5 things I liked about the book and 0.5 thing I didn't like.

+1 | The writing and the way that things were told

+1 | The plot and flow of the story

+1 | It keeps you reading, guessing and at the edge of your seat

+1 | The ending! Throughout the book you think you know things, but then suddenly things are flipped

+/-0.5 | All in all, though interesting it wasn't anything too new

A post will be up on the blog next week.
Read on lovelies,
S

This was an interesting book, A Russian Sleeper is married to a CIA analyst. I'm just not sure it would have actually gone done the way it was written. Once you got past the questionable part, it was a good read, with a happily ever after ending.