Well this one kept me up all night reading! Great spy thriller set in the US. Vivian Miller is an analyst working for the CIA with a focus on Russian sleeper cells. She has a wonderful life with a loving husband and four children. Her world is tilted on when she clicks open a folder in a computer of someone the government is tracking. Life changes fast and Viv needs to figured out what is the truth, how much we can trust those we love, and how to survive this world of espionage. Great story and characters, this reads like a movie and I hope the rumors are true that it is being made into one! Thank you netgalley for a chance to read this for my honest opinion.

Ignorance is bliss. Just ask Vivian Miller. Poised at the pinnacle of a career making intelligence project, she soon finds that same project threatens to tear apart the most important part of her life. Already logging late hours and struggling with guilt at the amount of time she is away from her four kids, what Vivian learns could destroy her tenuous grasp on her family life with her children and husband. With suspenseful pacing and strong plotline reminiscent of the hit NBC drama Blacklist, author Karen Cleveland delivers a sure fire hit that is impossible to put down from the first page to the last. Cleveland’s own background in intelligence adds to the realism of the setting and its issues while she deftly balances a very honest representation of motherhood for the working mom.

Need to Know is a sleek and well-honed suspense story with a great balance of plotline and character development. It is hinted that the movie may be adapted into a Charlize Theron movie and it is a perfect fit for such an adaptation. I look forward to reading more of Cleveland’s stories in the future!

My thanks to the publisher, Ballantine Books for the opportunity of an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Vivian Miller, a CIA analyst on the Russian desk, discovers her husband is a sleeper agent for the Russians and that the number of sleepers in the US is much higher than the agency suspected. She realizes that she cannot turn him in - they have four kids, they need both of them and both of their incomes to maintain their household, and she loves him.

After not turning him in, she endangers herself erasing his record as a sleeper and by taking additional steps that get her in deeper and deeper.

She has betrayed her oath and is worried about putting the US at risk. She also cannot trust Matt. Is he being truthful with her, or is their entire life part of a managed campaign to put her in the right place at the right time?

The story is well written and plausible regardless of which part of the paranoia you come down on, but stories where characters make one inadvisable move after another, digging themselves in more deeply each day, make me uncomfortable. The entanglements increase; Viv has to lie to more friends and colleagues; the tasks set by the Russians get more and more costly. The suspense and pressure are relentless.

Reminds me in a way of Sophie’s Choice - there is no good answer and no way out.

/ I didn’t like it so much.
Matt has, since their first meeting, manipulated his relationship with Viv and the progress of her career as an analyst for the CIA - switching to the Russia desk, moving up the ladder of espionage analyses projects.

The Russians threaten Viv’s kids when she doesn’t manipulate CIA data as they ordered. She determines that she can only protect them by finding Yury. Viv finally locates Yury the handler and discovers that her mentor Peter was the mole. His wife Katherine was not accepted into a cancer clinical trial. The Russians provided the medicine until Peter refused to continue to do their bidding. They withdrew the meds, and she died a few weeks later.

Viv discovers Matt at Yury’s house; Matt shoots Yury; Peter takes the blame and suicides. Omar helps get them into Witness Protection, including Viv’s parents. Viv forgives Matt for being a sleeper and for his lies. At the end, Viv decides to return to a higher post in the CIA; Omar is promoted to a deputy director position at the FBI.

In the last few paragraphs, in spite of Vivian’s belief that they have escaped the Russians, she is returning to the CIA and Matt and Omar are both active agents for the Russians.

Readalikes/Similar Authors:
Chris Pavone – The Expats; Dennis Lehane – Since We Fell; Chris Bohjalian – Guest Room; Lisa Scottoline – Don’t Go; James Patterson – Guilty Wives; Iris Johansen – Bonnie; Stuart Woods – Hothouse Orchid; John Sandford – Dead Watch; Mary Higgins Clark – No Place Like Home.

CIA. Suspense. Things have gone all wrong, that's the start of a very dramatic and suspenseful read. This could be a movie, easily. The author has a lot of experience in the CIA and it shows in this book. I happen to like another series where the author has real-life experience in the field she writes in. (Bones for example.) The situation was plausible, the story, good enough to keep me reading. Try this one and see what you think, I think it's a really good first book!

My copy came from Net Galley. My thoughts and opinions are my own. This review is left of my own free volition.

Book Title: Need To Know
Author: Karen Cleveland
Publish Date: January 23, 2018
Buy Link: TBG

Book Blurb: The thought of publicly admitting there were sleepers in the USA admitting our inability to find them, was already barely palatable to Bureau Services.

I liked this novel. To summarize it is a story about a wife, Viv, who finds out her husband, Matt, is an agent for Russian intelligence. She works for the CIA. On her computer at home, she finds a folder entitled Friends. In it are pictures of her husband. But he looks different. He also has a different name. Alexander Lenkov. He along with a friend are persons of interest in an investigation into sleeper agents in American soil. What started as a routine investigation into a computer glitch became a full-blown investigation into why two days’ worth of files were erased from the terminal of the CIA. All employees were looked into and Vivian became a person of interest.
Throughout the investigation, she questions everything her husband told her during their life together. But, she had to make a decision. Protect her family and risk going to prison or turn her husband, the man she married, into the authorities of the CIA. The man behind the whole sleeper group wanted her to upload documents taken from the headquarters of the CIA. If she didn't agree it would risk her family.
Needless to say, she doesn't give the names of the sleeper agents due to her family. But she finds the mastermind behind the whole group. Upon catching him the sleeper agents have been neutralized. The family starts a new chapter.
I give this five bookmarks for an easy read, easy follow and keeps you turning the page. You can read this on the train... or in the bathtub while you are soaking. It will keep you engrossed in the novel. With just the right amount of information in each chapter, it is indeed a page-turner. I believe that this author is one that you and other readers will follow in the future. I highly recommend you purchase this novel.
Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher.

Fast-paced thriller about a Russian sleeper cell. CIA analyst Vivian uncovers a secret that will affect her family and her job. This novel is hard to put down!

This has all the makings of a fast paced read. We have so much happening on the internet... our lives are all out there to see. Imagine a CIA operative discovering something she wasn't supposed to see...
With a few clicks, her life, has been wiped out and changed... The journey and chase will take you for a ride.

4.5 stars

What a book! Need to Know is a simply fantastic. I loved the premise (a bit like the TV show The Americans but in a book). With Russian interference in American politics constantly in the news, the story is timely and somewhat terrifying; the idea that Russian sleepers (Russian agents disguised as ordinary Americans) could be anywhere and everywhere in the United States is quite frightening. I really do not want to say much about the plot because I do not want to risk spoiling any detail in a fabulous book that contains many twists and turns and a completely AMAZING ending – certainly the best ending I have read in ages. The one caveat I have (hence the 4.5 stars versus 5) is that it did take me a while to get into the story so if you are struggling early on, keep reading because you will be glad you did. I highly recommend this book, and I hope Karen Cleveland is busy working on her next novel. I received this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Read this book. If you do one thing for yourself, it should be to read this book. It is a fantastic story which is going to be made into a movie which is so exciting! The author told the story of CIA agent Viv beautifully and you could not help but be dragged into her world. I hope there's a sequel as I cannot wait to find out what happens to Viv moving forward!

‘Need to Know’ by Karen Cleveland is an outstanding debut novel! I highly recommend that you read this book. I am not typically drawn to this genre but when I read the synopsis on NetGalley I had to ask for a copy. Ms. Cleveland had me into this book before the end of the first chapter! She writes beautifully and has a wonderful command of the English language. Her subject is current events and extremely relative to the world we live in.

Karen Cleveland was a former CIA analyst, specializing in counter-terrorism. Her insights are incredible and spot on! This only makes her book that more credible and intriguing. I am not going to give any spoilers but the main character Vivian is a CIA analyst specializing in counter-terrorism. The depth of Vivian’s character is obviously drawn from Ms. Cleveland’s experiences. Which is nail biting at best.

I think the author created such suspense, paranoia, tension and a whole host of other spy novel adjectives that I was hooked immediately. Who do you trust? Who do you believe? What is the truth? Who can you ask to help? Can you trust your gut? I just couldn’t put this book down.
The ending is brilliant! It leaves the door open for what I hope is the sequel which I will be eagerly awaiting to read!

While rumors float around Hollywood, I hear some brilliant director has chosen this book to appear on the silver screen! Kudos to Ms. Cleveland for having her DEBUT novel chosen for a movie! I am telling you - READ this book!

I would like to thank NetGalley, Karen Cleveland and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC.

I had high hopes for this book and was thrilled to have been given an advance copy by Netgalley and the publisher. The thoughts that follow are my own.

I'm always interested in espionage related stories, especially those involved with the CIA and Russia, since I grew up during the cold war. When I first heard of this book and read the synopsis I was instantly intrigued and anxious to get a copy.

The story is centered around a CIA analyst who has developed algorithms to locate Russian sleeper cells in America. Vivian is a smart, dedicated analyst who is rolling out her new software in attempts to prove it to the higher-ups of the CIA. What she finds shocks her to the core, and all that she holds dear, her family, is thrown into chaos and danger. From here, the story takes off and is a string of missteps, mistakes, and bad judgements ny Vivian.

I was left disappointed in the book because all of the choices made by Vivian seemed completely opposite of those I'd expect from someone in her profession and intelligence portrayed in the early pages of the book. I don't want to give anything away, so I'll leave it here, I was let down after my early expectations. I will also say, the last chapter of the book made sticking it out entirely worth it. I LOVED the ending! If I could give half stars, the last chapter would have easily bumped this to a 3.4 star review.

All in all, I think this would be an entertaining movie, and one of the rare cases where the film is better than the book. I have heard rumors that rights have been purchased to turn this into a motion picture. I'm hopeful, and I would definitely see it.

Rating: 5/5 Stars
How far will you go to protect your family and find ways to keep it together? How well do you think you know your husband? Vivian works for the CIA in the Russian department and is close to finding some information about sleepers. What she finds out is her husband is living a double life and starts to feel like her whole marriage has been a sham. Blackmail and secrets become a thing of Vivian’s life.
I really enjoyed Need to Know. The book was well written and gripped me from the first page. I did not want to the book to end and I wish and hope for a sequel.
Need to Know will be out on January 23, 2018. Thank you Netgalley and Ballantine for the galley.

Need To Know is Karen Cleveland’s first book and hopefully it won’t be her last! Vivian is a CIA counterintelligence analyst whose job is to find Russian sleeper cells in the United States. She has developed a way to do this and is anxious to locate these sleeper cells. She finds a folder online that has just what she needs to get the job done but when she opens the file, her whole world is turned upside down. Besides Vivian, her husband, her children and her job are threatened because of her discovery. Who should she trust with this information...her co-workers, her boss, no one? What information is true and what is a lie? How does she keep her family safe while still being loyal to her job and the United States? When you think you know the answers, more information emerges and changes your whole perspective. All of these questions will be answered when you read this book.
The detail In this book is so believable and realistic because the author was an actual CIA analyst so I’m sure she made it as realistic as she possibly could have. I highly recommend this book. You won’t be disappointed!
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for providing with and an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Want a non-stop read, well this debut novel is the one for you. From the beginning of the novel when Vivian, a CIA analyst, sees her husband's face appear on a Russian spy's computer until the very end you will waver back and forth. What will VIvian do, is Matt being honest, will she suffer the consequences of her actions, what's going to happen to her family, is Matt hiding his true Russian sleeper self? There aren't many novels that I find myself paging back through to find out what I missed, but Karen Cleveland had me rereading sections to reinterpret my conclusions., with delight that she caught me in her net. A great debut novel and I can't wait for the next.

I don’t know how anyone could rate this less than 5 stars. A stellar stellar achievement for a debut author that had me going until 2am to finish. It is simply a dazzling feat of suspense and intrigue . If one has seen,liked and appreciated the TV show The Americans ,you will be enamored of this novel.
Starting off with a bang, you realize that something is very very wrong in the marriage between Matt and Vivian.Vivian is a CIA analyst involved in investigating Russian sleeper cells but in the course of her investigation comes across information that affect her family directly. The information she unearths begs one to question how love colors allegiance and what a conundrum occurs when one love blinds one’s self. Literally, I was so anxious about the ultimate fate of these individuals that my heart was pounding. In addition to being such a fabulous thriller, it is going to be made into a movie with Charlize Theron. Addictive and all consuming, do NOT miss this one!

Vivian Miller has a fulfilling but hectic life. She is happily married to a loving husband, Matt, and is the mother of son Luke, daughter Ella, and twin toddlers, Caleb and Chase. She also has a demanding job at the Central Intelligence Agency working to identify suspected sleeper cells of Russian agents operating in the United States. On the day she is to apply a new algorithm that may offer a significant breakthrough in her work, daughter Ella gets sick and needs to be picked up from daycare at the same time that Matt is taking Caleb, who was born with a heart defect, to the cardiologist. These kinds of conflicting priorities are faced by working parents all the time, but Vivian could never have imagined the kind of conflicting priorities she will have to resolve when her algorithm yields a success.
It would be impossible to say much more about the story without revealing spoilers, and that would be criminal, because the suspense is superbly handled. Karen Cleveland excels at chapters that end in a “punch line”, a turning point that sets us up for the next chapter.
Standard advice to aspiring writers is to “write what you know. Cleveland, a former CIA employee, has made good use of this advice, and the book has a ring of authenticity, from jargon like “compartmented information” to the description of going through security as you enter the building. How accurate are details like how the offices are laid out and organized, only the CIA could confirm, and I imagine they are not telling. I did think that the original deep-cover activity that Vivian discovers should not have escaped the CIA’s security checks, but the reader does not get details on how they were successful, and I was sucked into the story far enough to hope that it represents a bit of literary license and not a real pattern of inadequate security checks by the CIA.
In addition to spycraft, Cleveland shows her mastery of the craft of writing. It is hard to believe this is a debut novel. Need to Know is told from Vivian’s point of view, and she comes across as a fully believable person faced with a horrific threat to her family and her life. My heart ached for her problems ( I hope the film can reproduce her inner conflicts and reactions so that the moviegoers don’t miss out). The suspense-filled plot was extremely well done also; this literally was a book I did NOT want to put down (much as I dislike using that cliché!).
The ending was fast-paced but a bit “Hollywoodish”, perhaps not surprising for a book that was so quickly snapped up to be made into a motion picture. It should be a super movie, but don’t wait for it to hit the big screen. Go ahead and read the book!
NOTE: I received an advance reader copy of this book in order to write an honest review.
Need to Know is just what you need to read!

What a great book! It was enjoyable from beginning to the last page and I certainly hope there is a sequel in progress. Ms. Cleveland developed the story so convincingly - her background shows as the plausibility of the story continued. I loved it!

Let me start out by saying that I read this novel in just ONE day. That may not mean a lot to some people, but trust me... if you met my hyperactive almost-two-year-old.. you would wonder how I get anything done in one day, much less the reading of an entire novel. 

This novel is face-paced and action-packed. I read suspense, thriller, and crime-related novels on a very frequent basis and one of the things I loved the most about this novel was it's unique plot. Maybe I have just somehow missed all the titles similar to this, but I have never read another novel about CIA counterintelligence, especially not in the context that it is presented in this storyline. 





"'How long have you been working for the Russians?' I say. The words are raw, unprocessed. But they're out now... " 

Vivian Miller is a CIA analyst, working on a special project that focuses on uncovering Russian sleeper spies that are 'hiding in plain sight' on United States soil. She has scarified so much of her life for her career, especially her desire to stay home with her four children, but she is edging closer to a big break that she hopes will make everything worth this one big moment. She has developed a computer program, Athena (goddess of wisdom and military victory-- tip of the hat for clever naming Karen Cleveland), that allows her to access the computer of suspected Russian operatives.

On this particularly ordinary day, when Vivian accesses the computer of a potential handler, she discovers a simple, but obviously important, file. This file is labeled 'friends' and contains five photos. No other information, just five photos. With her prior knowledge of the Russian sleeper cells in the United States, Vivian knows that these must be the five sleeper spies that are operating under this particular handler. As she opens each of the photos in succession, her entire world is stood on end. 

"I put my fingertips to my temples. The ringing in my head won't stop. It's like something's there, some realization, only it's so awful I fan't wrap my head around it, can't acknowledge it's real, because my whole world will come crashing down."

Vivian is faced with multiple incredibly tough decisions that could consequently destroy her career, her marriage, her freedom, her loyalty--even her children, the most important part of her life. There never seems to be an 'easy way' or 'right way' out of every situation, placing Vivian in a true Catch-22 situation at every twist and turn of the novel. 

"Sometimes we think that shielding the truth will protect those we love the most."

I am predicting a wide-spread popularity in support of this novel after it's release in January 2018. There isn't much more you could ask for when it comes to an action-packed suspense novel for the every-day reader. The novel is from the perspective of a busy mother of four, belonging to an ordinary and loving marriage, with just the right mixture of technical terms and information related to the CIA. This combination makes the storyline and raw emotions that are displayed highly approachable for readers who like to relate to their main character(s). 





A few fun facts that I feel the need to share:

If you are unsure of what a sleeper spy is--I recommend some light research (aka: Google) before starting this novel. The author never really provides background knowledge to this term in the beginning of the novel. Maybe I've just been living under a rock... but I did not know what a sleeper spy was, and I like to have all of my 'ducks in a row' when it comes to contextual facts in a novel. 
The author, Karen Cleveland actually worked for the CIA as an analyst for eight years! She focused primarily on conterterrorism, which is obvious in this novel, given her background knowledge about her content. 
Universal Pictures has already put plans in place to develop a film for this novel, staring Charlize Theron. I did not know this tidbit of information until after I finished the novel and now I am so very excited to see this come to fruition.  
 This novel leaves a sneaky little open door to a sequel at the end.. which makes me one happy reader!


This is a review for the Kindle (digital) version of Need to Know.  I received an advanced digital copy of this novel via NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group (Ballantine Books) in exchange for an honest review. All opinions reflected in this review are my own and were in no way influenced by the opportunity to provide an advanced reading review.


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Will review on Amazon and other bookseller pages (ie. Barnes & Noble) once published.

Great read! Looking forward to reading more by this author! Highly recommend!

I'm not sure why this spy novel showed up on my reading list, but I am thrilled that it did. The author, Karen Cleveland, comes by her knowledge of spycraft from first-hand experience working for the CIA in counterterrorism. The setting is Bethesda, Maryland where Vivian Miller lives with her husband and four children.

Vivian seems always torn between her work duty, Russian counterintelligence, and her family of young children, Luke, Ella, and the twin babies, Caleb and Chase. Matt, Vivian's husband, is a software engineer, and he does most of the domestic heavy lifting. He is there when the kids get home from daycare, and he usually has dinner on the table by the time Vivian can leave her desk.

It is difficult to talk about this book without giving away essential plot points. But it is safe to say that this book is a thrilling suspense filled spy story. I just couldn't stop reading it to the very end of one sitting. Vivian has to make decisions that are beyond most people's reach. Working as a CIA analyst turns out to be anything but a tedious desk job. And the story is not a tried and true car-chase, shoot em up story either. The novel deals with the love, anxiety, and fragility of a young family. It is thoughtful, smart, and caring. I am looking forward to the film adaptation with Charlize Theron as Vivian.

Thank you, NetGalley, the author, and Ballantine Books for the opportunity to read and review this e-ARC which will be published in January.