I didn't find this as tense or believable as Cleveland's last book, but it kept my attention until the end.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

This description was promising! I really thought the storyline would be better but it left something to be desired. I didn’t care for the main character, Steph, which made the book hard to get into. She was selfish and annoying. The book started out strong but in the end there was too much going on and it felt like the author was trying too hard to be shocking.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion. This is a fast moving suspense mystery. I can only describe it as an intense read with a lot of twists and turns that will keep you intrigued until the very end. I can’t wait to read more books by this author.

Stephanie Maddox is a single mother and the head of the FBI’s Internal Affairs department. Her teenaged son Zachary is her primary driving force, that and her pursuit of the truth.

As the victim of a crime that she felt could not be prosecuted, Steph takes her personal frustration and turns it to her job, where after years of investigating organized crime in Chicago, she now takes on the dirty agents whose crimes sully the Bureau’s reputation. But all her hard work gets set aside when an old friend comes to visit one night. A fellow agent and ex-boyfriend, now tasked with investigating domestic terrorism, brings bad news. Zachary’s name has come up in a case. It looks like he could be part of an anti-American group that may be planning a violent attack.

Steph denies any possibility that it could be true, but as the days go on, she starts to wonder how well she really knows her son. She looks through his room and finds a gun in the closet. In talking with him, she discovers he’d quit his extracurricular activities, thinking that colleges wouldn’t look at the second semester of his senior year. He has a girlfriend she’s never met. And after following him home one day, she realizes that Zachary knows one of her deepest secrets, one she’d never told him. He knows who his father is.

Steph digs more into the FBI’s case against this terrorist group and against her son, and instead of finding answers, what she finds is some of her old “friends” coming back into her life. Her investigations into organized crime made her some enemies, and she starts to wonder if they are the ones making Zachary look like a terrorist. Maybe it was someone from her past in Internal Affairs. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s the worst possible possibility—maybe Zachary really has fallen in with a terrorist group.

As Steph continues to dig for information, she realizes she is jeopardizing everything to protect her son—her job, her relationships, even her life. Putting the pieces together in time is the only hope she has of keeping her son alive, and giving him a future.

Karen Cleveland’s Keep You Close is a powerful thriller filled with insider information into politics and the FBI. It’s a fascinating look at those top-level investigations, although there does come a point where it gets a little confusing, trying to keep all the theories straight. I loved the character of Stephanie, and I enjoyed rooting for her and her deep-seated need for the truth.

However, and it breaks my heart that there is a “however” with this book, I found the ending really disappointing. I was so hoping for an an elegant ending, but that is not what I got. Keep You Close is a good book, exceptionally well written most of the way through, but don’t expect a happy ending. Maybe someday there will be another novel to address that? Or maybe there is just disappointment.

Galleys for Keep You Close were provided by Ballentine Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.

If you are a mother then you know about the fierce need to protect your child. The need to do whatever it takes to make sure that they are safe from whatever is threatening them at that time. Stephanie Maddox faces this kind of predicament, only hers is also an issue of national security.

Stephanie wants to believe the best of her child, but with the evidence she's been able to gather through channels that are both office and not it's looking like she may have to change where her loyalties lie.

An intriguing and thought provoking story about what one mother will go through to protect what's hers.

A very suspenseful book. Loved it from the first page to the last. Doesn't leave you hanging and gives you a sense of satisfaction when you read the last page.

This started out interesting enough, but I just couldn't get into it once Stephanie kept making excuses for herself and her son. Instead of really making an effort to connect with Zachary, she tried to go behind his back to investigate. I didn't understand why she would leave him alone YET AGAIN when she already admitted to not monitoring him closely enough. I did not finish this book.

Excellent! Karen Cleveland second novel doesn't disappoint. It's a smart, well-paced thriler that kept me turning the pages.

Typical FBI/CIA spy/terrorist plot book but quite enjoyable with its twists and turns and unexpected ending. A fast read. Karen Cleveland style which never disappoints if you want a suspenseful thriller.

Stephanie Maddox is an FBI agent. She’s also the single mother of a high-school senior, Zach. When the two worlds start to overlap in a mind-bending case of espionage, which comes first---the mom or the agent? Although this isn’t generally the type of book I read---police, spy, war thrillers---any of those tend to get a little too heavy on the political side, and I tend to enjoy the emotional intrigue a bit more. Still, once I got about 2-3 chapters in, I was eager to understand what was going on, and if Zach really was working against his mother and the FBI in some terrorist capacity. I got easily pulled into this book, surprising myself by how much I wanted to return to reading after general life disruptions (you know: sleep, work, life…). I would love to give this book more stars, but I was deeply unsatisfied with the ending. Without giving anything away, let’s just say I’m rounding up.

2.5 Stars
NOTE: Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved <i>Need to know<i/> by this author so when I saw she had another book coming out I jumped at the chance to read it. I was completely disappointed by this book. For a thriller I found nothing to be thrilled about, it wasn't a page turner, it wasn't one where I was trying to figure who dunnit because frankly I couldn't have cared less. This book could have had so much potential, the idea had real promise, it could have been amazing.

Wow! What a rush! Karen Cleveland has done an excellent job at creating a fast paced, intense thrill ride with this novel. I loved every minute of it and can't wait for more.

~Becca, Reviewer at Cover To Cover Cafe

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an ARC of Keep You Close by Karen Cleveland in exchange for an honest review.
This book was an exciting thrill ride! I read it in one sitting. It was completely engrossing from the prologue to the last page.
Steph Maddox was a Senate aide when her boss did something despicable. His power prevented her from confronting him, but she made it her life's mission to protect victims. Now, an agent for the FBI as a supervisor in the Internal Affairs division, she is torn when a friend tells her that Zachary, Steph's son, is a suspect in a radical group. Steph knows this can't be possible. She is sure she knows her son.
As Steph tries to clear Zachary's name, she gets deeper and deeper into a complex web of conspiracy and realizes that she is up against a force bigger than she expected. The Russians have a deep grip on the intelligence agencies of the US. Nothing Steph does helps, but instead endangers her family and her loved ones.
No one is immune to the danger.
This novel was a breakneck speed of a thriller. I loved it!!
#KeepYouClose #KarenCleveland #NetGalley #BallantineBooks

This novel is a complete guilty pleasure. It has all the elements of a riveting crime drama, murder, treason, a top secret government conspiracy. Stephanie Maddox is a FBI agent in the internal affairs division. Keeping FBI employees in line is her job. Life has never been simple for Stephanie, but she tries to make the best of things while holding life together for her 17 year old son who is about to graduate high school. Life starts to unravel for her quickly after a colleague brings evidence to her that suggests her son may be involved in a plot to eliminate high level government workers. Unable to accept this as truth, Stephanie throws herself behind exonerating her son. The path she is led down forces her to make painful choices between protecting her family and doing the job she was trusted to do. This story is a twisty tale that kept me guessing till the end. I do wonder if the author took inspiration from the real life political climate, as there are many echoes of real life in these pages. A lot of fun to read, strongly recommend.

While a fast paced thriller, I found myself just wanting to skip ahead and find out what happened. It was an interesting take on the mother/son relationship, but I didn't feel a ton of character development.

Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fast paced edge-of-your-seat action, combined with both psychological and physical conflict and never quite knowing who exactly is on the side of good, make this a thriller that is hard to put down. Although the ending is a bit abrupt, I enjoyed the twists and turns and will look forward to what author Karen Cleveland comes up with next.

I received a free copy from NetGalley. How much will you do to protect your own child? How well do you really know your teen child? Fast paced and with lots of twists and turns it raises some good questions if you take time to think about them.

Talk about an ethical dilemma. And how far would you go to protect someone you love. This was my first book by Karen Cleveland and it kept me engrossed. Highly recommend this book.

Keep You Close by Karen Cleveland is an interesting read. I picked this book up because the premise of the book sounded promising. There were parts of the book that I really liked-- such as the strong voice of the main character and her strong emotions about being a mother. Yet, there were parts of this book that I did not like much. There was not a lot of satisfaction about good winning in the end. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.

Karen Cleveland is quickly we becoming one of my favorite legal/mystery writers. This book was written with her signature style of legal, mystery and drama all mixed into one. Bi would highly recommend it.