If you haven’t read Karen Cleveland yet— run— to the nearest bookstore! I have been a fan of hers since her first which I think was Need to Know. They are fast reads but don’t let this word fool you, as the stories are complex. The New Neighbor was her most recent and I LOVED it too so it’s no I rush to read her latest. You Can Run did not disappoint and is movie worthy. The author formerly worked for the CIA which provides realism in the details. And it’s no spoiler to state the theme, what would you do for your family?? Your answer may be the same as Jill Bailey’s! I highly recommend this and all of Karen Cleveland’s books!

A great thriller! Fast paced and an awesome ending! If you’re into espionage or spy stories then this one is for you. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this copy for review

This book really contained some badass female characters and that's what I loved most. Another really cool detail that I loved, as a booklover, is the fact that it contained The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Book with No Pictures. Favorites!

I also thought it was really cool that this book about the CIA is written by someone that has first hand experience.

I'm not sure I always agreed with some choices, especially Jill. Some things she did, didn't make sense and because of that I wasn't able to connect with her at all times. Another thing I'm not too sure about is the ending. I was hoping for something shocking, but this book didn't DEVASTATE me, the way I like it (lol). Not even sure if I really liked that final chapter.

This book is full of action and thrilling parts and that made me RUSH through. Easy to read, amazingly written!

A frantic story of CIA analyst Jill Bailey. One phone call sets her off on an intense, soul searching gamble that could put her family in danger. She is panic-stricken for most of the book. I sped through this one, absorbed in the plot.

Jill receives a cable that is the kind a reports officer like herself lives for! Her chance to vet a source, a crucial one, he is a Syrian defense official. She is chomping at the bit to participate in this covert operation. Later that day Jill receives a call from someone with a deep, robotic voice, somewhat like one you might hear in a horror flick. She is terrified!! And who wouldn't be! Are they watching her now?!

Pulse-pounding tale with espionage, a great protagonist (Jill) and investigative journalist (Alex), secrets and that ending!!! I'll never tell because they might come after me!

Thanks to the publisher for my advance copy ! OUT on August 31, 2021

This book is essentially a book about the CIA, operatives… something that goes wrong and a woman must save her children. I like a good mystery, and definitely a story about a heroin who is trying to save someone. I’m not as good with CIA type books, but thought this one was good. The ending was definitely good and I could see it leading to a sequel.

There wasn’t as much character development as I think there should be, but the overall story was decent. There were some holes, though, and I wish they would have been fixed. Especially, when we find out who the culprit is…. (And yet we don’t really until the end**.)
3 stars for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy

**kind of spoiler - we don’t find out who the perpetrator is until the very end- and then it’s kind of out of left field and yet kind of makes sense… and has to do with Natalia, a late character. But. It seems a little too convenient… and it also seems like Jill and Alex should have figured it out…. That there was something still wrong. Instead, they just let “Falcon” go and don’t pursue him anymore?? After he kidnapped Jill’s kids? I find that super hard to believe. Hence my thinking there might be a sequel? Not sure if the author usually does this

In this latest suspense novel, Karen Cleveland looks at what a mother with high-level security clearance would do to protect her child. All CIA analyst Jill Bailey has to do is not look too hard when vetting a potential new Syrian intelligence source—if she wants to see her kidnapped son alive again. The beginning of the book is chilling; we can’t help wondering how we would act under those circumstances. The possible consequences of this rubber-stamp approval weigh on Jill for years, long after she abruptly quit her dream job at the CIA and uprooted her family in search of safety. The whole time, she kept her word to the kidnappers never to reveal what happened, but now a journalist is threatening to go public and put Jill’s children at risk again. When she meets the journalist, Jill makes some implausibly bad decisions, though without them the story wouldn’t have gone anywhere, so I can’t complain too much. It isn’t until this new threat of exposure that the action picks up steam, with Jill going from terrified victim to person with determination and agency. The rest is thrilling and fast-paced, with plenty of twists, danger, and conflicting loyalties.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House/Ballantine for a digital advance review copy.

lets just say i wasn't expecting espionage! but it was a good story. keeps you on your toes & thinking what the hell is going to happen next. i saw so many great reviews, but the MC just annoyed the hell out of me. loved the ending though! 3 stars.

This thriller is fast paced! I had a very hard time putting it down.

Jill works for the CIA and her husband is an attorney. They have a young son and are adjusting to life and work with an infant. Jill eats her lunch in her car so she can watch the video feed of Owen as he rests or plays. One day, she can’t find him on the feed and the phone rings and her life changes forever.

Jill makes decisions that she believes will keep her family safe, but secrets are not the answer.
Excellent third book from author Karen Cleveland. Thank you Net Galley for the ARC

Fun to read. But I didn't take my expectation that high because the plot is good but it is predictable. Nonetheless, it is a great read while reading at the beach, waiting for your flight and any other fill-in.

I loved this book. It kept me hooked and had twists and turns that were both unexpected and well written. I barely put it down, just racing to figure out what was happening. I would definitely recommend to a friend.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I did enjoy it. From the beginning it’s a fast paced read and the reader is quickly drawn into the narrative.
The story centres around two women, Jill Bailey, a CIA analyst and Alex Charles an investigative journalist. Jill’s son is kidnapped and she is faced with a stark choice. Some years later Alex receives an anonymous tip relating to the CIA, this leads her to Jill and the ramifications of Jill’s choice follow…
It’s a decent thriller which held my interest and the different points of view work really well. I didn’t particularly warm to the characters and for me, some of their decisions were questionable and lacked authenticity.
I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher Canelo Crime for and ARC in exchange for my honest review.

In Karen Cleveland’s You Can Run, this adult thriller is outstanding and heart-pounding at the same time. It all started for Jill Smith, who worked for the CIA as a case operations officer, when she received a mysterious phone about her son Owen. If she didn’t put in a request to approve Falcon as a confidential source, they would take her son. When she did, they returned him to her. But that turn of events made Jill leery and wary about who’s watching her son at day care. So drastic times goes for drastic measures: she resigned from the dream job and moved to Florida with her husband Drew and her son Owen. Fast forward four years later, she never told anyone about that phone call, but she couldn’t help looking over her shoulder. Now until Alex Charles, a reporter for the newspaper, had tracked her down after she received anonymous tip about a news-breaking story. Together, they teamed up to find the truth on who’s behind the ransoming demands to publish the story and influencing fake information about a potential war. When they kidnap her children, it becomes personal for Jill and discovers the culprits which hits close to home for her and a fight for survival with an earth-shattering ending.

This was an amazing and exciting thriller that deals with timely events that you might hear about in the news someday. It makes you second guess and question everything you hear about the media concerning “fake news” reports. I cared about Jill, who would do anything to protect her children, and would stop to nothing to get the truth and the heart of the matter. No matter what it takes, even if it might cause concern in her marriage to Drew. I also adored Alex who wanted to make her late mother proud by following her dreams to receive a Pulitizer award in journalism, even if it cost her marriage to Miles who wanted children. She learned to move and helped Jill in any way possible and also did the right thing by keeping her family out of the press and protecting her sources too. I loved the D.C. area and the Florida locations—both places had compelling and mesmerizing scenic settings. The theme of the story is no matter what you say or do, you can’t run from your past because it would catch up to you later on.

I loved how it dealt with the timely issue of fake news and the concept of a war from an unlikely source who’s been spewing the truth. Since Karen Cleveland used to work as a CIA analyst, everything appeared realistic and matter-of-factly to read this type of thriller. I loved how she had a diverse cast with Alex being African-American, and how they make a dynamic truth-seeking duo when they teamed up with each other. I couldn’t find anything negative to say about it since this was a heart-stopping jaw-dropping thriller. I rate this book, four out of five stars for no specific reason. This is recommended to everyone who loves to read all types of thrillers, especially those deals with spies/espionage.

When Jill's son is abducted she, a CIA agent, makes a decision to put family over country and approve an operative without doing her due diligence. Four years later a reporter, Alex, is given a tip that the operative isn't who they claim to be. Alex's research and Jill's decision put them together to find the truth. A fast paced thrill with believable strong female characters.

You Can Run is a fast paced thriller. Jill is a CIA analyst who finds herself in a position to make the toughest position in her life. She thinks things are over, not understanding that things are really just beginning.

Like all of Karen Cleveland's books, You Can Run is a fast paced thriller, with unexpected twists and turns throughout. I did not expect the ending at all, and look forward to reading her next novel.

I definitely recommend this book. Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for the free copy. All opinions are my own.

This was an intense thriller involving CIA analyst Jill Bailey. Jill must make a decision that will either keep her family safe or put her country in danger. Whichever decision that Jill makes will haunt her no matter how far away she runs.
This was my first Karen Cleveland book and will not be my last. Th fact that she was previously a CIA analyst adds not only to the believability of the story but adds unknown details and nuances that more books of this type lack. There is a lot of information and detail which I appreciated. It did have some slow parts but those slow parts picked up quickly as the story progressed to the tense ending and epilogue.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review
#NetGalley #YouCanRun #KarenCleveland

Right from the beginning of this Karen Cleveland book, you can't help but like Jill Bailey. If your child was threatened and you had to choose to break the law to save your baby's life, would you make the same choice Jill did? What if your decision threatens national security because you work for the CIA? What if you now have to keep this secret from your spouse? That's precisely the dilemma Jill finds herself in, so, when a reporter starts asking questions, long hidden secrets are exposed. I did enjoy this suspense/thriller, although not nearly as much as some of the author's other books because it got a little disjointed and hard to believe in an otherwise very realistic story.

Jill is a CIA analyst that has to made a difficult decision to save her family. She then has to move her family in order to keep them safe. After being in the clear for a few years, Alex, an investigative journalist gets an anonymous tip that leads her to Jill. While the two of them start working together to uncover the vast conspiracy that they have discovered, will they be able to keep Jill's family safe? This is a fast paced thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

For anyone looking for a female-centered version of Tom Clancy, with CIA details and procedures seen through a woman’s experience, Karen Cleveland never disappoints. Her latest novel, You Can Run, asks the question, if you could only save one, your son or your country, which would you choose? Readers go through the agonizing Sophie’s Choice along with CIA analyst Jill Bailey, and for a while I would make her same choices. However, she does make a couple of head-scratchers, which needlessly frustrate her search to unmask whoever is trying to unmask her. She paints herself into a corner of her own making early on and gives the journalist who may be trying to help her a bit too much power. Like Cleveland’s last book, Need to Know, You Can Run is a page-turner, and the cinematic action will satisfy fans of Jason Bourne or, more accurately, Homeland’s Carrie Matheson.

As a Mystery/Thriller addict, its usually very easy for me to find a cozy mystery to curl up with but very rare that I enjoy a novel about espionage. Karen Cleveland is clearly the exception. After the page turning thriller that Need to Know was, I had to pick up You Can Run the moment I saw it and it did not disappoint. I COULD NOT put it down. Fast paced, interesting, realistic and mind blowing. Definite read if you're into spy movies and books.

4.5 stars. What would you do to keep your family safe? Jill is faced with that exact question. All she has to do is say yes on a source. Keep your mouth shut and your kid will be safe. Jill passes on the source and immediately walks away from the CIA and secretly moves her family to Florida to start over. She can run....but she can't hide. Alex gets an anonymous tip to find Jill, she has the story that could rock the nation and stop a disaster. Will Jill talk? Or will she keep her mouth shut to save her children?
You don't know the whole truth until you read the last sentence and that is my favorite kind of book. While this story does have some slower parts, when it really starts to amp up it stays that way.