Karen Cleveland's book The New Neighbor is well-written and paints a clear descriptive picture for readers. Cleveland keeps the action moving with surprising plot twists that lead to a shocking conclusion.

Synopsis:
Beth Bradford is a CIA analyst. Her youngest child departs for college and her husband ends their marriage, leaving Beth alone. When Beth sells her house to Madeline Sterling and her husband, the couple appears to have the lifestyle Beth dreams of until strange things start happening in the neighborhood. Beth suspects that Madeline may have ties with a notorious Iranian espionage group. Can Beth uncover the truth about Madeline?

The New Neighbor is packed with delicious lies and mysterious circumstances. Karen Cleveland leads readers on an adventure that keeps them on their toes. It may feel a bit repetitive to readers at first, but it is in the retelling of the story to get to the unexpected conclusion. Fans of curvy CIA fiction will enjoy this book. As with many novels, one must suspend belief to appreciate it. I look forward to reading more of Karen Cleveland's work. (4⭐⭐⭐⭐)

The New Neighbor is available on July 26th.

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House - Ballantine, for allowing me to review this book. Your kindness is appreciated.

When we meet narrator and protagonist Beth, she is seeing her youngest child off to college. As empty nesters, Beth and her husband Mike have sold their northern Virginia suburban home in a cozy cul de sac and are going to move to a smaller place. It’s a sad but normal part of a mother’s life. But then other events occur that are far from normal. She is removed from her job in counterterrorism at CIA searching for an elusive agent nicknamed The Neighbor who has been recruiting CIA informants and is put “on the shelf” in the CIA training school. Then her marriage breaks up. Her previously wonderful life has gone to pieces. Beth determines to fight back and show her management that she is not washed up, and she vows to learn the identity of The Neighbor despite having had her access to information on the case cut off.
In the first part of The New Neighbor we get to know Karen’s OLD neighbors, the residents of the cul de sac where she raised her family. Most of them also work for CIA, which is not surprising , since Langley is very much a bedroom community for the agency. This section of the book read more like a mainstream family life novel than a thriller, but it was relevant background. The focus changed as Beth becomes more involved in her pursuit of The Neighbor. She has to face two challenges; not only does she have to learn the identity of The Neighbor and The Neighbor’s recruited sources, but she has to do it without normal access to the classified data.
I found a number of the aspects of the whole case not quite believable, but the final denouement was really clever, and I admit I did not see it coming.
Karen Cleveland was a CIA analyst before she became an author, and I very much enjoy her informed portrayal of the intelligence agency, with accurate terms and procedures. The description of suburban life was also well done.
I loved Cleveland’s first book, Need to Know, so much that it would have been difficult for her to repeat her achievement, but overall this was not a bad read. Bottom line? I had not realized she has written two more standalone thrillers about women CIA employees, and I definitely plan to read them both.
I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher.

Beth Bradford works for the CIA and she's been tracking an Iranian intelligence agent known as The Neighbor. That is until she is removed from the case and asked to teach new CIA recruits instead. Throw in a failed marriage, the last kid is off to college and she's moving out of the house she's called home for a long time. She's dealing with a lot. When Madeline moves into her house sight unseen, Beth doesn't trust her. She decides to continue her investigation into The Neighbor and you won't believe what she uncovers.

I think this is perfect for people who love a good government mystery story. The pacing is pretty good, the chapters are short and the overall story is decent. Some parts were a bit predictable and I am not sure if something like this could actually happen in real life. I didn't particularly care for any of the characters either. I didn't love this one but I didn't hate it either.

The New Neighbor by Karen Cleveland just didn't get off the ground for me. I feel this premise has been played before and been done over and over. Gave up midway through the book.

I completely forgot I requested this book as an arc and was excited when I saw it on my shelf. I've read one previous Karen Cleveland book - Need to Know -- and thoroughly enjoyed it. I wish I could say the same about this one. It was a page-turner for sure, but I found Beth to be so unlikeable and grating that I just did not sympathize with her. I understand her obsession and trying to control the one thing in her life that she could amongst all the upheaval, but even understanding her thoughts and feelings did not endear her. She reminded me of Carrie Matheson from Homeland - another character I did not like. She came off incompetent, and I don't understand how she wasn't fired? She really deserved to be. The twists and turns, suspects, and revelations felt more and more ridiculous. The final reveal of The Neighbor had me shaking my head. What a bunch of idiots! If everyone is this easy to turn, then this country is in real trouble. lol

This is interesting and suspenseful, definitely unique. I felt there were too many conspiracy theories and red herrings - all the switches and changes gave me whiplash. Still fun if you can keep up and suspend belief a bit.

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Outlier Alert

This is my fourth by the author. I usually really enjoy her novels.

I love a good neighborhood thriller and this one has an intriguing premise. A quiet cul-de-sac with a close knit set of friends, a CIA agent on a mission, tracking an elusive Iranian intelligence agent who is coded as "The Neighbor".

It was a slow burn, head scratcher for me. Beth is the CIA agent and her life goes heywire when she gets demoted, her marriage falls apart, and she becomes an empty nester when her child leaves home for college. Her husband leaves her and she has to give up her home, but she becomes obsessed with the woman who buys it and she continues spying on all of previous neighbors. LOOKING for the elusive "New Neighbor". I wanted to scream more than once, "Just find the person already" this infiltrator!!!!!! I've had enough! My brain is circling with all the theories.

Far-fetched mania, then the conclusion...... What? Oh no, really? Nope, just nope.

Although I wasn't a fan of this one, others have enjoyed the wild ride of guessing the identity of the New Neighbor!

I requested Karen Cleveland's The New Neighbor because I found her Need to Know an enjoyable, fast-paced read and I wanted to mix it up and read something that was not literary fiction. This fit the bill.

The setting: Beth Bradford, a CIA analyst [as was Cleveland, in counter-terrorism], lives a seemingly idyllic life in an idyllic neighbord--until she does not.

"Now, facing an empty nest and a broken marriage, Beth is moving from the cul-de-sac she’s long called home, and the CIA is removing her from the case that’s long been hers: tracking an elusive Iranian intelligence agent known as The Neighbor.

Madeline Sterling moves into Beth’s old house. She has what Beth once had: an adoring husband, three beautiful young children, and the close-knit group of neighbors on the cul-de-sac. Now she has it all. And Beth—who can’t stop watching the woman stepping in to her old life—thinks the new neighbor has something else too: ties to Iranian intelligence."

And so it begins. The neighborhood is close to the CIA and most of the families on the cul-d-sac- have ties to the Agency.

This book has more monkey wrenches than an Ace Hardware store. Every time I thought I knew who--or which direction the clues were pointed--not. "Hints were dropped throughout." BUT...

There were many redirects. Eventually, it just wore me down. Went from 4 to 3.5, to 3. I began to think it preposterous [but only somewhat--because i know a LITTLE bit about intelligence work. I began to see Beth as just obsessed although I could understand--the career and work she loved was taken away and she was sent out to left field--still determined to find the new neighbor.

No spoiler from me--but I didn't really like the ending [though I don't know what I would have done.]

If you want a page-turner [?, maybe qualified]; this is for you. Maybe you'll like it more than I did.

Cleveland's books are a notch above a thriller/mystery - she is a great writer and while I'm still new to her books, this didn't disappoint. Her books are good from beginning to end and catch you so perfectly. Fun!

Whew! I read The New Neighbor in just over 24 hours! I couldn't put it down! Full of suspense and mystery and the frustration of.not being believed and being fed so many lies. Beth works for the CIA and has been working for 15 years in one case, that is, until she's removed from the case without warning. This unexpected demotion, moving out of the home she raised her kids in, now an empty nester, losing her husband and questioning everything she thought she knew, brings Beth to a breaking point. She must figure this case out before it's too late. Or is it already too late?
This spy based plot is different for me, and I truly loved it! Thank you to NetGalley and Random House - Ballantine Books for the e-arc!
Definitely giving this one 5 stars!
*reviews to be posted to retail sites once pub. date hits.
Review to be posted to Instagram this week.

Special thanks to Net Galley and Random House Publishing (Ballantine) for this ARC in exchange for a fair review.

2.5 ⭐️ rounded up.

It’s surprising to me that the first 25% of this book made it through the editing process. The first quarter is clunky, rambles and is frankly really boring.

I pushed through because the premise is actually quite interesting and gave me Claire Danes’ “Homeland” vibes: Beth Bradford’s life is falling apart and her fixation on her new neighbor and her old cia assignment is threatening to take her sanity as well.

The premise just never delivers though and probably because she spends a quarter of the book rambling and trying to build some narrative that doesn’t land at all and then rushes through the last 1/3 to tie the plot together.

Beth is an exceptionally hollow character. Her husband leaves her and she reacts for maybe 3 sentences of the whole book? In all the rambling no real set up is developed for understanding why the marriage dissolved or even if Beth cares at all? Is she sad? Angry? Relieved? You’ll never know.

Then there’s the whole incredulous nature of her being a top notch cia analyst? For one, she cannot fathom what’s happening around her so much so that each unraveling thread is a major shock to her psyche but at the same time she feels overly confident in the accusations she starts hurling at people despite them being based on random conjecture. She convinces herself completely of theories she develops over a grand total of 3 seconds and acts on them. Maybe a la unmedicated Carrie from Homeland but unlike that character, Beth supposedly isn’t suffering from an unmediated mental illness. But ultimately what rings most false is when in the end, after running around like a mad woman making no sense and taking no precautions whatsoever, all of a sudden she puts it all together and heroically saves the world.

The ending is random as hell and if surprise is your thing, you’ll be happy with that.

Overall- This was a very meh book and seemed like it was both trying way too hard and not trying at all.

This book was not for me. It started off way too slow. Once I finally had the narrator describing her job in first person to the reader— I realized this was not my type of writing style.

Well, this book has no shortage of twists and turns! If you’re into spy/espionage type thrillers then this will be right up your alley. We meet our main character, Beth, and learn she’d been in the CIA. Through some instances we learn she becomes obsessed with an old target and her life. Beth’s life crumbles around her as she kind of loses her grip on what is/isn’t actually going on. Overall, this was a good page turner for me, and if you took like crime/spy thrillers you should give this one a go.

Karen Cleveland’s latest is her best yet in my opinion. I’ve read her other three books which are all based in the intelligence community to which the author once belonged as a CIA analyst herself. It seems to serve her well in creating the stories and this one is especially intricate in trying to solve the mystery of who is working with the bad guys against the government. In a way, I didn’t feel sorry for the troubles that our main character, Beth, encounters. It seems she’s brought on some of her troubles with her marriage, her relationships with her children and her failings at work. Nothing to light a fire in you like adversity and knowing your gut is telling you something important that is just out of your grasp. As Beth tries to figure out the mystery, her entire life comes into question. I love it when a book holds my attention even if the main character irritates you. I still rooted for her. Loved the story, couldn’t predict all of the twists and there is the slight potential we’ll get to see some of the characters again.

Beth lost her position as a CIA Intelligence Officer looking for an Iranian spy they called "The Neighbor" and was sent to Kent School where she would be teaching intelligence analysis. In essence, it was a demotion.

She wouldn’t give up her investigating that she had worked on for years and became obsessed with the family who moved into her home - especially the woman Madeline - because she thought she was the Iranian spy.

Beth also lost her husband to divorce, and her last child was now in college.

Were these two life-changing events affecting her judgment about this woman?

Why would she focus on this woman who she found had no history but who did lie about her prior job?

Beth was warned to stop but wouldn’t and took many risks including the risk of losing her job as she was still investigating both Madeleine and others in her old neighborhood without permission from the CIA.

It was slow going for me, and I am not really a fan of spy novels and espionage, but I continued because I wanted to know what all the hype was about and why Beth had worked for years to find “The Neighbor” and if Madeline really was “The Neighbor.”

If you enjoy a book where you will be thrown off track, and if you enjoy books about the CIA and FBI, this book should be a good one for you.

It just wasn’t a good fit for me. 3/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

I LOVE Karen Cleveland's CIA books and this one did NOT disappoint! So thankful I was approved to read this one!

This is a really fun spy/secret agent type thriller that, although a bit far fetched, will have you guessing until the very end. It is a very quick read and highly entertaining! As a former CIA counterterrorism analyst, it is clear that Clevland’s personal experiences are woven into the plot and really add to the story.

Karen Cleveland is a new author for me so I didn't know what to expect once I was approved for this ARC. Well she will become a repeat author for me. This novel kept me at the edge of my seat at every page. I didn't know who to suspect, everyone was guilty in my opinion.

Beth and Mike Bradford are a long standing married couple that will be experiencing an empty nest. They are dropping off their youngest son Tyler at college. Beth is a CIA analyst, Mike a lawyer who are both experiencing different paths on their next chapter. Since Tyler is their last child they have decided to sell their beautiful house in a cul de sack and down size. Only Beth will be downsizing on her own, her long loving marriage is over and Mike is leaving.
As things change for Beth in her personal life she finds her work life is also changing. The long standing case that she has been working on has been taken away from her and she is demoted to a teaching position. Beth refuses to let this case be given to others and she refuses to let go. As she tries to put the pieces together her loving neighbors and former colleagues all think Beth is losing her mind. She's drinking to much and her judgement is clouded. Or is it?

Every page kept me wondering who was sending was this mystery neighbor who has reeked havoc in Beth's life.I really had to find out and the ending truly surprised me. Every time I thought I knew the villain, it turned out to be a dead end or someone new popped up.. I loved the characters, the setting and the subject matter. It was truly a page turner and I hope Ms. Cleveland continues with Beth and her CIA stories. The ending made me think there can be a "New Neighbor".

Thank you Ballantine and NetGalley for the ARC copy. Also thank you Karen Cleveland for a real compelling story.

This is a book about Beth, a CIA analyst that has been trying to find a spy that has been named "The Neighbor." She had been the head analyst and uncovered the most clues about "The Neighbor" but is re-assigned to a CIA teaching position. She is frustrated to find that her top secret security clearances have been revoked and she can no longer work on the case. Beth becomes obsessed with "The Neighbor" and this is where the book becomes less interesting to me. Beth is constantly repeating herself in the book. This could have been a tactic used by the author to actually impress Beth's obsession with "The Neighbor" on the reader. Unfortunately, it just made me skim read those entries, which in turn, upsets me because I might miss something. The other thing that caused me to "disbelieve" this book was that Beth constantly found new and different suspects in the identity of "The Neighbor." Seems to me a CIA analyst would be much more methodical in preparing a case than just giving guesses and sharing those guesses with co-workers. I would prefer a 2.5 star review but since I don't have that option, I have rounded it up to 3 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the DRC in exchange for a review.

Beth’s life is falling apart. Her marriage is over and they’re selling their home in the cul-de-sac where they raised their children and made their closest friends. Added to that is the stress of her job as a CIA analyst who seems to be out of leads on finding her target, the Neighbor.

After Beth is pulled from the operation, she begins to suspect the Neighbor, an Iranian terrorist, is closer to home than she could ever imagine. Is she right or is all the stress clouding her perception?

The New Neighbor was a great thriller. There were definitely times I was frustrated with Beth’s actions, especially considering she is a CIA analyst. I really enjoyed the book and I will definitely look for more from this author.