The New Neighbor grabbed my attention immediately, page two and I was already sucked in.  I was nervous when the author started talking about  Iranian Quds Force, Intelligence Officer and CIA that I would be lost and not understand anything.  Not the case at all; Cleveland has an outstanding way of getting you to understand, which also makes for a good fast paced read.  

I was intrigued with Beth, our main character, I was honestly on the edge of my seat waiting to see what this woman was going to do next.  I know there are going to be a handful of readers that don't like that Beth was made out to be the "crazy woman neighbor" but again when I read FICTION that is exactly how I see it.  

4 stars from me for being a little predictable at times and the ending didn't give me that OMFG feeling but was still an easy, hard to put down read, and I'm always here for those.  This was my first Karen Cleveland novel and I have to say I enjoyed it.

This book was incredible. Your kept moving from one to another. The storyline was so different from my ordinary books. I am having trouble describing it without giving things away. Basically, it is never what you think it is until the end..

This is my 1st read by this author, and I cannot wait to read more of her books.
I loved all the twists and turns in this book. I was able to catch some clues and figure out some of the twists.
I love that the author used her previous work for this book. I would absolutely love a sequel to this story and see where it goes.
100% will Reccomed this book to everyone.

I found this book to be fast paced and intriguing. I kept turning the page to find out who the "neighbor" was. The twists and turns as the "answers" were revealed at the end kept me reading. I was not overly impressed with the heroine, Beth, as a renegade agent. The concept seemed a bit far-fetched for an analyst to be running around on her own spying on people and having secret meets. I didn't find her particularly believable. I loved the plot though.

I really wanted to love this book. It had betrayal, mystery, twist and turns…all the ingredients for a great book. However, I just liked it not loved it. It was confusing to me at some points and the storyline seemed to drag on a bit. I would definitely try another book by this author, but this book was just not my cup of tea. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group provided a copy of The New Neighbor in exchange for a review.

The New Neighbor is a spy novel, packed with so many twists and turns, multiple suspects, and was so unpredictable. It may be my new favorite spy novel, although I've not read many. I thoroughly enjoyed this read despite it being outside my normal genre.

So many times I thought I figured out who the Neighbor was, only to find out I was wrong. I questioned everything Beth thought. It was a roller coaster, and the ending was amazing and painful.

See my review on Goodreads!

After reading this book I am glad I do not live on a cul-de-sac and I don't think I will ever want to. So many twists and turns in this book it was hard to keep it all straight. At times I hated Beth, sympathized with her and then loved her in the end.

Very good mystery book.

I received this book as an advanced reader copy with no requirements regarding the review of it.

Karen Cleveland’s The New Neighbor captured my attention ‘til the very end. This fast paced mystery thriller had me reading for hours straight, desperate to solve the case!

The plot twists did not completely catch me off guard, but I enjoyed how I could come up with my own theories through clues in the text that eventually led me to figure out who the neighbor was myself. I did not feel disappointed as if I had guessed the ending, but instead like I was involved in the case and making discoveries right there with the main character. I absolutely recommend this book to others and am eager to read more of Karen’s novels myself!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Net Galley for this wonderful book!

Thank you to NetGalley for a free eARC copy of this book, in exchange for my honest review.

Five stars-- I could not put this book down. Cleveland did an amazing job writing all the twists and turns into this roller coaster. There's enough information to keep the reader guessing, intrigued, and engaged with the characters.

This was a very entertaining read, a little far fetched at times, but fun! I liked the character development and working through the mystery with Beth. I got a little lost in some of the CIA lingo, but I was able to follow enough that I didn’t get lost. The twists and turns were well played and overall it was a enjoyable read! I have 3 little kids and finished it in 4 days if that tells you how hooked I was to find out what happened next!

Karen Cleveland's "The New Neighbor" was well worth reading. For the first half of the story, I wondeted if Beth, the CIA case officer and protagonist, had lost her sanity. But shortly after, the plot begins to fold over on itself and twists left the Ii s reader breathless. It''s a very good spy thriller, and I should know (I wrote the bestselling "Spies Lie" series, under the name "DS Kane)..

Great story with lots of thrills and suspense. Interesting characters. Really enjoyed and definitely recommend.

Thanks Netgalley for a copy of THE NEW NEIGHBOR .
The new neighbor was an interesting read, had a couple of twists and turns that surprised me. Quick read love to read more by Karen Cleveland.

The New Neighbor is a mystery with an interesting concept. I give it two stars because I was curious to the outcome but found myself scanning pages through areas bogged down with meaningless content. I would not describe this as a thriller, the pace was too slow and the characters fell flat. Upon finishing the story, I didn’t care what happened to the characters and I did not care for the ending.

Two stars – It was OK, I finished the book but it lacked substance.

Thank you NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, and Karen Cleveland for the electronic ARC.
#NetGalley #TheNewNeighbor

If you want an edge of your seat thriller that never lets up, I HIGHLY recommend this book! This is my first book by our author and what a pleasant surprise it was! Will for sure be checking out her other books, both past and future. .Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for a review.

This was a creepy, suspenseful novel about a woman CIA analyst who has devoted most of her career to hunting an Iranian spy who appears to be tunneling into her DC/Langley neighborhood by turning American citizens into spies! Beth Bradford loved her neighborhood. She raised her 3 children there and has made very close friends with the other families on her cul-de-sac, especially the other moms. Taking her youngest child to college is the beginning of the end for her 25 year marriage, as instead of selling their family home and downsizing with her husband, she finds that he has sought younger pastures. And to add insult to injury, she has been removed from her raison d'etre', the search for "The Neighbor." Being demoted to teaching new recruits and no longer having her phone calls answered by her prior coworkers makes her all the more determined to find "The Neighbor", even if it kills her. She starts to suspect all her old neighbors, as well as the family who bought her old house! Lots of Red Herrings made this a fun read. I do not usually enjoy spy-type novels as the technical jargon makes me feel dumb, but Ms. Cleveland gives us just enough knowledge to be able to enjoy the ride. I had to re-read the last chapter, it was such a whirlwind. In a good way. I received the ARC of this book from NetGalley and the author, but all opinions are my own.

A fantastic, fast-paced thriller you won't want to put down. Be prepared to read this in one sitting! Karen Cleveland has done it again. Her book"Need to Know" was one of the best debut novels I've ever read. This is her fourth and she has not slowed down. You'll find yourself in Beth's shoes, trying to figure out which neighbor is "The" Neighbor, and there are plenty of red herrings along the way. I would give it more than 5 stars for that ending alone. Did not see that coming!

If, like me, you read a lot of mystery and thriller novels; you’re well aware of the subgenre of “cozy” mysteries: a protagonist, usually female, stumbles over dead bodies (always free of gore) in the everyday course of business. Cooking is a favorite profession, so are crafting and bookselling. It’s a classic case of willing suspension of disbelief – after all, Crabapple Cove, Maine, is unlikely to have a higher murder rate than Chicago, Bogotá, or Mogadishu. Even with that in mind, though, today’s book is a new subgenre for me; something I call the "cozy spy thriller."

Meet Beth Bradford, heroine of Karen Cleveland‘s fourth novel, The New Neighbor.

Beth’s nest is suddenly empty: the youngest of her three kids is off to college, the Bradfords have closed the sale on their suburban cul-de-sac home, and – wouldn't you know it – hubby Mike has split to live with the stereotypical hot young secretary. Cliché much, Mikey? Worst of all, when Beth returns to the CIA office from which she’d spent the last couple of decades chasing an Iranian spymaster and his wily U S asset, “The Neighbor,” she learns that she’s been locked out and sent offsite to teach analysis to newbie agents. What a let-down…

Unable to drop the search that had consumed her for so many years, Beth worms her way back into the data and learns that the spy recruiter apparently lives on her old cul-de-sac in MacLean. Desperate to solve the case, she goes rogue; uncovering former neighbors she considered friends who’ve been “turned.” Neighbor by neighbor, she uncovers a dastardly plot that would cripple the agency… all the while getting ever closer to the real Neighbor. Will she find the culprit in time to save the day? Will she be shocked by the revelation? Yes, and yes. Of course.

Cleveland, herself a retired CIA analyst, concocted an incursion into the CIA’s inner workings worthy of a scriptwriter for “Mission Impossible,” a fragile network of remotely-controlled activities that would require some sort of clairvoyance to construct. With one's disbelief suspended, however, it’s an ingenious plot. Bradford’s methodology of uncovering that plot, unfortunately, is more hit-or-miss.

It’s almost painful to watch the woman work house by house up her old street, finding every one of her former neighbors (all of whom work at the CIA in some capacity or other) has been turned by The Neighbor. Some have been blackmailed, most have been given stacks of cash over lo, these many years.

Cleveland’s plot ultimately disintegrates in a couple of details. First, The Neighbor was originally turned by the bad guys for lying to the CIA on a routine background check. The lie, frankly, was about a fact that The Company should have known about before even asking a question. Second, the CIA knew The Neighbor was on Beth’s cul-de-sac because of an attempt to turn yet another neighbor with a video of him stumbling around drunk. In the video, the subject says, “Well hi, neighbor!” but can’t remember who was filming him. Yeah, sure.

Last, in order to construct what has to be described as an elegant plan to crawl inside the CIA’s computer network, someone needed to know not just the departments where Beth’s neighbors worked but also their physical locations and small details of the building’s infrastructure. It seems to me that the operation had to be controlled by someone well up the food chain at Langley; something Bradford (and Cleveland) never seemed to consider.

Overall, I thought the Mission Impossible plot was well-thought out, but the plot holes I mentioned above really dragged down my score. As a result, Cleveland’s latest just gets an average score from me, three stars out of five.

[NOTE: I received an ARC of The New Neighbor in exchange for my honest review.]
copyright © 2022 scmrak

I enjoyed this fast paced thriller. At times, I got bogged down with some of the spy lingo. But overall, it was a great read that kept me guessing.

I requested to read and review this book from Random House. This book had some many twist and turns. The ending was shocking! I could have never predicted how it was going to end. I hope the author comes out with a follow up book about this book The Neighbor. Beth thought she had it all until she didn't. Can she prove herself not just to herself but to others. The cul de sac families have a special bond or so you think. Can you really know the people around you family or friends? Can someone but so right about something but also be so wrong. Can two people who don't like each other work to make sure people are safe? This book is for any type of reader and can be read anywhere.