Special thanks to NetGally and Random House Publishing for an e-arc of this mystery.

I had never read anything by Karen Cleveland before this novel. Her descriptions and character development were great. There are a lot of twists and turns to keep you guessing.

Its a spy thriller and I normally do not read spy thrillers. The book kept me interested but just really isn't my type of book.

If you like thrillers and you like spies, possible terrorists type books, then this one is well written and you will probably like it.

ARC releasing 7/26/22. Beth has been in the CIA tracking a spy for 15 years when she’s suddenly pulled off when she thinks she’s getting close. A big reason for my high rating comes down to the short, bite sized chapters that makes you want to keep turning, but not a bad plot either.

The Cul-de-sac will never be the same. Beth Bradford, CIA analyst, is seeing her youngest off to college and selling her house. As if those changes weren't enough, he husband leaves her and she is reassigned after she is unsuccessful in finding The Neighbor, an operative for the Iranians who is tasked with infiltrating American Intelligence. Suddenly suspicious of everyone she knows and increasingly isolated, Beth continues the hunt her own.
The New Neighbor is superbly written and full of twists. I non-stop page turner. Complex doesn't begin to describe the characters as layer after layer is revealed. I thoroughly enjoyed this tense, twisty read.

I thought this book was ok, it was a slow start, with always having to build the background for characters. But the CIA was a nice storyline.. something different I’ve not read before! Overall an ok read for me..

Great read! This type of CIA thriller was a bit outside my usual crime preference and I’m so glad I found it! Full of twists you genuinely do not expect- even when you think you’ve figured it out. I’d be excited to read something from this author again in the future.

This books starts out with a clique…last child goes to college, the house is sold and plans have been made to move forward but the husband announces that he is leaving. I was not sure that I wanted to continue after that but it turned out to have a twisty plot based on CIA employees all living on a cul de sac. They live seemingly normal lives but underneath is the intrigue.
This book takes you on a ride where you never know what is true….I enjoyed the investigation that revealed unexpected truths. The characters are very interesting and believable…especially the new owners of the house.
I recommend the book to those that like espionage.

Karen Cleveland has utilized her knowledge as a former CIA counterterrorism analyst to write this novel, “The New Neighbor”. The story revolves around Beth, a CIA analyst who has been searching for an Iranian spy known as “The Neighbor” for 15 long years.
Beth Bradford’s life is about to change in more ways than one. Her husband has asked for a divorce, now the children are grown and gone, and they don’t seem to have anything in common any longer. Along with that, they have sold their house on the cul-de-sac, and she must leave all her close neighbors behind. To make matters even worse, she has lost her position at the CIA as she has failed to find “The Neighbor” and now she is working as a trainer to new CIA recruits. Beth cannot let go of her search and continues to try to find the spy on her own time causing everyone to think she might be losing her mind. There are many twists and turns to this story, which made it difficult to guess who “The Neighbor” really is until the very end.
I really enjoyed this book and how it was written, it was quite the page turner and hard to lay down. I would recommend this book if you enjoy spy thrillers, or a great story about a strong persistent woman who is determined to finish what she started, Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Ballantine Books for the ARC.

The New Neighbor

Karen Cleveland has brought her skills as a former counterterrorism analyst and a publisher author to bear to bring forward this thoroughly engaging novel. I am usually very good at figuring out what the plot line will end up being in most books I read and review but this one had me changing my mind constantly. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
The characters take a while to develop and have there relationships firm up but it is well worth the journey. The trip is worth the destination.
As I neared the end about 80% through I had many interruptions. It turned out that these breaks allowed me to ponder the information I had already been given and try to predict the future. It was enjoyable seeing how right and more frequently wrong I was when I resumed my reading.
I am sure you will enjoy this Karen Cleveland novel. I hope she is already working on the next one.
I would like to thank the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the advance copy for review.

4.5⭐️ This was a GREAT thriller with compelling characters, a wild premise, and a ton of angst and suspense. It’s about a CIA analyst, Beth Bradford, who has spent the past 15 years searching for an Iranian spy known as The Neighbor. After taking two weeks off for vacation, she comes back to work told she is being moved off the case just as a major development has been made. Unable to give up, Beth decides to pursue this case on her own, despite her friends thinking she’s crazy, her former coworkers blocking her out, and losing people she trusts.

I loved the quick pace of this book. I have to say, at times, I was questioning Beth’s sanity and becoming anxious with every risky move she made. Still, I was rooting for her every step of the way and enjoyed seeing he put the pieces of the puzzle together. I didn’t realize until the author’s notes that Cleavland was a former CIA counterterrorism analyst. Her experience clearly lends itself to the great character development and insightful explanations of the inner works of the agency. While she used a lot of CIA/FBI jargon throughout the story, it didn’t distract me from the narrative. I will say that some parts of the storyline are far fetched and not totally believable. It didn’t bother me because the story gripped me until the very and and left me shocked, but if that bothers you, I’d know that going in!

Read if you like:
👀 Spy thrillers
🕵️‍♀️CIA/FBI investigations
👩🏼‍💻Technology
🤐Secrets and drama
🏡Tight-knit communities
🧗‍♀️Cliffhangers

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Ballentine for the ARC. Pub date: 7/26/22

It was a good solid easy read. I enjoyed the family aspect part of the story. I also liked how she formed the relationships among all of the neighbors. That said it seemed pretty convenient everyone she was hunting was all in her neighborhood. Another thing I didn’t love was the CIA intelligence aspect. I found it hard to understand. I wish there could have been another angle besides that. I got lost at times but in the end it didn’t take anything away from the story for me. It just slowed me down. I found myself reading faster to get to the end and the pace of the book didn’t slow down one bit. The ending was suspenseful and everything it should have been.

Special thanks to NetGalley for sharing this digital copy with me to review!

This was awesome. There were several twists and turns and the book kept your interest. I know it is a cliche to say it is hard to put down but it really holds true in this case. Highly recommend.

I have read all of this author’s novels and while I find them kind of uneven, they’re always fun. I enjoyed the fact that the main character was older. I am so tired of reading books where the main character is 26 years old and has not experienced life. This one is a fun ride from start to finish. I recommend.

I am a fan of Karen Cleveland, so was excited to get a chance to read a new book by her. If you like books with a lot of drama and secrets, then this book is for you! I love books with a good twist. Every family always seems like the perfect one, until you know what goes on behind closed doors. Beth works for the CIA as an analyst who seems to have it all until things change.
It reads like a movie, and I wanted to skip to the end a few times, but was able to hold out. You won't be disappointed!

Karen Cleavelans is a master of suspense! “The New Neighbor” was full or twists and turns that kept me hooked until the very end. Highly recommend!

I like Karen Cleveland novels, and suspense / mysteries. Not a huge fan of CIA novels as it turns out. Overall I would recommend for someone who likes all of the above!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy.

This book was so slow that I skimmed through the beginning and almost DNF’ed it. It started picking up about halfway through and I really tried to like it but it was very repetitious.

Beth, a CIA agent, is a narcissistic character that I hated throughout the book. She had spent over fifteen years trying to find “The Neighbor” who is a spy within the CIA. She’s suddenly transferred to a new department and locked out of The Neighbor investigation. Beth can’t let go and decides to investigate on her own terms without the CIA knowing about it but The Neighbor knows she’s snooping around and will do anything to try and stop her.

I found myself confused around the end of the book and really struggled to finish it. I feel like the book had so much potential but there weren’t any “oh my god!” twists or suspense, it was rather dull.

The premise of this was fantastic, unfortunately the delivery was a little off.

I found that whole "woman goes crazy" thing was a bit overplayed and something that turns me off. The pacing was also super off - it was a slow build, then crazy fast paced, then slow, then haphazzardly finished.

I just feel like thrillers anymore are fantastic or let me down and I found this one to let me down.

I can't remember the last time I read a novel involved the CIA. This book has a good flow to the story with Beth being the center, an agent hanging on to the case she was taken off involuntarily. Lots of good conversations and believable storylines. Friendship, marriage and neighbors, all relationships are put into test. The truth won't be revealed until the last page and not one you expected either.

I was so excited for this book after reading the synopsis - I studied global studies and global terrorism in college, so a CIA story about an Iranian spy operation seemed right up my alley. The suspense of neighborhood drama had so much potential but this story fell *incredibly* flat for me.

First of all, the details of the intelligence operation had me rolling my eyes. It is so unrealistic that an Iranian operative would have been living right under a CIA counterintelligence agent's nose for 17 years that the premise became almost laughable. The story just became more and more ridiculous as the book went on, rather than becoming more suspenseful. There was one small reveal at the very end that I liked, but otherwise I wish I DNFed this.

I also had a problem with the way the narrator was portrayed as unreliable. She is a powerful woman with a lot of career success who just happens to be going through a hard time, and I feel like that was really monopolized against her to try to make the reader distrust her. I am just REALLY over portraying women with mental health/substance abuse issues as unreliable simply because of their mental health struggles. Ugh.

All in all, I really wish I'd passed on this book - I was unimpressed, and would not recommend it to anyone.

Maybe it's the current state of affairs in the world, but this book bummed me out. It started slower and picked up the pace with lots of spy action, but the CIA vs Russian intelligence and Iranian agents just started to feel a little too real and not as cathartic as I expected.

I know others will like the main character as she comes into herself and goes fully rogue from work (how dare the CIA pull her from a case she's been forever just when it started to click for her!) and life in general when her last kid heads off to college and her husband says it's finally time for divorce. Not sure if it was just me and my annoyance at her basicness or what, but Beth made being a spy so dull for me and I just felt removed from her for the majority of the story. I almost quit in the middle because I got bored, but I kept going and the end was bonkers enough to make up for it.

If you want a spy thriller that feels a bit more grounded than 007, but you still want to be a little shook up at the end this is the book for you.