FANTASTIC, FAST PACED, FABULOUS! What a book!
First off it took me about half way through the book to order Karen’s other books. I need to know why I had not heard of her before this book?! More people people need to start talking about her.

We start the book with things going all wrong for our lead character Beth: kids moved away, husband leaving, and she gets reassigned from her case she’s been working on for 15 years. You follow Beth becoming more obsessed with her old case and finally getting the break shes needed but with no help from the CIA. Oh Beth - the woman becomes slighlty un-hinged and made me nervous with her every move. (Ok fine I started acting like Beth because I could NOT put this down — I needed answers!) Beth and I both HAD to know the answer to who is the person she has been looking for - for 15 years.

Great writing that was easy to read and understand. Interesting cast of characters. One main timeline but with helpful flashbacks to before where the story starts. Stunning ending that you won’t see coming.

5 stars - Get this book pre-ordered today! Book out July 26, 2021

Thank you Random House Publishing Group & Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Book currently reviewed on goodreads. Will be added to my social accounts in my March recap and will promote the book with review in July.

Beth is not having a good day. Her youngest son started college and she and her husband Mike have sold their now too big family home. A lifetime's worth of memories was packed into boxes but those were expected. The ones at Beth’s office however definitely are not. She has lost her analyst job at the CIA because she hasn't identified her target in the 15 years she has been looking. Not fired just moved to a much less classified area but to Beth, losing her focus on the target known as The Neighbor is just too much.

When Mike tells her their marriage is over, a crappy day just went farther off the rails. Sigh. I'm going to say now that I don't know what it was about Beth, but I just never warmed up to her. She's kind of glad Mike is gone because now she can focus exclusively on finding The Neighbor. Yep, even though she's off the team, has lost her security clearance, and made some rash assumptions, nothing will get her to give up. I don't know but if I got kicked to the curb and demoted, I think I'd probably give up. But maybe a real CIA agent would not? I've read some truly convenient and bizarre plots because after all, I'm reading fiction, right. But the identity of The Neighbor, how Beth tracks them down, and the ending just had me rolling my eyes.

I don't want this to sound negative because there were things I enjoyed. Wanting to figure out who was a good guy and who was bad meant I was never bored. But I just also never wound up caring about Beth, her career, or The Neighbor. Sorry Beth, lots of other reviewers seemed to like your story. So maybe it is just me.

3.5 stars. This book was an absolute trip and I felt like I was going through lunacy with the main character. It was a quick read and kept me interested but I think the twists should be spaced out more. Once you get one twist you don’t have time to process before the next one comes and you can easily get confused… but maybe that was the point?
This looks like it might be a series and I see the setup for the next book, which I’ll read, because the characters drove me insane and I need answers.

3/5 - When CIA analyst Beth's last child goes off to college, she and her husband separate and sell their longtime home in Langly suburbs. Beth is soon taken off her primary case, "The Neighbor", with little explanation, and quickly becomes fixated on the buyers of her former home as her new primary suspect.

This was a fun read, but I must say I am so tired of the trope of smart, accomplished female characters making bad decisions time and time again. I found it unbelievable that a CIA analyst with decades of experience would be so reckless & irresponsible - it became grating throughout the book. And the element of "sad woman who has lost everything and is now drinking too much and everyone thinks she is crazy" felt tired, as well. Overall it was an enjoyable (if not believable) read. The twists were fun, the setting was great, and the small community of interconnected characters was compelling.

How well do any of us truly know our neighbors? I was hooked from prologue. This book has everything you want in a thriller. Just when you think you’ve figured it out, there’s another twist and turn. This is definitely a must read!

A fast paced story of intrigue in this gripping thriller.
It seems like Beth has everything - lives in an idyllic neighborhood, starting her life as an empty nester and then her world collapses. It’s hard to tell if Beth is being paranoid because she is so entrenched in the world of espionage that she can’t look at reality.
I loved all the twists and turns and found the book hard to put down. I would definitely recommend it.

Karen Cleveland did not disappoint at all with this story. Lots of twists and turns. I definitely would recommend this to friends who enjoy reading spy thrillers.

Absolutely enthralling! Thank you NetGalley and Random House for this free galley of The New Neighbor by Karen Cleveland.
This is the first novel I have had the pleasure of reading penned by Karen Cleveland but I can assure you it will not be the last.
The story centers around CIA counterintelligence agent, Beth Bradford, and her search for a mole for Iranian Quds Force known only as The Neighbor.
***************spoiler alert*************************

The first day of the novel focuses on Beth's empty nest, selling her home and ending her long-term marriage. Things only go downhill from there. She learns she has been removed from the case focusing on finding the indenity of The Neighbor. Does this character fall under the pressure of all of these life-changing events? Heck no! She refuses to give up her search even when it leads her to her own cul-de -sac and her group of friends, when her job is threatened or even when her own life is in jeopardy.
This is one heart-pounding, thrill ride of a book and is not to be missed.

Buckle your seat belts. You are about to take a bumpy ride. I literally read this in one setting. Beth Bradford raised her children in the ideal cul-de-sac. While the kids were playing outside, the moms would visit in their lawn chairs. Dads in the background, drinking cold brews. The kids are grown now, Beth's son is off to college. The Bradford family is selling the house and downsizing. After dropping her son off at college, the floor falls out from under her. She goes to work (at the CIA) and she has been removed from her case she has worked for 15 years. She goes home to find that instead of spending the last night in the house with her husband, she finds that he is leaving her. Her home and work life are in disarray. She throws herself in to solving the case she has been working for 15 years, even though she has been kicked off the case. At times, you may think she has lost her ever loving mind!! This book will take you on twists and turns and the ending will be just as shocking as the ride.
Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for allowing me to read this book and give my honest opinion.

Thanks to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for this ARC! I went into this book pretty blind, but I ended up being so pleasantly surprised.

Beth Bradford is going through a lot of change. She's been recently made an empty nester, her and her husband (who's also leaving her) are moving out of their beloved home and neighborhood, and she has just found out she's been taken off a case she's dedicated her life to for more than 15 years at the CIA.

One of those aspects alone is enough to make a woman feel a little disoriented, but combined, Beth's life goes into a complete tailspin. She is determined to stay on the case, and our nation's security is literally depending on her.

I absolutely loved that Beth was a CIA analyst, I feel like often in these types of books, the husband is the big shot, high security clearance career man. Beth was so competent and dedicated-- definitely one of those times you want to scream at every other character for not listening to her! But at the same time, I second guessed if I should be listening to her too?? Haha I highly recommend picking this one up when it comes out on July 28.

I rated this five stars, which I don't often do! A five star read for me is one that grips me until the very end, seems like a unique story line that I haven't heard before and has me thinking about it when I'm not reading it! This checked all those boxes and then some!

At first this story was intriguing, then the middle fell a little flat, and the ending was all over the place. From the middle of the book on, I thought this was going to be another “main character as a woman goes crazy and needs a psych eval because no one believes her and thinks she’s crazy” which put me off. It wasn’t that though.. Was Beth Bradford acting unstable? Sure, but she had many things happening in her life to cause her to be that way. I enjoyed the ending up until the epilogue, when you find out what you’ve been trying to figure out with Beth since the story started. Overall, an enjoyable read that keeps you turning the pages to figure out what is happening.

Karen Cleveland has done it again! The New Neighbor is a great thriller, surrounding the main character Beth, a CIA analyst. Her life gets upended when she divorces and gets rid of her house. A new neighbor moves in and Beth starts to think this woman has ties to Iranian intelligence. All of the neighbors seem suspicious throughout the book, and it kept me wanting to read until the very end!

The New Neighbor by Karen Cleveland


Idyllic neighborhood, perfect family, meaningful career. CIA analyst Beth Bradford has it all—

Until she doesn't.

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.

Is Beth just jealous? Paranoid? Or is something more at play?

After all, most of the families on the cul-de-sac have some tie to the CIA. They’re all keeping secrets. And they all know more about their neighbors than they should. It would be the perfect place to insert a spy—unless one was there all along.
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Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The New Neighbor. Wow I loved this book! I loved that I never quite knew who was suspicious throughout the whole book. I couldn’t stop reading this book and it truly kept me on my toes without being too scary. Loved!
5⭐️

I grew up in a neighborhood similar to the one described in this novel, and the early characterization of the relationship among the neighbors felt real and believable. While at times it was a challenge to keep track of who was who, the book was enjoyable overall. I guessed correctly who The Neighbor might be, knowing that those most touted as being guilty probably were not. The view of the inner workings of the CIA structure was interesting. Not the most intriguing book, but it held my interest and was worth the read.

Beth had the perfect life. A wonderful husband and three children, two girls and a boy. Her youngest kid just went to college in Virginia and she is now feeling so alone. Her marriage is nothing like it used to be and her work is now taking her off a case she has put so much time and effort into. Beth feels like the whole world is passing her by and she is just stuck in time in her life where nothing is going right. She is determined to solve the case and put herself back in the game. Will she be successful? I was given an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Meet Beth, a mother and wife who works for the CIA- and for the last 15 years has become obsessed with finding a spy referred to as "the Neighbor", a person infiltrating U.S. intelligence agencies through recruiting agents through blackmail.

Beth is also in a huge turning point in her life: her youngest child leaves for college, her and her husband sell their beloved home, he announces that he's leaving her, and worst of all- the CIA abruptly pulls her from her case.

All while, Beth knew she was getting close to solving the case and the Neighbor's identity- she keeps trying to solve the case even though all of her privilege's are revoked and she is not trusted by her colleagues anymore. A new family moves into their home and Beth believes it isn't a coincidence. What happens next?

Right from the beginning, this book captured my attention and toward the end, there were many twists; one predicted but the ending caught me off guard!

I thought it was interesting and apparent after reading this book and finding out that the author spent eight years as a CIA analyst, she made the government details easy to understand. This is my first "spy" thriller persay, and I really enjoyed it!

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Ballantine for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Living in the northern Virginia area very close to the locations that were mentioned I felt a real connection with this book. It starts off strong but then becomes slightly confusing with so many different characters but overall this was a very enjoyable book.

This one gripped me from the start and I kept suspecting literally everyone. I didn’t know where to turn and the story was creepy.

Karen Cleveland’s 2018 debut, Need to Know, was one of the best books I read that year. I’ve read all her subsequent thrillers — but with diminishing returns. And this time, she lost me. Beth Bradford, the main character, is supposed to be a CIA agent, but her actions—and reactions—are totally off the rails. I could’ve done with less “it’s her/no, it’s him/oh, it’s got to be her . . .” The final twist was interesting but hardly earth-shattering —and not a surprise considering Cleveland’s other ending twists. And she used the word ‘cul-de-sac’ about a thousand too many times.
Thanks to @netgalley for an early read.

For any woman to say good-bye to a house where she raised her children and had a good marriage would be a whammy. Add to that, putting her last child in college and looking forward to an empty nest is going to be a double whammy. But both of those were planned and expected. ON THE SAME DAY her husband told her he was leaving her and then when she went into her long time office at the CIA to have some feeling of normalcy, she found out that she’s been demoted and will have to relocate to another building (away from her colleagues) and will lose access to all the work she’s done ferreting out a mole. WOW! Quadruple whammy!

With all of the above hitting her at the same time, it’s no surprise that she goes off the rails. She starts spying on the couple who bought her house, even following them.

After 40% with getting nowhere except caught up in more drama and angst, I decided this book was not for me. I appreciate the ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, Ballantine Books, in exchange for an honest review.