I went into Karen Cleveland’s “The New Neighbor” expecting a run of the mill domestic(ish) thriller. What I got instead was an intense, can’t put down psychological/spy thriller. In other words, buckle up. Cleveland introduces us to spiraling CIA agent Beth Bradford, who is in the throws of momentous life changes. She quickly goes down a rabbit hole when she suspects the woman that purchased her house may in fact be the target she’s been hunting for years. What results, is a cat and mouse chase to the very end as Beth stops at nothing—willing to risk her reputation, relationships, career and life—to finally capture the illusive “Neighbor.”

I loved the quick pace of this book. The plot was consistently progressing and although there’s a bit of CIA jargon, it wasn’t distracting from the narrative. Beth is the protagonist and narrator we want to root for despite the fact it seems she’s in a losing battle with reality along the way. One minute she’s reliable and the next you wonder if she’s lost it. She does inappropriate things, drinks too much, is paranoid and given what we know about her family situation, it’s easy to find her narration unreliable. But then Cleveland throws us enough bread crumbs to leave us wondering if our damaged heroine is in fact the only one in the book we can trust. It’s truly a nail-biter. While some of the parts are slightly far-fetched and a bit predictable, there were plenty of twists and Red Herrings to keep things intriguing. Overall it was a fast, thrilling read dripping with secrets and jealousy. It also reminds us that everyone has dark secrets—even the people we think we know best.

In Karen Cleveland’s The New Neighbor, Beth Bradford is on the precipice of two big life changes: her youngest child leaves for college and as a result of their empty nest, Beth and her husband decide to sell their house. However, Beth quickly learns she has two more changes in store, neither of them voluntary, as her husband asks for a divorce and she is removed from the case she worked on for years. Beth soon becomes suspicious of the woman who bought her house, despite the fact that she mirrors Beth’s previously happily family and fits in with the cul-de-sac neighbors. Throughout this thriller, Beth secretively continues work on the case, which involves an Iranian intelligence agent working within the CIA, and several clues lead her to the neighborhood she just recently left.

The New Neighbor combines two popular thriller subgenres: the spy thriller and the domestic thriller. With tropes from both, including copious amounts of wine from the domestic thriller, and an agent working against their supervisor’s direct orders from the spy thriller, Cleveland concocts a fresh mystery. Unfortunately, I found the characters to fall flat in this book. Ultimately, Beth made for a rather amateur detective, despite her background in the CIA. She worked through every suspect possible, impetuously leaping from one to the next and holding each new suspect against the evidence she had collected for years. There was not much sophistication in her game, which is very similar to how I play Wordle: I simply try on letters until a word is formed, instead of organically coming to the solution. In addition to being a subpar sleuth, I struggled to connect to Beth. I ended up rating this book 3 stars for an intriguing concept and mystery, though it lacked an imaginative protagonist.

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Ballentine, for the early release copy.

A fun CIA mystery with combos of terrorism, neighborhood drama, and family drama. I had a feeling I figured out the twist from the beginning but there were so many more twists and turns that kept my guessing and glued to the pages at every turn. This was a great story, put together and thought out very clearly.

This book kept me guessing right up until the end, There are partrs of the biook that I asked my self why they would confuse you like that , just when you think it's this one, its got you thinking it's this one, and you will not see the ending coming. good book to read. I'd tell other to read it.

Good book! This book took a little bit to get going but once it did it was good! It had suspense, action, intrigue and a great who done' it! It wasn't my all time favorite but it was still worth reading ! I would recommend it! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

Thank you @randomhouse for the free book. What would you do if you were suddenly removed from a work project to which you devoted years of your life? The Good Neighbor is another satisfying read from Karen Cleveland. It's a plot-driven, fast paced thriller that will keep you turning the pages to see what will happen next. I love Cleveland's focus on the CIA world, a culture I'm so curious about, and this spy novel had me guessing until the end. Highly recommend!

𝐃𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞?

When Beth is forced to say goodbye to her marriage, home and coveted role within the CIA, all in the same day, she becomes more determined than ever to find the Iranian Quds Force asset she’s been tracking for 15 years, referred to as the Neighbor. But when new information forces her to look at those within her own neighborhood, Beth becomes suspicious of everyone around her as she sets out to uncover the identity of the Neighbor once and for all, and save her own job in the process.

This was the first book I’ve read by Karen Cleveland and I really liked it. It was a fast-paced engaging read that leaned more mystery than thriller. At times, I found myself unable to put it down.

The writing was very clear and easy to understand, which is always helpful with this type of book featuring many different characters, organizations, etc.

I liked the use of dual timeline to fill the reader in on missing information and found the main character easy to connect with, despite early concerns she might be an unreliable narrator.

My only criticism of this novel would be that it became a little far fetched towards the end, while also being a bit predictable. That being said, I still really liked being swept up into this engrossing story and will be reading other books by this author in the near future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What a fascinating read, fast paced and hard to put down.

Beth works for the CIA in counterintelligence. Her mission is to locate the person known as The Neighbor who is recruiting individuals to do espionage. For 2 years without a lead she has worked this case. Beth takes vacation to see her oldest child off to college to come back and find she has been demoted and replaced.

Unable to let her mission go, Beth’s life as she knows it is no more and her life starts to take several unwanted turns with home,husband, friends, and work.

How far will you go to protect your family?

Karen Cleveland has done a fantastic job bringing this book to life.

I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading more books from this author.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

I have read all but one of Karen Clevelands' books. As usual they are suspenseful , and keep the reader guessing. The New Neighbor was great, but Need to Know is still my favorite.

So this is kind of a catch all for mystery/ suspense writing. It has a little of everything that one could want in a book like this: high stakes, betrayal, lies, and all kinds of twists. The main character, Beth, is the overachieving super mom. A CIA counterintelligence analyst who has spent most of her career hunting the best Iranian spy. With her 3 kids now grown, and her marriage collapsing in front of her, Beth believes she finally has all her resources available to hunt the stealth Iranian recruiter known as The Neighbor. What she didn’t see coming is the counterintelligence unit suddenly and inexplicably removing her from the case, and transferring her to train new analysts. The last job in the world she wants. Unable to let the case go, Beth starts using her limited resources to continue the investigation. And maybe because guilt is everywhere if that’s what you are looking for, Beth starts to go down a rabbit hole, where everyone she knows is a suspect. I had to get through this because i just had to know who in the world the neighbor was. I actually got chills when it was revealed. It will make you wait though, down to the last few pages. It’s always books like this that are the best and the scariest because most of this seems like it could happen in real life. A legitimate nail biter that I am glad is living in the fiction bubble. Review posted to Goodreads, Litsy, LibraryThing, Facebook, Instagram.

Former CIA counterterrorism analyst Karen Cleveland has done it again with her latest novel, The New Neighbor.

Beth Bradford lived the perfect life, or so she thought. Loving husband, three great kids, house in a quiet cul-de-sac and fabulous neighbors. She loved her job at the CIA, where many of her neighbors worked as well. She has spent the past 15 years trying to track down an elusive traitor / Iranian spy nicknamed The Neighbor. Now that her youngest has gone off to college, she figures she can really dive into her work and solve this case.

Then everything starts to unravel. She and her husband sell their house, she is transferred away from her project at work and now her husband wants a divorce. She's having trouble letting go. Is she losing her mind? Is everything a lie?

There are so many twists and turns in this book that I couldn't decide from chapter to chapter. Maybe she is crazy. Maybe she's the only sane one. Sad to say, I was unable to figure it out until the author revealed all in the epilogue. This suspenseful and intriguing book will keep you guessing right until the end as well.

Pretty good. Kept me guessing as to who the 'Neighbor' was, as was obviously the point. Nice twist at the end--perhaps there'll be more in a series?

If you like domestic thrillers, The New Neighbor will not disappoint. It is the story of a disgruntled but capable CIA analyst who has been pursuing an Iranian terrorist who may be penetrating several intelligence agencies in the Washington suburbs. The analyst is also a wife and a mother, and the story is told through her eyes, and takes place largely in a seemingly perfect suburban setting. The perspective is a refreshing twist on the usual espionage stories. The premise is realistic and pertinent to a lot of households. I particularly enjoyed the clever juxtaposition of clandestine meetings on T-ball fields, etc.

My only dislike of this book was due to the fact that I have also read her earlier novel Need to Know. I thoroughly enjoyed her first novel and remembered the twists and turns quite well. The trouble was that I was predisposed to look for her twists and turns which surprised me completely in Need to Know, but were not as surprising to me in The New Neighbor because I was looking for them.

If you like espionage stories and haven't yet read Need to Know, I highly recommend The New Neighbor. Karen Cleveland is a good writer and knows how to tell a riveting story.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Random House for providing a review copy.

This was a very quick and gripping read for me.it definitely had me guessing and the ending was a cliffhanger and I want more!

I hadn't been expecting to like it much tho the description was good I wasn't sure how it would work out for me with the kind of political and spy themes and CIA stuff. I mainly for for the gorgeous cove hahah. But it had a good unique domestic feel to it with lots of mystery and Intrigue

It makes you wonder who you can trust and why. I as hooked from the start and didn't really lose any interest at all.

CIA agent Beth's world comes to a halt the day her son leaves for college. Her husband leaves her, her beloved home is being sold, and the job that she's been dedicated to for over a decade is putting her out to pasture. After all of these years, the CIA is taking her off the case, *her* case, of tracking an elusive Iranian intelligence agent known as The Neighbor. Salt in the wound is that Madeline Sterling, matriarch of the family now living in her home, seems to have it all... Including, Beth suspects, ties to Iranian intelligence. The entire neighborhood has ties to the CIA, so they're used to keeping secrets. Is Beth being paranoid in her suspicions about Madeline, or has The Neighbor infiltrated the cul-de-sac she once called hers?

If The Neighbor hasn't been optioned for a movie yet, it should be. But movie or not, it has just the right combination of red herrings, cinematic drama, and questionably reliable main character to make for a compelling Friday night.

I do feel a bit like the trope of an unreliable narrator with potentially alcoholic tendencies is leaned on here - I would've like to have seen the author put in a unique effort. You're left, along with the other characters in the book, questioning Beth's sanity and cringing at her reckless decisions. I also would like to think that a long-time CIA agent would be better at a stakeout, vs repeatedly being identified by neighbors, but what do I know!!!

I guessed the big reveal pretty early on, but was surprised by how Cleveland chose to end the book. While I didn't particularly agree with or enjoy that twist, I do think it was an interesting choice to make and that many readers will leave satisfied.

I have full confidence that The Neighbor will be a big beach read this August - You'll be seeing it everywhere!

This was an extremely quick read for me! I was so intrigued with this story and it had me guessing up until the very end. The cliffhanger ending left me wanting more.

The New Neighbor is a homegrown spy thriller that is packed with anxiety and trust issues. It sucked me in right away with the premise and the writing. Beth is a CIA analyst who is so close to finding her target and now that all the kids are out of the house, she has time to do so. Unfortunately for her, her bosses move her out of the way so they can pursue the Neighbor instead.

She starts to go undercover but I have to say, Cleveland really made me anxious because Beth was no good at spying. She was messy and not secretive in the least. There were a few times that I got really worried for her!

This book flew by. It read like a movie and felt similar to the FX show, “The Americans.” It was a fast paced read that took a little over 2 hours and it was so good that I couldn’t put it down. I finally went to bed at 1:30am with the epilogue wreaking havoc in my brain. So good. This was my first Karen Cleveland book but definitely not my last.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book is very interesting. Beth and almost everyone in the cul de sac where she has lived for years works for the. CIA in some capacity. After her last son goes to school, they move, her husband leaves her for another woman and she is removed from the case she has been working on for years. However, she continues to pursue the case on her own and finds herself in all kinds of trouble. This book is full of suspense and mystery.

The New Neighbor screams forward with a manic anxiety-inducing pace that ratchets up the intensity until the sweet release of the explosive, revealing ending. Karen Cleveland once again leverages her insider knowledge of the intelligence community to craft a spy vs. spy counterintelligence gem of a thriller that will grab ahold of you early and play with your emotions throughout.

From the outside looking in, Beth Bradford seemingly has everything going her way. She lives in a wonderful suburban cul-de-sac with her family, has great relationships with her neighbors and has an important job at Langley. However, things unravel quickly when her youngest son leaves for college, quickly followed by her husband leaving her and the CIA putting her out to pasture with an assignment to teach new analysis rather than chase an Iranian asset hellbent on hacking into the CIA network to access invaluable intelligence. But Beth isn’t going to give up chasing this spy after pouring her heart and soul into this case for the past couple of years. And as she progresses on her unauthorized investigation, she starts uncovering secrets that have her seeing her neighbors in a different light. Is she finally onto something that will crack the case? Or is she manifesting things that aren’t real as a result of all the major life changes she’s experiencing? Ignoring the increasingly dangerous threats, as well as enduring former colleagues looking at her with pity, Beth has no choice but to take this investigation all the way in an attempt to save the CIA from a catastrophic and unrecoverable network breach. She just hopes it’s not too late.

A quick and entertaining read, The New Neighbor does a wonderful job of hooking readers early through Beth’s emotional trifecta of becoming an empty nester, moving out of the home she raised her children in, and watching her husband of 20+ years walk away from their marriage. It then pulls you in deeper by casting suspicion on nearly everyone Beth knows and watching in frustration as she tries in vain to get others to believe what she’s uncovered, only to be stonewalled at every turn by people who should trust her and have her back. So, while parts of the plot are slightly unbelievable and it might be relatively easy to guess ahead of time who’s compromised and how the story is going to end, this book still packs an enjoyable punch through sheer intensity and wanting to see Beth proven correct so she can tell all the haters to suck it!

Fans of espionage and counterintelligence thrillers should get their hands on The New Neighbor and buckle up for the ride. Because it’s a fun read that you can knock out in a weekend. And given the way this book ended, it’s set up to become a trilogy or series if Karen Cleveland so desires. And I hope she does because I would love to see what happens next.

I read it in one day - I really loved the fast pace of this book. It felt like watching Homeland - so exciting! I am a fan of Karen Cleveland's books - she can't write them quickly enough for me! My only criticism is that it is slightly repetitive to certain elements of other of her books, but it didn't spoil the fun for me.