Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for sending my an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.



I have to admit that at first this story was a slow ride. The turn of events changed rather quickly for me though as I kept reading. I am glad I stayed with it and did not add it to my DNF shelf.



The Neighbor was a suspenseful story about Beth who is a CIA Agent and a case she has been tackling for the past 15 years. She is suddenly taken off the case and it is a devastating loss for her. Everything in Beth’s life starts to fall to pieces at the same time. Her marriage begins to finally crumble, and her career seems to now be over.



I started to question Beth’s sanity and let me tell you, there were moments in this story that spooked me! I did find a quote from this book that I loved that seemed perfect for a setting of a scene out of the story.



“Nothing good comes from the woods at night”.



If you’re reading this I encourage you to give this story a shot, I don’t think you will be disappointed.

I don't read spy novels very often, but I suppose I should reach for them more often.
I'm not going to give away any details about the book, just outline my thoughts.
I really liked the mood of the book, I was excited all the way through wondering what was going to happen.
I was not bored for a minute, which is a good sign for me.
Beth as the main character was sympathetic, a mother who has raised 3 children.
I liked the typical line that the book represented. I wonder who can be trusted? Is it just the main character overreacting or not? How far can someone go? Where is the limit?
The end of the book was a disappointment, not everything was crystal clear.
The biggest negative was the repetition of the word 'cul-de-sac'. It drove me crazy. I think that is a bit much.
Overall, it was okay, but the book didn't offer me any pluses, so I can only give it an average 3 stars.

Ok, seriously? And is it going to be a series?? As a general rule, I love Karen Cleveland spy stories. She tends to tell a compelling tale that is fast-paced and easy to fall into. But sometimes she does seem to go a little farther into suspension of disbelief territory than even a willing reader finds palatable - and such was the case with this book.

From start to finish it felt over the top and it was very hard to believe that a seasoned CIA analyst would behave as the main character behaved. The piling-on of horribles as obstacles in our fearless heroine's way started to feel unnecessarily harsh very early on, especially since you knew she was going to overcome them all because it was going to be That Kind Of Story. The Big Reveal didn't make a lot of sense, because it relied on "shocking" realizations that the main character - again, a seasoned CIA analyst trained to look for signals - should have identified as relevant early on but somehow conveniently forgot about or ignored. It made the revelation feel forced and not entirely authentic with the previous experience of the character in the book, which was a big stumbling point for me.

I'm constantly intrigued by the seemingly endless fascination the world has with reading and writing stories that seek to peel back the curtain on suburban life to reveal a roiling cesspool of deception and lies. It's like it's become the new Fairy Tale flip side, Like with so many tropes though, the first few times you stumble across it are surprising and shocking and fun, but after awhile it starts to feel overdone, and so authors start piling on additional elements intended to startle and surprise the reader - but too much of a good thing isn't usually a good thing, and that's what I felt happened here...

The concept wasn't engaging one, and it drew me in from blurb. Cleveland's writing is always easy to fall into, even if you're rolling your eyes in disbelief while reading, so I never had a problem continuing with the book. It did start to feel a little too much fairly early on though, and I actually found myself wondering if the twist was going to be but there was in fact no vast conspiracy underpinning it all but instead a bout with mental illness - which might actually have been more plausible, if less satisfying for most readers.

Still I will happily admit that the second twist at the end was one I did not see coming but thoroughly enjoyed. It is what led me to think there may be more books coming, and what leads me to the conclusion that I would be willing to give another book following these characters a try. That twist and my general feelings about Cleveland's storytelling were strong enough to leave me curious as to what happens next - which, after all, is the hallmark of a good writer...

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for allowing me to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.

The New Neighbor is a twisty, creepy, highly entertaining novel . If you enjoy reading spy novels with a detailed, analytic feel , then this is the book for you. Beth, is a CIA agent looking for "The Neighbor" when her job pulls her off her case. Beth moves out of her house and soon she finds herself spiraling into a world of angst and anxiety. No spoilers, but Beth becomes obsessive with who moves into her home and makes some wild decisions. This was a fast paced read, so make sure you carve yourself out sometime to read it straight through. I would love to see The New Neighbor adapted into a movie!

Yessss this felt like Need to Know, which I loved so much and recommend to everyone I know. As with that one, I couldn't put this one down, and I had to read while cooking, eating, etc because I was so into it.

In a Virginia suburban cul-de-sac located near the HQ for the CIA lurks a bunch of spies being run by Iran. It is an interesting and entirely plausible scenario, and this novel takes things to the extreme when Beth, one of the residents, is summarily reassigned to another job at the CIA. Many of the neighbors also work at The Agency, some in very sensitive positions. How they have come to be compromised, how Beth investigates her neighbors, and how the Iranians try to penetrate the CIA's internal networks will tickle your imagination. The tech is mostly believable, and the pace moves just quickly enough to be interesting. And this is one novel that you will want to read to the very end that will make you think it could happen here. It shows how tracking down spies can hinge on very subtle clues that could be interpreted as both damning and exculpatory. Highly recommended.

The premise of The New Neighbor was intriguing - who doesn’t love a good FBI/CIA spy thriller, but the delivery fell a little flat.

I liked Beth; she was driven and wanted to figure out the mystery of who The Neighbor is. Madeline felt one-dimensional, though. I couldn’t find anything to like about her, and maybe I wasn’t supposed to, but I can’t tell because it all got a little lost. I’d like to have a bit more understanding on the whole mission from both the FBI and CIA view, and less telling and more showing why each neighbor is getting targeted.

I’ve never read the word “cul-de-sac” so many times in my life and chapters were random and disjointed, jumping from lengthly to a few hundred words and from one POV to the next without warning. I felt lost several times and definitely left wanting some clarity on who (was speaking), what (they were talking about), and when (this was happening, because I felt like this was all told in the span of a couple days and I don’t know if that’s correct or not). But this is an uncorrected ARC, so there is room for improvement.

Everyone seems to be suspect and just when I thought I had the ending figured out, I found out I was wrong. This book had me hooked from the beginning and the last few chapters were so twisty I felt like I was on a roller coaster. It was so good - fast-paced and suspenseful with the surprise ending! Absolutely loved reading this one!!

I loved Karen Cleveland’s new book “The Neighbor” and had a hard time putting it down. That’s the test of a successful thriller-the reader not wanting to take a break. Reading “The Neighbor” inspired me to read “You Can Run” next. If you want pure escapism and love spy thrillers, read one of Karen’s books. I’ll definitely share this title with friends and my book clubs.

I started this, but once it got to the political talk, I was done. I can’t keep up with all that. Too much thinking for me.

The New Neighbor by Karen Cleveland takes place in a neighborhood cul-de-sac outside Langley, Virginia in which the long time neighbors all have ties to the CIA. Shortly after moving out of the cul-de-sac, the main character, Beth, is taken off the case she’s been working for many years. The case involves searching for the identity of an Iranian intelligence agent who has been recruiting agents in the US. When a new family moves into her recently vacated house, Beth begins to have suspicions of the new family and keeps investigating the case she’s been removed from. In doing so, her search leads her down some unexpected paths.

I felt the main character’s paranoia could have been tamed down a bit, but this did lead to my feeling she was an unreliable narrator, which may have been the author’s purpose. The epilogue had a twist that I didn’t predict and that’s always a bonus for me!

This book turned out to be a surprisingly good read! I almost put it down to start with - all the espionage stuff was too much for me. I'm so glad I didn't because after the beginning moved to Beth going home, the story took off. I finished it in 2 sittings - I raced through the second half. The ending was definitely a surprise - I did not see that coming. I highly recommend this book.

This book was absolutely great. It kept me guessing throughout the book. It read like a spy movie which was a nice surprise. The twists and turns kept me on my toes. The ending was great - thank you to netgalley and the publishers

Enjoyable read, but could have been much better. The main character appeared unstable, paranoid, and with a possible drinking problem; seems unlikely she would have CIA security clearance. Seemed untrustworthy. All of the neighbors seemed untrustworthy and unlikeable. I would have preferred to see the characters, all of them, clarified and teased out. The ending was disappointing. What was an ok book could be a great book with some tweaks to the story and characters.
Thank you to Netgalley, Ms. Cleveland, and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Once again Karen Cleveland does it again! I have loved every book she’s written.

Once again, this is a book about a CIA analyst, who has everything in her personal and professional life fall apart at the same time. Is this making her paranoid or is she onto something?

I liked how the protagonist I’m this story isn’t immediately a hero, and you question everything about her. And no one writes an epilogue quite like Cleveland does…she always makes me think about her books for days!

If you like a thriller/mystery involving the CIA, the FBI, and Iraqi terrorists and their agents, this book is for you.

Actually, I like those sorts of stories but this one missed the mark for me. I found it not credible, although I suppose the situation that is the underlying question in the book - which one of Beth’s neighbors is an agent for an enemy foreign power and who have they recruited and how did they do it? - might well be accurate. I did not anticipate the resolution to this question, which is good, except that the answer to the question, revealed in the final pages, is, I thought, ridiculous.

The characters in the book were two-dimensional. Beth, a CIA analyst hot on the trail of the invisible Iraqi enemy trying to penetrate US intelligence networks, is suddenly removed from her position and sent out to pasture to teach new agents and analysts how to do their jobs, her husband and children, her colleagues, and her neighbors on the cul de sac from which she moves early in the book, are as flat as the paper dolls I played with as a child. None of them seem to experience the range of human emotions - they are all equally hysterical or without affect. The writing is unremarkable.

I had high hopes for this book but alas, they were dashed, as Beth’s personal quest to find the enemy hidden in plain sight unfolds into nothingness. While it is a page turner, and I did indeed finish it as I wanted to find out who the bad person was and who they had blackmailed, it’s just not sophisticated or even interesting writing.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher.

This book cost me several hours that I should have been sleeping, and I'm not a bit sorry. It's my first time reading the author and I will definitely be looking for more of her books!

Having spent 40+ years living a short drive from D.C., I was familiar with the setting and a lot of the landmarks mentioned. However, it was the characters who felt as real as people I know in real life and the edge-of-your-seat plot twists that kept me turning the pages well past my bedtime.

Well, well, well, one of the few psych thrillers /suspense reads that has kept me guessing all the way through. Great characters that were both easy to like and easy to dislike, combined with a realistic plot - great read!

A bit of a slow start but picked up and didn't let off the gas. A very suspenseful spy thriller that will have you guessing until the end. I couldn't help but not liking the main character. The ending opens it up to possible sequel.

Beth Bradford, and her husband Mike, have just sold their home where they have raised their three children. Now empty nesters, they no longer need the large house on a cul de sac among the neighborhood they called home for their kids growing up years. Beth is wrestling with these changes—told to the reader through flashbacks when her children were young—when, at the same time, her marriage is over and her job changes. A counterterrorism analyst with the CIA she returns from a two week vacation to learn she has been taken off a major spy case, code named The Neighbor— she has been working for 15 years. This is the last straw and Beth does not take this lying down. She pleads to remain on her case to no avail. Reeling from all the family changes and conducting an unauthorized secret investigation results in erratic behavior that convinces all those close to her that she is having a breakdown. A truly engaging thriller.