This book is fast paced and full of suspense and mystery.
However, I felt that the character development was poor and this let the book down.

Protect your son, or follow your morals, do your job, and protect your country? This is the dilemma FBI agent Stephanie Maddox faces when she discovers that her son may be involved with a terrorist organization. This was an ok read for me, but there was a bit too much back-and forth between potential bad guys for me to really sink into it. The end was a bit of a surprise, but not out of the relm of possibilities that was explored.

I loved Need to Know, so I was looking forward to this one. I hope I didn't hype this one up too much based on my love for her debut. I enjoy reading about how much you really know about the one love, as I think this often. I mean, you hope, right! This book has a lot of twists and turns. It held my interest from beginning to end. It was an enjoyable read. I will recommend it. I will also keep an eye out for more books by Karen Cleveland. 3.5 stars

I enjoyed this very much, the plot kept me guessing and I found it difficult to put down. I look forward to reading other books from this author.

When FBI agent Steph Maddox finds herself intertwined with some of the most dangerous criminals, will she go to any length to uncover and expose the truth, or will she forfeit her core-deep beliefs, and fall in step with some of the worst?
This crime/mystery novel was entertaining, but fell short in the conclusion for me. Some parts of the build up were a bit slow, and I had higher hopes for the end. I wanted to know more about what happened, and where Steph & Zach were headed.

Overall, this was an okay read.
Thank you NetGalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

Fabulous thriller that kept me eagerly turning the pages!! Fantastic characters and plot, could not put it down.

Twisty, good plot, well written, good characters but something just did gel for me on this one, so I was disappointed.

Karen Cleveland books always keep you guessing! This one was no exception, but I will say this one wasn't my favorite of hers. It was just okay for me.

A fantastic read. Loved the fast pace and twists and turns. It kept me gripped throughout. Highly recommended!

Twisty plot keeps you engaged and waiting to see what will happen next. This was a great mystery/suspense/thriller that will keep you on your toes

This wasn’t the book that I expected it be be, it was a little disappointing in my opinion. It was rather confusing the actual plot itself. And a bit too much of a police thriller, that I don’t normally go for. It’s the first book I have read by this author but I’ll still keep my eye out for more in the future.
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a honest review.

This started out really good. This mother is checking her son's room when she finds the unthinkable - a gun. And her head starts whirling - why? how? What has he done? From there I thought it would be a race to try to discover what was going on. With the first few reveals I was shocked, reeling - what do you do? I struggled to wonder what I myself would do.

But from there it got a little muddied up. There was a lot of politics and ties that made it hard to follow all the strings to the conclusions. Although I did like how we got there, I just didn't love it.

Overall I enjoyed this book. It particularly picked up from around the middle to the end and had me turning the pages to find out what was going to happen next. The end also set up well for the next book in the series, although it did leave me with some cliffhangers that still needed answers in order to get closure with this book.
There were times when it was confusing to following as scenes jumped from present to back in time to present without any breaks. A simple line break would solve that issue though and make it much easier to read. I also felt that some points were repeated a little too much throughout the book. Whilst repeating that she didn't know her son that well was a strong story line of the book and important to the overall plot it got a bit too repetitive at times and really wasn't necessary.
A good read for those who enjoy political thrillers and the crime genre.

Stephanie Maddox works for the FBI. She's a single mom with a son, Zachary. She stays busy with work but always tries to put her son first. Then she finds the gun in Zachary's room and cryptic messages that suggest Zachary is involved with the wrong kind of people. She soon gets a warning from a coworker (and former boyfriend) that Zach is being investigated and may soon be arrested. While she takes her job very seriously, nothing comes before her son - who she is sure is innocent. He would never be involved in illegal activity, would he?
This was an OK read for me. I generally steer away from police/detective type thrillers as they can be pretty redundant (in my opinion). I didn't care for Stephanie and felt she was kind of an idiot to be in the position she was in. Just wasn't for me!
Thanks to Karen Cleveland, Random House and NetGalley for the ARC.

Sometimes you read a book and something doesn't gel. The characters are fine the story is fine but it didn't excite me.

All in all a bit disappointed.

What a choice for Stephanie, an FBI Agent, who’s side should she be on? I think I was at a disadvantage from the start and ought to have read the other book first. It’s a fast moving book and although there were some bite your lip moments it didn’t really “grab” me, nor did any of the characters. The ending left me none the wiser too!

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book I have read by this author. An enjoyable read, a great plot, good characterisation. A good all-round thriller. Recommended.

A fast paced gripping thriller which draws you in the opening chapters. It's an easy read with a good twist.
3.5 stars

Holy crap! This book was insane! It follows an FBI agent on a quest to find the person framing her son. It was tautly paced and the plot was intricate, and I was almost literally on the edge of my seat for the last 100 pages. However, a star is knocked off for the end being a little convoluted and hard to follow. 4 stars!

I never leave a book without finishing it, of respect to the author and publisher.. and i really tried to get into this book... I did finish it but with a little difficultly.
Sometimes a book doesn't match with you and that doesn't make it a bad book just a bad match.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.