Exciting thriller. Enjoyed reading it, once you pick this up it’s hard to put down until your finished. It’s well written and flowed well. Fast paced to keep your interest. Highly recommend

I have really mixed feelings about this book and overall it really wasn't for me.

I believe that the good guys should win over the bad guys in the end and even if the bad guy is smart or cunning our MC will figure things out. I like seeing the bad guys get caught or punished in someway. I also want to be able to know what the motives are for what the bad guys do... Not to say I have to agree with the decisions. They can be crazy or whatever but at least knowing the thought process is helpful.

This book had none of that the good guys don't prevail and there is no sense of justice or even an actual understanding of what happened. I mean I don't need nice and tidy but I need something on at least one front that makes sense.

Another issue is the book has a great deal of internal monologue from Steph and it was distracting and takes away from the story-line. I feel it fits to some degree but was a bit overly repetitive. I also felt overwhelmed by the huge list of characters and found them a bit confusing. Most of them were two-dimensional without much back story so I had trouble keeping track of them and how they fit into the overall plot. I believe this made it difficult to keep up with the twists and turns that should have been intriguing.

All of this made the ending confusing for me and I didn't feel like it was fully fleshed out leaving me feeling let down by how it all played out.

I received this book from NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishing for an honest review.
#KeepYouClose
#NetGalley

This plot required far too much suspension of disbelief to be enjoyable. I didn't understand the motivations of the characters and therefore the end was meh.

I really tried to get into this book...
I couldn't get in to the story and the characters like I need to to finish a book. I did finish it. That's because i think it's respectful to netgalley and the publisher and writher to do so. I have read other books from this writer and i liked them verry much. 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 in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately this was a no go for me. I just couldn't get into it personally. I've seen that her other books are good though

I found this to be a well written police procedural. It way maybe a bit slow to start with, but picked up pace towards the end. I enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. I'm not a huge fan of police procedural books so I was able to finish however if you do like that style of books you will like this one.

After reading Cleveland’s debut Need to Know I was excited to get the advance read. Cleveland did not pump the breaks in her sophomore write. Great police procedure and character development.

Thank you Netgalley and Transworld UK for sending me an ARC of Keep You Close in exchange for an honest review.

My first ever from Karen Cleveland and I couldn’t resist reading it because I am a sucker for police procedurals and thrillers. This book is quick, fast-paced, and an engrossing thriller that I couldn’t put it down and was able to read it in just two sittings.

Stephanie Maddox is the head of FBI’s Internal Investigation division and also a single mother of a teenager boy, Zachery. She knows that her son is not perfect but she doesn’t know that her son is being trapped in some criminal activity. She is a brilliant officer who puts her country’s safety before everything else, will she jeopardize it for her son’s safety?

I loved reading about the ins and outs of FBI and their process. The author, Karen Cleveland, having spent her eight years as a CIA Analyst and the last six in counterterrorism, has used her knowledge to the brim to authenticate FBI and their counter-terrorism details in this book.

There are two stories which are going parallel and the point where they intersect makes the story very interesting. It is full of action, twists and turns and will keep you on your toes all the time. There is a beautiful bond between mother and son to see when the danger looms around them. Karen’s non-complex writing and short chapters make it fast to read.

If you like to read stories about undercover agents plotting against government officials with lots of twists and turns, grab this one! Highly recommended.

Review for 'Keep you close' by Karen Cleveland

Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Transworld publishers and Penguin random house publishers

This is the first book that I have read by this author. It's unlikely I would read another unless I happened upon it in the library.

THE book is written from Stephanie's perspective past and present but now and again from another person's but the switch was quite confusing at times with no warning (for switch of characters and time line) .

I found the plot quite slow paced and it didn't really pick up for me until about 60% of the way through. There was some suspense, deceivement, crime and murder.

The descriptions and writing were average although it does seem quite a lot of research went into the book in some ways, others not so much.

THE characters were all quite strong and realistic apart from Stephanie's role as a mother, several times I just didn't understand what she was playing at being a mother myself.

THE plot itself is filled with espionage and conspiracy theories with some suspense through the book and quite a bit of politics.

I feel the blurb was quite misleading and don't think I would have read it if it had gone into more detail of what the story was actually about which is (without giving too much of the story away) alot of different theories as to why her son had a gun in his cupboard moving onto assassinations.

THE ending was very good and unexpected and it does end up on a cliffhanger in a sort of way to make you want to read more and find out what happens, just not enough for me to want to as it wasn't really my cup of tea.

If I was to recommend this book it would be to fans of crime and conspiracy.

Throughout this book it was looking more like a 2/5 review (I didn't like it) but as the book got more interesting to the end it increased to a 3/5. After about 60% it got better and it got me interested and felt more like a page turner, unfortunately just too little too late for me.

336 pages

£4.99 to purchase on kindle. I think this is an OK price for this book

Rated 3/5 (It was OK ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Co.uk and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.

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3.5 stars

Parts of this book were slightly far-fetched. I loved the relationship between Stephanie and her son but I got slightly tired of the storyline about halfway through. I found it very generic and formulaic and struggled to connect with many of the characters. That said, it was fast-paced enough to keep me wanting more. Although this was an easy read, I felt like it was lacking in depth and character development.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for the ebook ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This political thriller moved at a breakneck pace and was a suspenseful but convoluted page-turner.

While I found the characters quite flat, it was an interesting shift to follow an action-packed storyline, as I’m typically drawn to novels that are driven by complex characters.

I have to say that I did appreciate the reference to chess that was threaded throughout the novel as it was an accurate and effective metaphor for the manipulation that took place within the narrative.

There will almost certainly be a follow up novel to this one, but I don’t think I’ll be checking it out - I’m just not that invested in the game.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy in return for an honest review.

Steph Maddox, internal affairs for the FBI is trying solve the most difficult case of her career. Is her so. A terrorist or is he being framed.
Steph has to use her training and police network in order to chase down the clues. Soon enough her interference starts to have consequences, and it’s then a question of can she leave well alone to save those around her.

To be honest: I struggled with this book and it took me longer to read than normal.
I wasn’t enamoured with the writing style, it jumps from one story to another, sometimes within the same paragraph which made it harder to keep track of what was going on.
The protagonist- agent Maddox; an unlikable character with no redeeming qualities. A single mother who often chooses her career over her son then wonders how she doesn’t really know him. A woman in denial.
Throughout the book ‘Steph’ references her excellent interrogation and investigation skills, yet continuously gives up, or doesn’t ask the right questions. I found it frustrating.
Although I appreciate that authors depict their lead characters as ‘human’ or ‘normal every day people’ by harbouring some sort of traumatic event/ addiction etc... but it happens so frequently now that it’s cliche, and slightly boring.
There were huge plot holes in the story, conclusions made with no real evidence or thorough groundwork.
It became tedious.
I read the reviews and it seems there a prequel to this... one were some characters are introduced; therefore it probably would’ve been of benefit to me to have read them in the correct order. Notwithstanding that: the plot looked good in theory but wasn’t executed to my personal preference.
It seemed rushed.

Keep You Close by Karen Cleveland is a thriller that shows the a mother will do anything for her child, but would she protect him if he did something seriously wrong.
Stephanie is an FBI agent, with a past not shared with many, and she has spent many years moving forward and putting her career first, to the detriment of her relationship with her son Zac.

Being an FBI agent, she can't help herself when she has concerns for her son after another agent tells her that Zac is in trouble. She finds a gun in his cupboard.

Stephanie is then trying to find out what it is about, find out what the FBI powers are hiding from her, and if her son really is doing something wrong.

This was a good book, but I honestly didn't enjoy it like I though. The storyline is a good one, but it seemed to drag and I tended to skim over some of the chapters, as I thought they were just too much.

Great author, give the book a try. Everyone see's a book different to others.

Keep You Close by Karen Cleveland failed to interest me. I got into the book at the start, but it wasn't fast-paced enough or twisty enough to keep my interest.

Another page turner from this author! Keep You Close kept me on my toes and though I did guess a few twists and turns, it held my attention from beginning to end!

The version of the book that I read needed significant additional editing. The spacing of paragraphs wasn't consistent, and the author's name seemed to appear every 50 pages for no reason. It was hard to follow because of this, and I'm not sure all parts of the story were in the correct order. There was too much internal monologue - often there would be pages of text without dialogue, and the ending felt like the author was trying to split the difference between a thrilling twist and putting a nice bow on things. I've enjoyed Ms. Cleveland's work in the past, but I wouldn't recommend this book to others. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review - thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read and review Keep You Close.

I was on the edge of my seat during this read, and found the ending to be lacking and not true to the main characters personality

I really enjoyed this book! A great story line that kept me hooked and excellent main characters. I would highly recommend this book.

KEEP YOU CLOSE by Karen Cleveland is the chilling, relentless new thriller from the bestselling author of Need to Know.

Stephanie Maddox, an FBI agent and Chief of the Internal Investigations Section, is a single thirty-seven- year-old mother of a seventeen-year-old son, Zachary. They had moved from Chicago to Washington, FBI’s headquarters, when Zachary had been young to work in internal affairs…to no longer be in danger. Both mother and son are going through a rough patch. They used to be close once, but her son has been distant lately, and with her demanding job and hours, it didn’t help the situation. Hopefully they will be close again. The conversation between them is limited and neutral. Zachary’s college applications have all been submitted, and he wants to study law and become a defense attorney.

Stephanie’s mum tells her “Your work is your life. Zachary comes second. He always has.”

Then one day, while Stephanie was tidying up her son’s room, she finds a handgun in his closet. Her mind starts to race. Why does he have a handgun? Does he need protection? What is Zachary involved in? Stephanie removes the loaded gun and puts it in her safe.

Stephanie must protect her son at all costs…even if it affects her career.

Karen Cleveland spent eight years as a CIA analyst, focusing on counterterrorism and working briefly on rotation to the FBI, and this novel highlights her expertise in the field, giving credibility to her writing.

I am not going to comment any more on the plot for risk of spoilers. Let’s just say this fast- paced espionage novel mixed with family drama, will hold your attention until the satisfying ending.

Many thanks to the author, Random House Publishing Group Ballantine and NetGalley for my digital copy.