Keep You Close started out fairly interesting for me, but then fell really flat. I honestly couldn't get into this book at all. I didn't really like any of the characters and really disliked the ending. Just because I wasn't as into this book, doesn't mean you shouldn't check it out. If you like FBI/CIA type books, then you will probably like this one. I wish I enjoyed it more, but unfortunately I just didn't.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for this ARC.

This was much better than I thought it was going to be considering most thrillers/suspense novels I read in 2019 and this year have been predictable and IMO not as enjoyable. Finally, this starts with a bang and ends with a bang. There are so many twists and turns and it didn't take me long to complete considering I am juggling about 7 other books. I paused on those to complete this because I wanted to know how this book wrapped up and it is pretty darn good.

Thanks to NetGalley, Karen Cleveland and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Definitely one of the best thrillers I have read this year.

Stephanie Maddox, FBI Agent and single mom to son, Zachary, notices him being less and less communicative with her. She chalks it up to being a teenager until another FBI agent shows up on her doorstep with information about her son that starts to plague her.

The ethical/moral decisions faced through the book really made me feel a connection on a mom level. How far would I go for my kids? I enjoyed the suspense and the way Karen Cleveland unfolded the story.

Not going to lie: there were not any feel good moments or satisfying wrap up to this novel with was disappointing considering how well it all unfolded.

Still an enjoyable read and several other book club administrators felt it was worthy of adding to their club lists!

This is a well written, competent drama / thriller about an FBI agent with a teenage son who is juggling motherhood and a challenging role and then she gets swept up in a political storm.

She finds a gun in her son's closet and then realises that he is involved in some dark terrorist plans, or, is he being set up?

Perfect for those who have their suspicions about the current state of affairs in Washington and the White House.
It rolls along nicely and has sufficient tension to maintain interest.

It's an easy / good read

Keep You Close by Karen Cleveland is the story of Stephanie Maddox, a FBI investigator, who fnds a loaded gun in her teenage son's room. This finding is just the jumping off point for a thrill a minute read. Is this really her son's gun? Did someone plant it? How well does she really know him?
This is the second book I've ready by Karen Cleveland (Need To Know being the first). Keep You Close is set in the same general time line and place (Washington DC). We also see some returning characters from Need To Know. This book was face paced and well written. I felt like I couldn't turn the pages quickly enough to see what would happen next. The brief glimpses into Stephanie's past only made me want to read more.
The story also is great look at the conflict between being a parent and Stephanie's career. What is she willing to do to protect her son? Without spoilers, I will say the ending is a great setup for a third book set in the same universe.
I received and ARC of this book courtesy of Netgalley.

I loved this book. It was fantastic, fast paced, and intriguing. I kept finding myself reading longer than I anticipated and I read the whole book in 3 days, I couldn't get enough.

Stephanie is a single mother who works for the FBI in the Internal Investigations division, her son Zachary is a seventeen year old boy who is near perfect, he is on the Student Council and in the computer club, he is waiting for college admission letters when Stephanie's world spirals. She finds a gun in his room. Then next thing you know an FBI agent from the domestic terrorism squad shows up at her door. How well does she know her son now? Did he do something wrong or is it all a misunderstanding. Should she stand by him or betray him?

I loved the FBI setting in this book, I felt like it kind of gave me an inside peak into that world that I find so fascinating. It was intense with many twists that I did not see coming.

I was given this book on NetGalley for an honest review - -
OMG!!! OMG!!! This book starts out with a bang and ends with a bang!
I think this is the best book I have read this year!

This is a thriller about a CIA analyst and her struggle with loyalty to her country and her family - but that only tells you the basics -
Start the first chapter and you will be hooked!!

I loved this book. From the very beginning, I was immediately hooked. Stayed up all night to finish it and am glad I did!

I just found myself ready for the story to be over. I found it really difficult to connect to the main character, Steph. At best, she can be confusing and put her own needs ahead of her son and those that love her. While I understand there are people like that out there, it's just not someone I can understand or relate to . There were too many characters brought into the story who either had no to slight relevance; some similar enough to be just confusing.⁣
In the end, I did complete the book but I didn't really like the ending.
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Keep You Close follows Stephanie Maddox, an FBI agent and mom to a teenage son, Zachary. Stephanie has worked hard for her country, and her loyalty has earned her a top spot in internal affairs. Stephanie has a gift for investigation, and is floored when another internal investigator wants to talk with her about the son. Is it possible that a skilled FBI agent is unaware of legal activity in her own house? And from her own son?

This book will make you question how well we really know those close to us. The author also explores the thin line between ethics and crossing a line to protect someone we love. She also touches on commitment to career and family. Overall, I thought this was a good book, and really seemed to pick up at the last chapter. I particularly enjoyed the fast moving final chapter and was disappointed that the book had come to an end.

I plan to pick up her earlier book, Need to Know, for a future read.

This book got interesting around 200+ pages. I wanted to DNF so bad phewww

Omg I hate Stephanie!! She loves her job too much. This make Stephanie and her son's relationship a little bit distant. Whenever he has problem he went to his grandma instead of Stephanie lol she is not a good mother!


The ending!! Goshh what happened to all the characters involved? Why it ends just like that? lol


Thank you Netgalley and author for Keep You Close ARC!

🌟🌟🌟

The writing felt a bit clunky, I couldn't get behind the conceit of this novel, and I struggled to care about the characters-- seemed like they were really leaving you at arm's length. Making the "bad guys" The Russians felt...a bit contrived? In an attempt at relevancy? On the whole, just was left feeling disappointed by this one, unfortunately.

This is my first review on NetGalley, so here we go!

This book had an interesting plot idea - every parent doesn't feel like they know their teenager as well as they want to right? What else could they be up to? How can you be sure? But for some reason, I just didn't connect with this book like I thought I would.

Early on, I didn't feel like the characters were fully introduced. I didn't feel like I knew who the characters were, or even how old they were or their jobs, until the end of Chapter 2. It felt a bit murky somehow.

By 1/3 of the way through, I noticed that the writing seemed choppy. It jumped from the past to present within the same chapter - sometimes within the same paragraph (but that could have been a formatting issue). Sometimes the main character will suddenly have a flashback to an earlier memories, but it's kind of blended into the story, so I get lost and really can't follow her train of thought. - until I re-read it and figure out, "Oh, she's remembering something in the past again."

The idea for the plot was great, but it seemed a little forced and I felt it could have been flushed out a bit more, with less vague statements like "the hand on in the middle of her back" popping up now and then. With so many vague statements without answers, I didn't feel like I knew what was going on - which is okay when you assume you will find out the answer later, but it happened to often I found myself not caring if I found out what the heck the main character was talking about or remembering.

Keep You Close is ex-CIA analyst Karen Cleveland's second thriller and I seem to be one of the few reviewers who hasn't read her debut novel, Need to Know. While there are many good things about Keep You Close, the book ultimately didn't quite work for me. That said, I'd still like to see more of Cleveland's writing in the future.

Stephanie Maddox is a single mother who works in the FBI's internal affairs office, in part because she chose to protect her son rather than advance her career at the Bureau. Still, she loves her job – maybe a little too much, at least according to her mother. Her son Zachary is on the cusp of graduating from high school and she's missed more than just a few parent-teacher conferences along the way. Her mother's warning that always putting work first may have consequences has always seemed misguided – until Stephanie finds a gun hidden in Zach's closet. Add to that some information she receives from a friend, information that implies her son is involved with a terrorist organization. "You don't know him the way you should." Has her mother been right all along? Stephanie believes her son is a top student, a computer whiz who has a bright future ahead of him. Or is it all an act? As the novel unfolds, the answer to this question doesn't become clear until the final chapter.

There was much to admire in the premise of the novel and I liked Stephanie's character. I know too well what it's like to try to juggle working long hours with being there for your child when you're on your own. I identified with the way Stephanie tries to navigate her changing relationship with Zach and thought Cleveland did a good job depicting the conflict between love and logic. She also did a good job capturing Stephanie's complicated relationship with her mother. But it's the logic part of the plot I had the most trouble with. As a reader, I'm willing to give suspension of disbelief a wide berth – for the space of a novel I'll happily buy into vampires, zombies, wizards, elaborate conspiracy theories, whatever. But the book has to have its own internal logic and I felt that was lacking in this novel. As a highly respected FBI agent, Stephanie should be at least somewhat analytical. I get the idea of following your hunches – I do it all the time – but at some point you have to nail down enough evidence to hold up your claims. Once I hit the second half of the book, Stephanie's logic went out the window. She's jumping from one conclusion to an even bigger conclusion to a series of interrelated conclusions based on little more than a fleeting memory from an old case. There are a few glimpses into the antagonists' point of view, but not enough to move them beyond the usual default villains. So maybe that is partly why I found the ending unsatisfying. Not only are there loose ends (maybe because of a future book?), but there just wasn't enough in the plot to get me to the point where I could buy into the resolution.

On the flip side, the book was a fast read and the pacing was full-throttle perfect. I also liked a few of the twists – one twist in particular – and didn't see them coming. Add to that the main characters' likeability and the writing style and this could be a fun read. When Cleveland's next book comes out, I'm definitely willing to give it a try.

Much thanks to Random House and NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Mwah. I was very impressed by Need to Know so I hoped this book would give me the same feeling. Sadly not. It is not a bad book but there are so many things so very obvious. I missed the real thrill of unexpected developments in the story.
I hope Karen Cleveland will return with a new book because I've not given up hope ;-)

Thanks to Netgalley for the digital review copy of this book.

Fast Moving Thriller.....
Fast Moving thriller taking the reader into the world of FBI agent, Steph Maddox. A tension mounting tale, full of twists and turns and with a large cast of characters although, ultimately, leading to little in the way of satisfactory conclusion for the reader- perhaps there will be a follow on?

Keep You Close by Karen Cleveland is the story of Steph Maddox, an FBI agent who heads their Internal Investigations Division. Steph sniffs out crime in their own ranks and is honest about reporting it. Everything changes when she gets a visit from another agent and her own son Zachary is suddenly under suspicion for domestic terrorism. Steph's past comes back to haunt her as she fights for her son and for truth.

I really enjoyed 90% of this book. I was engaged and interested in the outcome. It was well written and I couldn't put it down. Then came the ending. The ending was horrible and unresolved and I felt like I was left hanging. Maybe the author will write a sequel, but for now the ending was completely disappointing and ruined the rest of the book for me. If the author writes a sequel, my opinion might change.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley. My opinions are voluntary.

My initial thoughts upon starting the book were that it was an attempt at a very stereotypical FBI/CIA detective plot and from the first chapter on, it felt a bit cringe. Steph Maddox is a single mother and an FBI agent. One day, she finds a gun in her son Zachary's bedroom and later learns that he is suspected of being a part of an extremist terrorist group. The point of the readathon was to decide whether we believed or feared Zach. I had a good feeling about him from the very beginning, which - despite what happens at the very end (won't spoil it for you) - was mostly true.

Throughout the book, Cleveland engages in the typical "thriller plot manipulation". Throwing suspects at us in every chapter (there were around five or six suspects from what I recall), asking a million rhetorical questions to lead us away from the truth (when I say million, I mean it), devising sub-plots that meant to add an extra thrill to the whole story (killing off some characters). Steph herself is extremely annoying, although I could sympathise with some of the things that happened to her in the past. She's a workaholic and has neglected her son from the beginning and sacrificed the relationship with Zach and her mother for her own career. She's also extremely rude to both of them for absolutely no reason other than them trying to help her. Steph just comes across as someone who thinks everyone is against her and the whole world hates her. She's worried about saving the relationship with her son, but when the opportunity arises, she lies to him, runs away to work on a case and gets into pointless fights with the poor teenager. She's never there for him, so no wonder the buy seeks support in his grandmother.

I still think this is a great idea for a plot of a thriller book. I just don't think Cleveland did very well in executing it properly. Throughout the book, the initial thrill of Zach being involved in an extremist group gives way to Steph trying to solve her own problems and the plot then focuses on senator Halliday, FBI vice-director Jackson and some other sub-plots that sometimes felt obsolete to the whole story. Like Steph's "friendship" with Martha - it did not bring any essence into the plot and was just a loose end that didn't get resolved in the end. I also think throwing numerous suspects our way was too confusing and as readers, we end up being confused about what's going on rather than focus on the main issue - is Zach a part of FSM or not? Cleveland lost her focus around page 100 and it was difficult to remember what the point of the plot was.

Another issue I had was the author's urge to tell us what the characters were wearing. I don't think it's a major issue, but in a thriller, we don't really need to know about what a character is wearing unless it has a direct impact on the plot. A couple of non spoiler examples below:

"I'm in black track pants and a sweatshirt, bundled up in a long black jacket [...], baseball cap pulled low."

"He's in dark jeans and a dark gray sweater, a black leather overnight bag on his arm. Hr has dirty blond hair, closely cropped [...]."

This continued throughout the book and I rolled my eyes at those descriptions way too many times. Cleveland would probably tell you what the killer was wearing and how he wore his hair before she told you he was holding a gun pointed at you...

Another problem I had was Steph's "inner psychiatrist"... what? Steph Maddox, please seek professional psychiatric help before you continue doing your job. Clearly you have problems that require professional help. Non spoiler example:

"Maybe you're seeing what you want to see, suggests the sly voice in my head. The psychiatrist."

And, let's not forget the start of the show, which I don't think I need to explain and tell you how much it infuriated me.

"And then I exhale a breath I didn't know I was holding."

The urge to DNF the book for the second time arose at that exact moment, mid-chapter. From then on, I didn't care what happens in the book.

The ending wasn't spectacular, either. What was meant to be a major twist in the plot fell short of being extraordinary and could have been easily predicted. Cleveland tried to cram too many things into this short 330 page book and as a result, the idea had no right to be executed in the way she intended. It was a fast-paced thriller and even though I was lazy about reading the final 100 pages, I kept going because the chapters were short. The pace is probably the reason I'm giving it 2 stars instead of 1.

Would I recommend it? No. I'd love to spare you the time and money and would advise that you buy yourself a better thriller, because Keep You Close just did not deliver. Also, how does the title relate to the book?

I wasn't familiar with Karen Cleveland's works but «Keep You Close» seemed to be a good introduction.
As soon as the book started, I was invested in the story. The tension picks up immediately since the stakes are set at the very beginning.
The characters are complex, multi-layered and interesting. The reader quickly understands the dynamic of the mother-son relationship. This aspect of the story adds another element of tension to the plot.
The atmosphere is tangible as we acknowledge the threat targeting the protagonists of the story.
As a former analyst for the CIA, in the counterterrorism department, the author knows what she is talking about. You sense right away that she is very familiar with the technicalities and intricacies of the government's agencies.
The pace of the plot is consistent and the tension builds gradually. The story is suspenseful and has a lot of potential. It reads fast and you quickly become fully engaged with the characters and their crazy journey towards the truth. You definitely fear for their survival and that is a great point for the narration!
By the end, I had my mind set up on a few plausible plot twists but the author was more than able to surprise me and reverse the entire thing around. Not everything is as it seems.
A negative point for me though would be the ending that I found to be a little too abrupt. We close the book on an open-ended note. The conclusion of the plot was not something we are used to see in thrillers.
Overall, I would say that «Keep You Close» is a good cop thriller, very consistent in pace and with a sufficient amount of tension to keep you intrigued.

Thank you NetGalley, Karen Cleveland as well as the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC.

I have to start off saying this was not for me..... :( . It started off good and then it went flat about the 1/3 mark and then went in another direction all together. I do not even know where the book was going with it. Conspiracy theories..I really do not even know...

Let me do a little recap:

Stephanie the single mom that is a special agent with the FBI has a son that has been doing some growing up but Stephanie has found but he seems to be different. He is not speaking to her as he used it. Is this just his teenage behaviour taking over or is he hiding something?
The answer to that question is he is hiding something when a gun is found in the back of his closet!! OMG..what is he up to?

She decides to do whatever she has to do as his mother even if it costs her everything.