I'm giving this book an 'average' rating because I'm afraid I couldn't face ploughing through text which, on my Kindle, had huge formatting problems. It would have been a real chore to read, no matter how wonderful the story may be.

The plot and characters didn't grab me enough to justify persevering - so ,three stars. Benefit of the doubt!

(I'm assuming that these problems will be sorted out before publication.)

I loved Karen Cleveland’s first novel, Need to Know, and was looking forward to reading her sophomore book. The story follows our main character, Stephanie Maddox, who is an FBI agent investigating internal matters. She’s faced some adversity in life and the trouble that we’re dealing with in this story started with an internship for a prominent Senator when she was in college. The experience changed her career and her life including leading her to the job with the FBI where she was able to build a solid reputation for herself as a relentless investigator who is going to get to the truth. An early win leads her to her present job in internal investigations, but not in an ideal way. She moves her sone to take the job in DC and by most accounts she’s doing well, but she’s still haunted by previous life events and when her son appears to be heading down the wrong path, she can’t help but wonder if he’s innocent and someone is trying to seek revenge. Not sure who to trust and what to believe, she’ll need all her skills and intelligence to figure it out before it’s too late. Cleveland has something good going on with her experience in the CIA and leveraging that experience to create moving storylines. I do feel like the characters Steph and her son Zach are a bit flat, but it’s still a story that held my attention and kept me guessing until the end. I’m hopeful there will be more from this storyline.

Here´s a short review in English, afterwards you´ll find a German review which is a bit longer.

This book is great. It´s a pageturner and really gripping. It tells about Steph who is a single parent to a 17 year old son. He is everything to her. One day she finds something in his room which makes her think that her son could be dangerous.

Now, what will you do? How do you confront your son with this suspicion? Of course Steph would do everything to prevent her son from danger. But she has to make some really hard desicions and I wouldn´t like to be in her shoes! And this is what makes that book so thrilling. You know how Steph feels and you suffer with her.

Inhalt:

Steph ist alleinerziehende Mutter. Ihr Sohn ist das Wichtigste in ihrem Leben - zusammen mit ihrer Arbeit beim FBI. Eines Tages macht sie eine Aussage ihres Sohnes stutzig und sie geht in sein Zimmer und schaut sich ein bisschen um. Dabei findet sie etwas, das sie schockt und komplett aus der Bahn wirft.
Steph muss feststellen, dass ihr Sohn gefährlich sein könnte.

Meinung:

Kurze Info: Ich habe das Buch auf Englisch gelesen.
Der Klappentext hat mich angesprochen. Eine Mutter, die etwas über ihren Sohn herausfindet, bzw etwas bei ihm findet, was den Eindruck vermittelt, dass er gefährlich sein könnte. Wie geht man damit als Mutter um? Wie konfrontiert man sein Kind mit so einem Verdacht?

Der Charakter von Steph hat mich fasziniert. Sie ist nicht so eine "Überdrüber-Mutter", die 60 Stunden in der Woche arbeiten geht, den Haushalt perfekt schmeißt und dabei noch immer für ihren Sohn da ist. Nein, sie ist eine hart arbeitende Mutter, die ihren Sohn über alles liebt, aber trotzdem ihr Leben lebt. Sie verzichtet nicht auf die Karrierechance, auf die sie so lange gewartet hat, zugunsten ihres Kindes. Ihr ist aber schmerzlich bewusst, wieviel sie von seiner Kindheit verpasst hat.

Es ist ein rasant geschriebener Thriller, ein richtiger Pageturner. Jedesmal wenn man glaubt, man hat herausgefunden, was los ist, kommt eine neue Wendung ins Spiel. Es ist ein Albtraum für Steph und natürlich auch für ihren Sohn.

Das Buch ist umso spannender, weil man richtig mitleidet und sich ständig fragt, was man selbst an ihrer Stelle machen würde. Manchmal steht Steph vor richtig schweren Entscheidungen, die nicht nur ihr eigenes Leben auf den Kopf stellen würden.

Fazit:
Spannender Thriller, ein Pageturner.

<I>First off, i would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher of this novel for the opportunity of reading an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.</I>

I genuinely enjoyed this book. It was a bit of a slower read for me, but there was something always picking at the edge of me wanting to get back to it, wanting to know more.

My one main complaint is that there were quite a few errors or series of words that were randomly placed, inappropriately. They were easy to disregard, but did pose as a distraction initially. I suppose that is the hazard of reading an uncorrected e-copy.

As for the story, I loved it. The mystery and plot itself was so complex and convoluted that I was trying to get a step ahead and piece it together to find out who is the mastermind and how it all can be unraveled, but came up empty-handed each and every time as new twists developed in the story.

I loved the main character, Steph. Her character was well written and realistic.

I would love for there to be a follow up novel as I feel that it ended at a peak, a cliffhanger if you will. I am quite curious and slightly appalled with the ending because I feel like there should be more!

All in all, an interesting and captivating story!

This was really good. Stephanie Maddox is a single Mom/FBI Agent with a teenage son, Zachary. She finds a gun in his room and has reason to suspect him of terrorism. I read Need to Know by this author and really liked so I requested this one just based on the author. This is not my usual subject matter, so it took awhile to pick it up and get into it, but since I requested it I felt like I owed it. I'm really glad I gave it a chance! While not quite as good as Need to Know, it was still definitely worth reading! Lots of twists and turns and flashbacks.

Keep You Close by Karen Cleveland is an exciting psychological thriller. I recently read Need to Know, and loved it. I enjoyed this book, but not as much. Stephanie Maddox is a single mom with a teenage son Zachary, and she is also an FBI internal investigation agent. After she finds a gun in her son's room, and he is suspected of domestic terrorism. This book goes through the struggle Stephanie faces as an agent and protector of her son. This book is full of twists and turn, and of course nothing is as it seems. I highly recommend this book.

I reviewed a digital arc provided by NetGalley and the publisher. Thank you.

I enjoyed reading this book. It had a good story to it. I liked the variety of characters in it. It was a well written book. I hope to read more books by this author.

A fast-paced, action packed, suspense story.

Keep You Close is my first Karen Cleveland novel. I was impressed by the breakneck speed with which this story unfolded. It grips you from page number 1 and doesn't let go until the end. I read the entire book yesterday, and it definitely kept my interest. The political fodder is scary to contemplate.

Having said all that, the novel felt somewhat empty. There was next to no character development, and the writing was so abrupt and unexpressive, I felt little personal engagement to the story. It needed something more. And let's be real here, for a woman who had worked her way up the ranks of the FBI, Stephanie was a bit of a dimwit. I could not, for the life of me, figure out why she did/said certain things. That was the biggest turn-off for me, and why I didn't rate this novel higher.

Recommended to those who enjoy brisk action novels. I could see this being a good beach read.

Thanks to NetGalley, Ballantine Books, and Keven Cleveland for my copy.

I didn’t live this book. I didn’t hate it. I was expecting more I think because of the way the first novel was hyped up. I didn’t like the characters much and it felt a bit of a chore to pick up the book and get through it. The story made me a little uncomfortable - maybe because I have a son the same age?

Normally I love this type of story but I’m not great when the story zips backwards and forwards so I guess this didn’t help

All in all it was an ok read but I wouldn’t race out to read another

Having read Karen Cleveland’s previous novel, I was excited to get started on this book!

And it didn’t disappoint! I found the story quite fast paced and lots of twists and turns. The prompts of #trusthim or #fearhim were great and made you really think about how well you know your children.
I love the CIA aspect to the story and quickly had speculations that linked back to her previous novel. The only thing for me was at times I found the main character a little unlikeable - putting her job before her family. But ultimately love prevails in the end!

This is the first book I read from this author and I found it to be a very good mystery/thriller.. It’s one of the books about how far would you go for someone you love and it’s very good written. The characters are deep and the plot keeps the reader engaged until the end. I found it to be a page turner and I couldn’t put it down. I will definitely read the other books from this author and would recommend this one for everyone that loves a good gripping thriller.

I have heard so many wonderful things about Karen Cleveland‘s debut Need To Know and I have been curious to try out her books. As soon as I read the blurb of Keep You Close, I was immediately intrigued and just couldn’t resist trying this story first. I thought I was going to be in for an intense and action-packed ride, and I have been looking forward to read a proper action thriller with possible espionage/conspiracy plot elements again as it has been a while. I kind of wish I sticked with just trying her debut now instead, because I have to be honest here and say that I was seriously underwhelmed by Keep You Close. I’ll try to explain below why…

I’m still not sure if it was just me, or actually the book, but the fact is that Keep You Close and me definitely didn’t get along. I normally like action-packed stories and I’m a sucker for a good conspiracy plot, so this story should have been right up my alley… Instead, I was left with feelings of frustration and lack of interest for the duration of this book. It’s hard putting my finger exactly on why I had such an averse reaction to this story, but there were definitely a few elements I had issues with. Because it wasn’t just a lack of connection to and interest for the story… There were quite a few elements that just didn’t work for me.

The first thing I can mention is the plot and general structure of the plot. I felt that both the plot, structure and also the flashbacks were simply all over the place. POV switches and flashbacks are kind of dropped on you as you are trying to follow what FBI agent Stephanie Maddox is up to; this is highly distracting, makes the plot feel chaotic and slowed down the pace. Instead of adding the tension and suspense I guess was the intention of using those techniques, especially those POV switches only distracted from the plot itself. Talking about the plot, I also didn’t think both the plot and the plot twists were credible at all and mostly way over the top. I get the whole conspiracy plot and the complicated situation Steph finds herself in, but this mostly seemed like a cliche and caricature way of describing it all, with over the top Hollywood spy movie scenes and twists. The ending left way too many questions unanswered and wasn’t satisfying at all either… I’m not sure if this book just wasn’t for me despite my love for conspiracy plots, but either way Keep You Close was definitely a miss for me.

As for the writing: I can’t say that I was a fan. While I can’t deny that it was a fast read despite the pace slowing down in places (especially during those flashbacks and sudden POV switches), I can’t say I was enjoying myself while reading it. This is probably a personal reaction to her writing style though, as most people seem to love her writing (or at least those reviews I read about her debut). I guess it’s unpopular opinion review time again? Anyway, that was not all. The characters likewise ended up letting me down. I felt that they were underdeveloped and described mostly using cliches; flat and one-dimentional characters I had a hard time connecting to. Steph is the typical ‘strong female main character’ with a messed up past but fierce at her work. She really isn’t being developed all that beyond that, and that is truly a shame. Likewise, the other characters in play are not really developed beyond basic information and cliches either, which makes it hard to connect to them. The focus is instead on the over the top and not credible at all plot, which I clearly wasn’t a fan of either.

I guess my instincts are not always right… I really thought I was going to love this story, especially since I love my conspiracy plots and action-packed thrillers, but Keep You Close was most definitely not my cup of tea. Unpopular opinion or not, I guess we can’t like them all, can we?

"A strange sensation runs through me, a feeling that I don't know this person in front of me, even though he matters more to me than anyone ever has."

Stephanie Maddox heads the FBI's Internal Investigation Division and she makes tough decisions every day. Single mother with a seventeen years old son. She discovers something in his room and Zach denies any knowledge of it. And then her close collegaue, Scott is at her door with information that Zach is being investigated by the bureau. She thinks he's being framed and just can't believe he would be involved.b
Can she clear her son's name and keep them all safe?
Fast paced keep you on the edge of your seat read. I didn't put it down until the last page. Twists and roller coaster turns that you just can't believe happen in the real world. I think the only thing I didn't like was the ending. I felt like it just stopped without knowing what happened to her and her son.
But it was a fantastic read and I will be reading Karen Cleveland's "Need to Know."

Thank you to publisher and NetGalley for the eARC

Stephanie is an FBI Special Agent and single mother to a teenage boy whom she holds up very highly. However, lately, he's been being quite unlike his usual talkative, energetic self and Stephanie finds herself wondering why or if he's up to something.

Then she finds a gun in his room and her world starts to spiral out of control. She is inserted into a place where she must choose between her career and her son, and who's lying and who's telling the truth.

I found this book by Karen Cleveland to be extremely fast-paced and action-packed and it was a fun ride! I must move her other novel 'Need To Know' up on my TBR!

Thanks to NetGalley. Karen Cleveland and Random House / Corgi for this eGalley.

When I requested this book I didn't realise it was an FBI story, or I wouldn't have requested it. Not my type of story. Sorry !

Oops sorry for requesting. I actually read this last year. Didn’t realise until I tried to log it on goodreads. 🙈

I really enjoyed Need To Know so I was expecting a lot from this! Keep You Close isn’t exactly a bad book, the writing leaves a lot to be desired and the characters are flat. It’s a slow read but if you have patience it’s still worth your time. 3 out of 5

Well written with characters that I didn't love or hate. Took me awhile to get through this as wasn't loving it and didbt want to keep picking it up. The ending was the best part for me.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for an early release of this book.

This book was well written and definitely drew me in! I stayed up much later than I should have last night to finish it because I just HAD to know who was really behind the set up. It's clear that the author really knows her stuff, and she knows how to keep you guessing... was Zachary into something bad, or no? You could feel Stephanie's angst as she tries to figure out what's really going on with the son she thinks she knows better than anyone.
I also loved the tie in to her previous novel. This novel is good as a stand alone and not knowing anything about the previous novel - but if you read that one, it adds a whole new layer of intrigue once you figure out who these characters are and that one of them is not who you may initially believe it is.

Thank you to the editors and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this novel!

This novel being the first of a new author to me, you never know what your going to get. It’s always a risk when diverting to someone you haven’t read before. I started this one with reservations, a read now book and an author I’d never read before.

I started and was instantly pulled into Steph’s world. The injustice she went through as an intern. The plot is then thrown into the present which is centred around her job as an FBI agent and conspiracies.
I really don’t want to say too much more in case it spoils it for you but Steph’s fight to protect her son is on!

The pace of this book was extreme! The twists were throughout and my mind couldn’t keep up with who was who and doing what! So many turns and the storyline flipped a couple of times. You really have no clue until those last few chapters!

This was so so good! Read it!
Don’t put it off!

What an absolute Corker of a book. I have been eyeing this up for a long time and so glad I finally caved and got it to read. This book constantly has you guessing and thinking you have it all figured out until you turn the page. All your theories get destroyed and you make new ones for another turn of the page to ruin them too. If life didnt get it the way and I didnt need sleep I could have easily read this in once sitting. Very very gripping storyline and I will be looking out for a lot more by this author. Would love to see it as a series and watch Steph find them!