Review of The New Neighbor by Karen Cleveland

 I received a copy of this title via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Secrets, jealousy, and paranoia collide when a seemingly perfect new family moves into a neighborhood with ties to Langley in this gripping thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Need to Know.

Idyllic neighborhood, perfect family, meaningful career. CIA analyst Beth Bradford has it all—

Until she doesn’t.

Now, facing an empty nest and a broken marriage, Beth is moving from the cul-de-sac she’s long called home, and the CIA is removing her from the case that’s long been hers: tracking an elusive Iranian intelligence agent known as The Neighbor.

Madeline Sterling moves into Beth’s old house. She has what Beth once had: an adoring husband, three beautiful young children, and the close-knit group of neighbors on the cul-de-sac. Now she has it all. And Beth—who can’t stop watching the woman stepping in to her old life—thinks the new neighbor has something else too: ties to Iranian intelligence.

Is Beth just jealous? Paranoid? Or is something more at play?

After all, most of the families on the cul-de-sac have some tie to the CIA. They’re all keeping secrets. And they all know more about their neighbors than they should. It would be the perfect place to insert a spy—unless one was there all along. 

My Review:

4 Stars

This was an interesting story. Especially with all that is going on in the world right now. It's scary to think that something like this probably has been attempted at many points in our history. 

Beth is going through some big life changes. Her final child going off to college and find out that the marriage she hoped to repair was actually over. To top it all off she's moving away from the friends that have become more like family over the years. 

Slowly Beth starts to realize that everything isn't as it seems with the person who purchased her house. It seems she's been hiding who she really is and what her intentions are. Beth is the only one who seems to notice and she makes it her mission to find out what's really going on around "her" cul-de-sac. 

A thought provoking and mind engaging story that will have you trying to figure out the truth right up until the end.