Thank you to NetGalley, the author and Random House for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Beth is a CIA agent who lived on a quiet cul-de-sac with her husband. They have 3 kids and have just dropped the youngest off at college and are getting ready to move to another home. She and Mike are friends with everyone on their cul-de-sac and they all have jobs with the CIA in some capacity or another.

The day she drops her son off at college, she goes into work to find out she's been pulled from a case she's been working on for years; she's looking for The Neighbor, an Iranian Quds Force commander. When she returns home that night, Mike tells her he wants a divorce. Her life is now officially in turmoil.

She decides to look into recent transmissions received by The Neighbor and discovers there is now a New Neighbor. She begs to suspect everyone but everyone also think she's going crazy.

It was a bit of a slow burn with this book and then it picked up. I enjoyed the book overall but felt the ending was a bit rushed and not very plausible. However, I will read her other books. ( )

An Ending I Did not See Coming!



Cleveland’s book begins with intrigue.
Beth Bradford is a well-respected CIA analyst in counterintelligence related to Iran. She’s tracked an elusive target for over a decade, named, “The Neighbor”. Beth and her attorney- husband, Mike, live in a McLean, VA suburban cul de sac, with several neighbors, who also have ties to the CIA.
The Bradford’s are empty-nesters. The last of their three children just left for college, so Beth is eager to immerse herself in her work, to find the unidentified target that she has pursued for so long. Then suddenly her life is turned upside down. She is pulled off the case, her husband wants a divorce it’s all a hot mess. Which made for a great story.
Beth is reassigned to the Kent School, to teach and train newly-minted CIA hires. Beth feels blindsided and banished. She drives home in a daze. Beth moves to the rental home that she’d planned to share with Mike, after the sale of their beloved house. Reeling from all of the changes, she tries to digest the abrupt implosion of her life and career. Cleveland does an excellent job of conveying the unraveling of Beth, who is now solely-focused on uncovering the secrets of “The Neighbor”, despite not having the same access and resources that her prior position allowed

This was a quick read for me. I love a great thriller and the ending of who is actually “the Neighbor is something I did not see coming. ( )

CIA analyst Beth Bradford has been trying to figure out who The Neighbor is for 15 years - he's an American who has been recruited for spying purposes by an Iranian mastermind. The Neighbor lives in a cul-de-sac - Beth lives in a cul-de-sac full of her own neighbors who work for the CIA. Ergo, one of her neighbors must be The Neighbor. Beth has been removed from this case for reasons unknown to her, and so she launches her own clandestine investigation, ping-ponging from one neighbor to the next accusing him or her of being The Neighbor. She begins to look completely unhinged as time goes on. This storyline kept my interest until I got tired of Beth's off-the-rails actions and accusations. I found the wrap-up and the eventual identification of The Neighbor to be pretty unrealistic. ( )

Outstanding book. Finally, a mature female main character. She is intelligent and caring and real. And what a great story with many excellent twists. Kept me mesmerized until the perfect ending. ( )

CIA Analyst Beth Bradford has spent her career hunting a terrorist known as The Neighbor while living an idyllic life with her family on a cul-de-sac with all her best friends. But in one day that all falls apart after she drops her youngest child off at college for his freshman year and heads into work to find that she's been removed from not just the case but denied all access into the counter-terrorism unit. She heads home to her husband to spend their last 2 days in the house they sold after living there for years to downsize as empty nesters to find out that her husband is leaving her. Worst. Day. Ever. The only thing she can try and hold onto is her search for The Neighbor and that's when things go from bad to worse.

The words psychological thriller and unreliable narrator came to me as reading this book because Beth is just spinning out of control - or is she? This book will keep you guessing as to the identity of The Neighbor and what's left of Beth's sanity. It's an enjoyable quick read that will make your head spin.

I want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing for providing me with an copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. ( )