Need to Know by Karen Cleveland

Tags: Spy Fiction

         Thrillers and Suspense

Have you ever been watching something on TV when suddenly the scene becomes so tense you feel like you can't bear to watch, and you just want to hide until that part is over?  I have never felt this way while reading a book…until now.

Vivian Miller is a busy wife and mother of four children, one of which has special medical needs.  She is also a CIA counterintelligence analyst!  She develops an algorithm to root out Russian agents hiding in the United States, but what she discovers will turn her whole world upside down. She is forced to choose what is more important, the security of her country, or the lives of her family.

Need to Know is a nail-biter from beginning to end. I found Vivian's character very real and believable, and I struggled right along with her, trying to decide what I would do in her shoes. The twists and turns in plot keep the story moving at a fast pace, and I was still thinking about the ending days after I finished the book.

I first heard about Need to Know from the author Louise Penny, who highly recommended it in a monthly newsletter.  Other best-selling authors, such as John Grisham, Lee Child, and Patricia Cornwell all have high praise for this book as well.

The author, Karen Cleveland, was a former CIA analyst herself, so the subject matter would have been very familiar to her. However, it is still hard to believe that Need to Know is Cleveland's first novel.  I only hope, for the sake of everyone who enjoys reading Need to Know as much as I did, that it won't be her last.