Karen Cleveland: Need to know, 9781524797362: International edition, 9781524797027 Hardback, Ballantine/ Penguin Random House US, Pub date: 23. January 2018,

I  was lucky to receive a pre publication proof, thank you Penguin Random House,  and can guarantee once you start reading “Need to know”, out in January 23, 2018, this thriller will keep you glued to your seat way past the amount of reading time you thought you would allow yourself. 

This is one of the fastest paced thrillers I have read in a very long time and the author Karen Cleveland who spent her time as a CIA analyst, some of them in counterterrorism, certainly knows how to apply her experience to the novel.  A fantastic, fast paced read from start to finish with an ending I kind of suspected towards the end but the twist is superb!  It seems unbelievable that this is her debut novel.

Film rights were sold to Universal Pictures for Charlize Theron and rights to the novel sold in more than 20 markets which is a very strong indicator of the quality of the book.  

Here is what happens: Vivian Miller works as a career CIA counterintelligence analyst assigned to uncover Russian sleeper cells in the US. She is also happily married and the mother of 4 children, juggling parental duties with Matt, her husband of 10 years.  Vivian develops a program that allows her to filter out possible Russian espionage suspects who lead a completely normal life within the US. The system also grants her access to the computer of probable sleepers.  One day she logs herself into the computer of a Russian suspect we later know as Yuri detecting a promising file.   Within  the next clicks through the dossier her entire life falls apart demanding impossible personal and professional choices.

I realize this reads like a blurb of the book but it would be cruel if I revealed any more than what is only the very first chapter. Go out and buy the book  once it is published January 23, 2018, you have great suspense ahead of you.