filemanager's review against another edition
DNF @ 44%
This book had an interesting plot idea - every parent doesn't feel like they know their teenager as well as they want to right? What else could they be up to? How can you be sure? But for some reason, I just didn't connect with this book like I thought I would.
Early on, I didn't feel like the characters were fully introduced. I didn't feel like I knew who the characters were, or even how old they were or their jobs, until the end of Chapter 2. It felt a bit murky somehow.
By 1/3 of the way through, I noticed that the writing seemed choppy. It jumped from the past to present within the same chapter - sometimes within the same paragraph (but that could have been a formatting issue). Sometimes the main character will suddenly have a flashback to an earlier memories, but it's kind of blended into the story, so I get lost and really can't follow her train of thought. - until I re-read it and figure out, "Oh, she's remembering something in the past again."
The idea for the plot was great, but it seemed a little forced and I felt it could have been flushed out a bit more, with less vague statements like "the hand on in the middle of her back" popping up now and then. With so many vague statements without answers, I didn't feel like I knew what was going on - which is okay when you assume you will find out the answer later, but it happened to often I found myself not caring if I found out what the heck the main character was talking about or remembering.
This book had an interesting plot idea - every parent doesn't feel like they know their teenager as well as they want to right? What else could they be up to? How can you be sure? But for some reason, I just didn't connect with this book like I thought I would.
Early on, I didn't feel like the characters were fully introduced. I didn't feel like I knew who the characters were, or even how old they were or their jobs, until the end of Chapter 2. It felt a bit murky somehow.
By 1/3 of the way through, I noticed that the writing seemed choppy. It jumped from the past to present within the same chapter - sometimes within the same paragraph (but that could have been a formatting issue). Sometimes the main character will suddenly have a flashback to an earlier memories, but it's kind of blended into the story, so I get lost and really can't follow her train of thought. - until I re-read it and figure out, "Oh, she's remembering something in the past again."
The idea for the plot was great, but it seemed a little forced and I felt it could have been flushed out a bit more, with less vague statements like "the hand on in the middle of her back" popping up now and then. With so many vague statements without answers, I didn't feel like I knew what was going on - which is okay when you assume you will find out the answer later, but it happened to often I found myself not caring if I found out what the heck the main character was talking about or remembering.
ciska's review against another edition
3.0
Why..?!? It is not always the case but Stephanie should have listened to her mother. Not trusting anyone she is not making it easy when she gets entangled in a huge conspiracy theory. Endangering both her mother and son and not even explain a thing to them so they can anticipate some things. As he gets involved in the investigation he is making all the wrong choices due to being misinformed making it possible for her to even make more mistakes and this frustrated me to no end.
The book kept me captivated though, conspiracy theories inside the US government is always really exciting even if you feel like slapping the main character most of the book..
The book kept me captivated though, conspiracy theories inside the US government is always really exciting even if you feel like slapping the main character most of the book..
mackenzierm's review against another edition
4.0
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 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!
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!
meloches's review against another edition
3.0
Not my favourite; loved the concept, love the author but found this one lagging. If I want to read a thriller, I want it to be fast-paced and I found this one lacking.
lpdx's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Rape, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Car accident
Minor: Gun violence, Medical content, Abandonment, Grief, and Pregnancy
tasmanian_bibliophile's review against another edition
3.0
‘What if he’s not who she thinks he is? How well does she really know him?
Stephanie Maddox is the head of the FBI’s Internal Investigations Division in the Washington, D.C. office. It’s a busy and demanding position, and Stephanie works long hours. She’s also the single mother of seventeen-year-old Zachary who has become distant and uncommunicative. Stephanie thinks this is a consequence of his age and her long hours and resolves to do something about it. Imagine how Stephanie feels when she discovers a gun hidden in Zachary’s room. Her Zachary, a good student, who is awaiting college acceptance letters? And then, an FBI agent from the domestic terrorism squad shows up: ‘It’s about Zachary …’. Stephanie learns that apparently Zachary has been emailing a domestic terrorist group.
Stephanie is conflicted. Can she protect Zachary? Surely, he is not involved in terrorism?
I read this book in a day, wanting to know how it would end and what choices Stephanie would make. Stephanie is convinced that someone from her past (could it be Zachary’s father (an influential Senator), or a disgruntled FBI agent who lost his job because of her, or a mob boss) trying to get at Stephanie through Zachary?
The more Stephanie investigates, the less she seems able to distinguish between right and wrong. While I appreciate the dilemma Stephanie finds herself in, some of the choices she makes left me gobsmacked. A couple of aspects of the story (although I can’t tell you what they are without spoilers) didn’t work for me.
My conclusion? This is a fast-moving story which, while it mostly held my attention, had me questioning its believability. Surely a good FBI agent would have paid more attention to detail than Stephanie did?
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Bantam Press for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Stephanie Maddox is the head of the FBI’s Internal Investigations Division in the Washington, D.C. office. It’s a busy and demanding position, and Stephanie works long hours. She’s also the single mother of seventeen-year-old Zachary who has become distant and uncommunicative. Stephanie thinks this is a consequence of his age and her long hours and resolves to do something about it. Imagine how Stephanie feels when she discovers a gun hidden in Zachary’s room. Her Zachary, a good student, who is awaiting college acceptance letters? And then, an FBI agent from the domestic terrorism squad shows up: ‘It’s about Zachary …’. Stephanie learns that apparently Zachary has been emailing a domestic terrorist group.
Stephanie is conflicted. Can she protect Zachary? Surely, he is not involved in terrorism?
I read this book in a day, wanting to know how it would end and what choices Stephanie would make. Stephanie is convinced that someone from her past (could it be Zachary’s father (an influential Senator), or a disgruntled FBI agent who lost his job because of her, or a mob boss) trying to get at Stephanie through Zachary?
The more Stephanie investigates, the less she seems able to distinguish between right and wrong. While I appreciate the dilemma Stephanie finds herself in, some of the choices she makes left me gobsmacked. A couple of aspects of the story (although I can’t tell you what they are without spoilers) didn’t work for me.
My conclusion? This is a fast-moving story which, while it mostly held my attention, had me questioning its believability. Surely a good FBI agent would have paid more attention to detail than Stephanie did?
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Bantam Press for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
booksandbark's review against another edition
2.0
I really enjoyed Cleveland's first book, [b:Need to Know|40647345|Need to Know|Karen Cleveland|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1529995079s/40647345.jpg|55506959], so I was really looking forward to this one, especially when I realized it's actually a kind of continuation of the "series" that was started in Need To Know. Like many other reviewers, though, I found that Keep You Close was underwhelming. So much is half-baked in this book: the characters, the plot, the ideas. Although Keep You Close deals with a lot of hot-button political issues, such as single motherhood, sexual assault, and the abuse of power, it never really finishes talking about any of these things. Stephanie's relationship with her mother is touched upon, but never really delved into, as are her relationships with her ex-boyfriend, Scott (another FBI agent), and her son, Zach. Additionally, while Vivian (from Need To Know) was featured in the book, we don't really get a continuation of her plot line and it felt like the plot didn't start going until the last few chapters, so the ending felt quite abrupt.
That aside, I was first drawn to Cleveland's books because they featured strong women characters, but with Keep You Close I'm realizing more and more that these women continuously define themselves in relation to the men in their lives. Vivian (from Need To Know) saw herself almost completely in her relationship with her husband and their kids, and Stephanie seems to center herself around her son and her ex-boyfriend, Scott (who seems to represent the potential husband that she seems to feel incomplete without). I wanted to hear more about Stephanie's career (and Vivian's, too), but while she continually claims that she is career-focused, not super attached to the idea of a relationship, and often is seen as a "bad mom" to Zach, all of her actions in the book related to her son or her ex-boyfriend. I get that she's a single mother, and that naturally entails juggling home and work, but the way Stephanie's relationships were presented in relationship to her job struck me as a little off.
What was most jarring to me were the veiled references to police brutality, and Stephanie's dismissal of the issue entirely. Whenever Zach listens to rap music that references police abuses of power, Stephanie mentions that she disapproves, which didn't make any sense to me, first of all because to dismiss police brutality just like that is horrific (as police brutality clearly exists) and especially because her job is to "police power." Stephanie seemed to understand that there are bad cops and good cops, but she was unable to understand flaws in the system itself. I'm not sure why these references were even included, because they weren't at all relevant to the plot (and seemed out-of-place, considering how little information in the novel wasn't relevant to the plot), and because they seem to be the start of a conversation that is neither continued nor given any significance. Add to that the fact that all the characters in her book seemed to be white (not even a token minority) and I started to get very uncomfortable. I'm not sure if any of this was intentional (perhaps Cleveland even meant it as a critique? it felt too unfinished for that), but it certainly struck me as odd.
That aside, I was first drawn to Cleveland's books because they featured strong women characters, but with Keep You Close I'm realizing more and more that these women continuously define themselves in relation to the men in their lives. Vivian (from Need To Know) saw herself almost completely in her relationship with her husband and their kids, and Stephanie seems to center herself around her son and her ex-boyfriend, Scott (who seems to represent the potential husband that she seems to feel incomplete without). I wanted to hear more about Stephanie's career (and Vivian's, too), but while she continually claims that she is career-focused, not super attached to the idea of a relationship, and often is seen as a "bad mom" to Zach, all of her actions in the book related to her son or her ex-boyfriend. I get that she's a single mother, and that naturally entails juggling home and work, but the way Stephanie's relationships were presented in relationship to her job struck me as a little off.
What was most jarring to me were the veiled references to police brutality, and Stephanie's dismissal of the issue entirely. Whenever Zach listens to rap music that references police abuses of power, Stephanie mentions that she disapproves, which didn't make any sense to me, first of all because to dismiss police brutality just like that is horrific (as police brutality clearly exists) and especially because her job is to "police power." Stephanie seemed to understand that there are bad cops and good cops, but she was unable to understand flaws in the system itself. I'm not sure why these references were even included, because they weren't at all relevant to the plot (and seemed out-of-place, considering how little information in the novel wasn't relevant to the plot), and because they seem to be the start of a conversation that is neither continued nor given any significance. Add to that the fact that all the characters in her book seemed to be white (not even a token minority) and I started to get very uncomfortable. I'm not sure if any of this was intentional (perhaps Cleveland even meant it as a critique? it felt too unfinished for that), but it certainly struck me as odd.
spritz44's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty decent! I'm not a huge cops and espionage type fan, so I'm trying to go easy on this book. It was decent writing and kept my interest throughout, with an unexpected ending.
steph1rothwell's review against another edition
3.0
I hadn’t read Karen Cleveland’s previous book so had little idea what to expect. I did expect a family crisis from the synopsis, when a mother had to find out what her son was involved in but I wasn’t prepared for what he was suspected of, or the espionage storyline.
I did prefer the storyline that focused on Steph and her family. The battle that Steph had to achieve her position in the FBI and how she let it affect her relationship with her mother and son. She knew she was failing but didn’t seem to be able to improve the situation. There were moments when I wished she would just show them both a little love and consideration.
The other side of the storyline was good, but didn’t captivate me as much until the latter stages of the novel. I was a little shocked by how corruption was rife in the various agencies and had no idea who could be trusted. The ending was a shock and I would love to see if there is a follow up. If there is, great, if there isn’t, it was one of the better final chapters I have read this year.
I did prefer the storyline that focused on Steph and her family. The battle that Steph had to achieve her position in the FBI and how she let it affect her relationship with her mother and son. She knew she was failing but didn’t seem to be able to improve the situation. There were moments when I wished she would just show them both a little love and consideration.
The other side of the storyline was good, but didn’t captivate me as much until the latter stages of the novel. I was a little shocked by how corruption was rife in the various agencies and had no idea who could be trusted. The ending was a shock and I would love to see if there is a follow up. If there is, great, if there isn’t, it was one of the better final chapters I have read this year.