A review by triskaidekaphile
Need to Know by Karen Cleveland

Did not finish book. Stopped at 95%.

Whoo boy. This was a very bad listen. The Narrator did a fine job with the material, but the story was so unbelievable. While am not a spy thriller type, I am a huge fan of taut thrillers. I gave this one a chance because the premise sounded fun. 

My first mistake was following our protagonist, Vivienne, who has to be THE STUPIDEST CIA agent who has ever existed.

Upon discovering her husband of a decade is a Russian sleeper agent, she doesn’t go to her close colleague, or her higher ups, no. She goes home, and confronts her husband, who instantaneously admits that he was sent to marry her and use her to get intel.

 

At that point I should have bailed. The fact I stayed another 8.5 hours? THAT IS ON ME. I went into the final 2 hours hate listening, it got more and more unrealistic, plot holes getting bigger, the protagonist making worse and worse decisions. At 9:11 (with less than 30 min left). I finally admitted defeat. I was so mad at the story I couldn’t keep listening. No, love does not conquer all. 

Please save yourself some time and leave this book in the shelf. Your brain and soul will thank you.