A review by kaleenazagrzebski
Keep You Close by Karen Cleveland

4.0

How far will a mother go to protect her child? What happens if her child is guilty? This fast-paced crime fiction novel centers around Stephanie Maddox and her son Zachary. Stephanie is the head of the internal investigations division of the FBI, so she’s no stranger to tough decisions. But when it comes to her son, the line between right and wrong becomes a bit blurry.

When Stephanie finds a gun in her son’s closet, and an FBI agent from the domestic terrorism unit shows up at her door and utters the words “It’s about Zachary…”, she must decide if she should protect her son, but risk the safety of the greater good, or try and protect the greater good, but at what expense to her son?

One of the types of thriller sub-genres is crime fiction. I love anything that centers around the police/FBI/CIA world. I’ve grown to love them because they feel more in depth than some of the normal psychological thrillers that involve domestic disputes. Keep You Close is no different. Cleveland weaves current events into her novel, that make the reader question whether or not there is any truth to the story. The entire book is told from Stephanie’s point of view, with the occasional flashback of the early days of her career. There isn’t a ton of character development (this can be good or bad, depending on the read), but has a ton of dialog and short chapters that help make it a quick, easy read.

I read Karen Cleveland’s first novel, Need to Know last year and loved it, so I knew I had to read her sophomore novel when I saw it being released. I love her current events spin on her novels so I look forward to reading more from this author! 4/5 Stars