The New Neighbor: A Novel
Secrets, jealousy, and paranoia collide when a seemingly perfect new family moves into a neighborhood with ties to the CIA in this gripping thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Need to Know.
“Karen Cleveland ingeniously melds domestic intrigue with the lightning pace of a spy thriller, showing us the devastating personal costs of intelligence work.”—Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author of Listen to Me
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: PopSugar
Idyllic neighborhood, perfect family, meaningful career. CIA analyst Beth Bradford has it all—
Until she doesn’t.
Now, facing an empty nest and a broken marriage, Beth is moving from the cul-de-sac she’s long called home, and the CIA is removing her from the case that’s long been hers: tracking an elusive Iranian intelligence agent known as The Neighbor.
Madeline Sterling moves into Beth’s old house. She has what Beth once had: an adoring husband, three beautiful young children, and the close-knit group of neighbors on the block. Now she has it all. And Beth—who can’t stop watching the woman stepping in to her old life—thinks the new neighbor has something else too: ties to Iranian intelligence.
Is Beth just jealous? Paranoid? Or is something more at play?
After all, most of the families on the cul-de-sac have some tie to the CIA. They’re all keeping secrets. And they all know more about their neighbors than they should. It would be the perfect place to insert a spy—unless one was there all along.
“Karen Cleveland ingeniously melds domestic intrigue with the lightning pace of a spy thriller, showing us the devastating personal costs of intelligence work.”—Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author of Listen to Me
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: PopSugar
Idyllic neighborhood, perfect family, meaningful career. CIA analyst Beth Bradford has it all—
Until she doesn’t.
Now, facing an empty nest and a broken marriage, Beth is moving from the cul-de-sac she’s long called home, and the CIA is removing her from the case that’s long been hers: tracking an elusive Iranian intelligence agent known as The Neighbor.
Madeline Sterling moves into Beth’s old house. She has what Beth once had: an adoring husband, three beautiful young children, and the close-knit group of neighbors on the block. Now she has it all. And Beth—who can’t stop watching the woman stepping in to her old life—thinks the new neighbor has something else too: ties to Iranian intelligence.
Is Beth just jealous? Paranoid? Or is something more at play?
After all, most of the families on the cul-de-sac have some tie to the CIA. They’re all keeping secrets. And they all know more about their neighbors than they should. It would be the perfect place to insert a spy—unless one was there all along.
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Community Reviews
In The New Neighbor, author Karen Cleveland returns to familiar territory. Her protagonist, Beth Bradford, is a CIA analyst working counterintelligence in a division dedicated to Iranian intelligence services. The focus of her efforts is Quds Force, Iran's external operations wing, and one of their high ranking commanders, Reza Karimi. The Agency has long believed Karimi is striving to gain undetected access to the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System. If he succeeds, Quds Force will have "the keys to the kingdom" -- full access via the intranet to top secret information. "There's nothing more dangerous, from a national security perspective." It is believed that Quds Force has already planted malware in locations external to the intelligence community -- for example, in power plants -- that just needs to be activated. It's a project Beth has been working on for two decades and during that time, she has disrupted many attempts to breach security by ferreting out Karimi's recruits.
But one recruit has evaded Beth for fifteen years. Known as The Neighbor, he or she is an access agent, recruited for the purpose of recruiting others, usually foreign intelligence service employees who prove to be valuable assets because they are difficult to detect since no one suspects them of wrongdoing. Most of them have security clearances and access to sensitive information they can pass on to their handler. Over the years, numerous conversations have been intercepted, suggesting that Karimi is moving incrementally closer to his goal.
As the story opens, Beth's is navigating several simultaneous major life transitions. She and her husband, Mike, an attorney on track to become a partner in the law firm where he practices, have just sold their spacious home in the quiet cul-de-sac where they raised their three children and developed close ties to their neighbors. They no longer need such a large residence with both of their daughters, Aubrey and Caitlyn, finished with college. Aubrey is a teacher who has recently married. After graduating from Georgetown, Caitlyn has moved to London to work as a travel reporter. Beth and Mike take eighteen-year-old Tyler to the University of Virginia and get him settled into his dorm room, before returning home to spent their last night in the house. They have rented an apartment in which they will reside temporarily while looking for a smaller home. Or so Beth believes. Their marriage has been troubled for some time, but they have agreed that, as empty nesters, they will focus on repairing their relationship and she will have more time to devote to finally tracking down The Neighbor. Mike reveals, however, that he has other plans. He has already rented his own apartment and has no interest in saving the marriage. For the first time in twenty-five years, Beth will be completely on her own. She's far from heartbroken, acknowledging in the first-person narrative through which Cleveland relates her story, "The truth is, I don't want him. I just want the life we used to have."
To make matters worse, Beth's boss, Dale, informs her, "You've been selected for a position at the Kent School." She's not only been taken off The Neighbor case. She's being involuntarily transferred to a teaching position and her access to the relevant database, Frozen Piranha, has already been revoked. Her protests are futile, and Dale will not share details about the latest intercept with her. She is no longer authorized to receive information about the case to which she has devoted nearly twenty years of her career. But she does see "The cul-de-sac" noted on the whiteboard in the room where the team brainstorms. Her coworker, Annemarie, won't discuss her transfer or the case with her, warning her, "Let it go, Beth." Beth is devastated and feels that her once-blissful life is suddenly unraveling.
Returning to her house, one of several perfect homes in a quiet, serene cul-de-sac that has always felt welcoming and comforting, Beth instinctually senses that something is amiss. "Something seems off. I feel unsettled," she observes. The sale of the house is consummated and the buyers, Madeline and Josh Sterling, who purchased it sight unseen, take up residence immediately. Beth becomes obsessed with Madeline, however. She is convinced that Madeline is not the person she claims to be -- a kindergarten teacher turned stay-at-home mother to three young children. Her suspicions are fueled when she observes a large gun safe being moved into the house, spies a vase of red roses on a table in the living room (a signal used by Iranian intelligence agents since the red rose is the national flower of Iran), and hears Madeline speaking in Farsi. Could Madeline be The Neighbor and the cul-de-sac referenced in the intercept the very street on which Beth lived for so many years?
Rather than accept the Agency's decision to unassign her from the case, Beth employs reckless means to continuing gathering information. She spends a great deal of time surveilling her former home and its new owners, following them, and even resorts to lying to a colleague to obtain a report she is no longer authorized to review. The latest intercept? "The Neighbor has found a new cul-de-sac."
To her former neighbors and friends, as well as her colleagues, Beth appears to be having an emotional breakdown that has caused her to become obsessed not only with the purchasers of her former home, but the other inhabitants of the cul-de-sac. But from Beth's perspective, she is determined to uncover the truth about Madeline and ascertain the identity of The Neighbor before it is too late to stop Karimi from breaching protocols and harming the nation's security interests. Although she recognizes that she is behaving in ways that appear erratic to others and taking chances that jeopardize her career, she explains that the potential benefits far outweigh the risks. Beth has never lost sight of the intercept that got her interested in the case so many years ago: "Remind The Neighbor to use the children." She recalls. "Using children to accomplish goals -- that was a bridge too far," It was the impetus for her commitment to the mission to stop Karimi and Beth will not be dissuaded, even when she finds herself in danger.
Cleveland has once again crafted a tensely gripping thriller that proceeds at a consistently rapid pace. Beth is an unreliable narrator, and Cleveland deftly heightens the suspense by causing readers to question whether she is correct when she insists that "the ends justify the means. Everyone lies." Are her colleagues correct to be concerned about her emotional well-being or is she being subjected to workplace misogyny, marginalized and stripped of her responsibilities because of a stereotypical, arcane notion that a "hysterical" woman is inappropriately acting out? Beth remembers happier days when her children were young, describing how she was introduced to the neighbors who became her best friends, especially Alice, the federal judge who lives next door, and fondly recalling all the evenings spent sitting in lawn chairs in the cul-de-sac drinking wine, gossiping, and watching the children play. She also is reminded of specific conversations that did not seem particularly significant at the time but, in hindsight, contained clues to who might be the recruiter. As her rogue investigation proceeds, Beth suspects nearly all of her neighbors at various junctures, most of whom also work at the CIA. In light of the evidence she uncovers, she questions whether any of her neighbors were true friends or if, rather, they befriended her only to further an agenda. And she suffers horrible betrayals. She employs unconventional and unethical means to attempt to elicit confessions as she inches closer to learning the identity of The Neighbor.
Cleveland's clever story is contemporary and timely. In addition to illustrating the sexism to which Beth is subjected, Cleveland injects the well-publicized vulnerabilities of both governmental and corporate data storage systems and the U.S. power grid, and the ongoing student loan crisis also figures into the story. The evidence Beth discovers is nothing less than terrifying and, based upon Cleveland's background, believable. She credibly demonstrates the ingeniously diabolical lengths to which America's enemies will go in order to accomplish their goals.
Ultimately, Cleveland convincingly affirms that U.S. interests depend upon security professionals living up to the oath they swear to defend the country against all enemies, foreign and domestic, especially traitors lurking among their ranks. And that it is not possible to ever really know or wise to blindly trust one's neighbors, no matter how beautiful and idyllic your cul-de-sac may seem.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
But one recruit has evaded Beth for fifteen years. Known as The Neighbor, he or she is an access agent, recruited for the purpose of recruiting others, usually foreign intelligence service employees who prove to be valuable assets because they are difficult to detect since no one suspects them of wrongdoing. Most of them have security clearances and access to sensitive information they can pass on to their handler. Over the years, numerous conversations have been intercepted, suggesting that Karimi is moving incrementally closer to his goal.
As the story opens, Beth's is navigating several simultaneous major life transitions. She and her husband, Mike, an attorney on track to become a partner in the law firm where he practices, have just sold their spacious home in the quiet cul-de-sac where they raised their three children and developed close ties to their neighbors. They no longer need such a large residence with both of their daughters, Aubrey and Caitlyn, finished with college. Aubrey is a teacher who has recently married. After graduating from Georgetown, Caitlyn has moved to London to work as a travel reporter. Beth and Mike take eighteen-year-old Tyler to the University of Virginia and get him settled into his dorm room, before returning home to spent their last night in the house. They have rented an apartment in which they will reside temporarily while looking for a smaller home. Or so Beth believes. Their marriage has been troubled for some time, but they have agreed that, as empty nesters, they will focus on repairing their relationship and she will have more time to devote to finally tracking down The Neighbor. Mike reveals, however, that he has other plans. He has already rented his own apartment and has no interest in saving the marriage. For the first time in twenty-five years, Beth will be completely on her own. She's far from heartbroken, acknowledging in the first-person narrative through which Cleveland relates her story, "The truth is, I don't want him. I just want the life we used to have."
To make matters worse, Beth's boss, Dale, informs her, "You've been selected for a position at the Kent School." She's not only been taken off The Neighbor case. She's being involuntarily transferred to a teaching position and her access to the relevant database, Frozen Piranha, has already been revoked. Her protests are futile, and Dale will not share details about the latest intercept with her. She is no longer authorized to receive information about the case to which she has devoted nearly twenty years of her career. But she does see "The cul-de-sac" noted on the whiteboard in the room where the team brainstorms. Her coworker, Annemarie, won't discuss her transfer or the case with her, warning her, "Let it go, Beth." Beth is devastated and feels that her once-blissful life is suddenly unraveling.
Returning to her house, one of several perfect homes in a quiet, serene cul-de-sac that has always felt welcoming and comforting, Beth instinctually senses that something is amiss. "Something seems off. I feel unsettled," she observes. The sale of the house is consummated and the buyers, Madeline and Josh Sterling, who purchased it sight unseen, take up residence immediately. Beth becomes obsessed with Madeline, however. She is convinced that Madeline is not the person she claims to be -- a kindergarten teacher turned stay-at-home mother to three young children. Her suspicions are fueled when she observes a large gun safe being moved into the house, spies a vase of red roses on a table in the living room (a signal used by Iranian intelligence agents since the red rose is the national flower of Iran), and hears Madeline speaking in Farsi. Could Madeline be The Neighbor and the cul-de-sac referenced in the intercept the very street on which Beth lived for so many years?
Rather than accept the Agency's decision to unassign her from the case, Beth employs reckless means to continuing gathering information. She spends a great deal of time surveilling her former home and its new owners, following them, and even resorts to lying to a colleague to obtain a report she is no longer authorized to review. The latest intercept? "The Neighbor has found a new cul-de-sac."
To her former neighbors and friends, as well as her colleagues, Beth appears to be having an emotional breakdown that has caused her to become obsessed not only with the purchasers of her former home, but the other inhabitants of the cul-de-sac. But from Beth's perspective, she is determined to uncover the truth about Madeline and ascertain the identity of The Neighbor before it is too late to stop Karimi from breaching protocols and harming the nation's security interests. Although she recognizes that she is behaving in ways that appear erratic to others and taking chances that jeopardize her career, she explains that the potential benefits far outweigh the risks. Beth has never lost sight of the intercept that got her interested in the case so many years ago: "Remind The Neighbor to use the children." She recalls. "Using children to accomplish goals -- that was a bridge too far," It was the impetus for her commitment to the mission to stop Karimi and Beth will not be dissuaded, even when she finds herself in danger.
Cleveland has once again crafted a tensely gripping thriller that proceeds at a consistently rapid pace. Beth is an unreliable narrator, and Cleveland deftly heightens the suspense by causing readers to question whether she is correct when she insists that "the ends justify the means. Everyone lies." Are her colleagues correct to be concerned about her emotional well-being or is she being subjected to workplace misogyny, marginalized and stripped of her responsibilities because of a stereotypical, arcane notion that a "hysterical" woman is inappropriately acting out? Beth remembers happier days when her children were young, describing how she was introduced to the neighbors who became her best friends, especially Alice, the federal judge who lives next door, and fondly recalling all the evenings spent sitting in lawn chairs in the cul-de-sac drinking wine, gossiping, and watching the children play. She also is reminded of specific conversations that did not seem particularly significant at the time but, in hindsight, contained clues to who might be the recruiter. As her rogue investigation proceeds, Beth suspects nearly all of her neighbors at various junctures, most of whom also work at the CIA. In light of the evidence she uncovers, she questions whether any of her neighbors were true friends or if, rather, they befriended her only to further an agenda. And she suffers horrible betrayals. She employs unconventional and unethical means to attempt to elicit confessions as she inches closer to learning the identity of The Neighbor.
Cleveland's clever story is contemporary and timely. In addition to illustrating the sexism to which Beth is subjected, Cleveland injects the well-publicized vulnerabilities of both governmental and corporate data storage systems and the U.S. power grid, and the ongoing student loan crisis also figures into the story. The evidence Beth discovers is nothing less than terrifying and, based upon Cleveland's background, believable. She credibly demonstrates the ingeniously diabolical lengths to which America's enemies will go in order to accomplish their goals.
Ultimately, Cleveland convincingly affirms that U.S. interests depend upon security professionals living up to the oath they swear to defend the country against all enemies, foreign and domestic, especially traitors lurking among their ranks. And that it is not possible to ever really know or wise to blindly trust one's neighbors, no matter how beautiful and idyllic your cul-de-sac may seem.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
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