Keep You Close
by Karen Cleveland
A woman must confront her sense of right and wrong when the one person she loves most is accused of an unimaginable crime. From the New York Times bestselling author of Need to Know. . . .
A strange sensation runs through me, a feeling that I don’t know this person in front of me, even though he matters more to me than anyone ever has.
Stephanie Maddox works her dream job policing power and exposing corruption within the FBI. Getting here has taken her nearly two decades of hard work, laser focus, and personal sacrifices—the most important, she fears, being a close relationship with her teenage son, Zachary. A single parent, Steph’s missed a lot of school events, birthdays, and vacations with her boy—but the truth is, she would move heaven and earth for him, including protecting him from an explosive secret in her past. It just never occurred to her that Zachary would keep secrets of his own.
One day while straightening her son’s room, Steph is shaken to discover a gun hidden in his closet. A loaded gun. Then comes a knock at her front door—a colleague on the domestic terrorism squad, who utters three devastating words: “It’s about Zachary.”
So begins a compulsively readable thriller of deception and betrayal, as Stephanie fights to clear her son’s name, only to expose a shadowy conspiracy that threatens to destroy them both—and bring a country to its knees. Packed with shocking twists and intense family drama, Keep You Close is an electrifying exploration of the shattering consequences of the love that binds—and sometimes blinds—a mother and her child.
Momma Says: 3 stars⭐⭐⭐
What would you do and how far would go to protect your child? Keep You Close starts with that question, then it bends and twists it until I'm not sure what the right answer should be. The book is very action driven, which does keep the pages turning, but I found it hard to connect with the characters. I was hoping to warm up to Stephanie as more and more of her past was revealed, but I never quite got there. I could certainly empathize with her, but the character was a bit flat, as were all of the characters in this one. As the story progressed, the conspiracies got more complicated and convoluted, and it felt like character development was put on a back burner to make room for twist after crazy twist. All of that may have been okay if not for the lack of conclusion. I kept reading to see which way things would go and granted, there is a big twist, but it felt like the story stopped before it was meant to. I thoroughly enjoyed Cleveland's first novel, so maybe my disappointment comes from high expectations, but this one didn't come close for me. Nevertheless, the author is talented, and I'll be interested to see what she does next.
What would you do and how far would go to protect your child? Keep You Close starts with that question, then it bends and twists it until I'm not sure what the right answer should be. The book is very action driven, which does keep the pages turning, but I found it hard to connect with the characters. I was hoping to warm up to Stephanie as more and more of her past was revealed, but I never quite got there. I could certainly empathize with her, but the character was a bit flat, as were all of the characters in this one. As the story progressed, the conspiracies got more complicated and convoluted, and it felt like character development was put on a back burner to make room for twist after crazy twist. All of that may have been okay if not for the lack of conclusion. I kept reading to see which way things would go and granted, there is a big twist, but it felt like the story stopped before it was meant to. I thoroughly enjoyed Cleveland's first novel, so maybe my disappointment comes from high expectations, but this one didn't come close for me. Nevertheless, the author is talented, and I'll be interested to see what she does next.
❃❃ARC provided by NetGalley and Ballantine Books
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