FBI agent Stephanie Maddox's world turns upside down when she finds a gun hidden in her son Zachary's closet. It gets even worse when a colleague of her tells her that her son is involved with a terrorist group. She can't believe it, but how well does she know her son? For most of his life she has been prioritizing her job most of the time, and now she is worried that she doesn't know the young man he has become. Could he really be a treat to the country? And what should she do if he is?
KEEP YOU CLOSE is the second book I've read by Karen Cleveland. Her debut book NEED TO KNOW is a fabulous thriller and I was really looking forward to reading this book. Sadly I have to admit that the story in this book just didn't match up to the one in NEED TO KNOW. The book had a strong beginning, and I thought for over half the book that it would be a good read even if it didn't rock my socks the way the first book did. However, somewhere along the way, I found myself more and more uninterested in the plot and frankly quite annoyed with Stephaine Maddox. She was never really likable from the beginning, but over time she just got worse and worse. As a character she is pretty egotistical and the flashbacks to Zachary's upbringing makes it not especially surprising if her worst nightmare is true. I always got the feeling that it was "me me me" with Stephaine all the time. Sure, she loved her son, but her work was way more important. As for the plot, it started off good, but I found myself getting more and more disinterested as the story progressed and the last twist never really shocked me. On the plus side, the book was easy to read, and I pretty much breezed through it. It's a so-so book and I much prefer the first book. I recommend reading that one before reading this one.
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
donโt 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 sacrificesโthe most important, she fears, being a
close relationship with her teenage son, Zachary. A single
parent, Stephโs missed a lot of school events, birthdays,
and vacations with her boyโbut 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 sonโs room, Steph is shaken
to discover a gun hidden in his closet. A loaded gun.
Then comes a knock at her front doorโa colleague on the
domestic terrorism squad, who utters three devastating
words: โItโs about Zachary.โ
So begins a compulsively readable thriller of
deception and betrayal, as Stephanie fights to clear her
sonโs name, only to expose a shadowy conspiracy that
threatens to destroy them bothโand 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 bindsโand sometimes
blindsโa mother and her child.
No excerpt available.
© 2003-2026