Books Read: Keep You Close by Karen Cleveland

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, than anyone ever will.

You go into your son's bedroom. It's the usual mess. You tidy up some dirty plates, pick up some clothes, open the wardrobe to put them away.

And that's when you find it. Something so shocking it doesn't seem real.

And you realize a horrifying truth...

Your own son might be dangerous.

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I'd like to thank Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me to be a part of this blog tour and Transworld Books for my copy of Keep You Close to review.  Karen Cleveland is a new author to me despite having a copy of her debut novel Need to Know in my TBR waiting for me to read. 

As a mother it's your instinct to protect your child no matter what but what if you discover something that makes you question do you really know your child at all.  That is the premise in Karen Cleveland's second novel Keep You Close after Stephanie, a single mother who is an FBI agent working in the Internal Affairs department, discovers something in her teenage son's room that he shouldn't have.  No sooner has she made the discovery, and confronted Zach who denies any knowledge, then she receives an unexpected visit from a former colleague advising her that Zach is being investigated by the bureau for something that is not your typical teenage activity!

Steph was your stereotypical tiger mum who kicks into protective mode and wants to do whatever she can to prove to the authorities that they are wrong and that her son isn't involved with any criminal activity.  She knows that she shouldn't get involved, and that if she wasn't an agent she wouldn't have even known about the investigation or have access to the case files, but she can't help herself by looking into things as well.  It was clear that Steph had to be wary as to who she could trust as there definitely was an ulterior motive in play behind the accusations and the investigations.  Were they using her son to get to her?  And if so, why?    

From the outset we only know a little of Steph's past, we know that it has just been her and Zach on their own for a while, but little else is know about her life.  It's only through recollections interspersed between the narrative that snippets of her past are revealed which then makes you question as to whether the past has anything to do with what is happening in the present day.    

To me Steph seemed a little too blinkered, too convinced of Zach's innocence, as there's no smoke without fire as the saying goes.  She knows her relationship with Zach isn't perfect, and has been a bit strained recently, but he is a teenager after all and it's all just growing pains and him wanting to take his future into his own hands. Steph is obviously an intelligent woman who has studied and worked hard to get where she is in her professional life but yet all logical thought seems to have abandoned her when it comes to her son. I know you want to believe the best of your child but when the evidence is right there in front of your eyes you have to delve that little bit deeper to establish what is the truth. 

I will admit that initially this book didn't grip me quite as much as I was expecting so I was merely turning the pages to discover the outcome but the further the storyline progressed, the more I was intrigued.  Personally for me I felt there were a few too many red herrings thrown in, I'm all for throwing in a few twists to keep the reader guessing but it all got a little too distracting at times when trying to follow everything that was happening. 

If I had known in advance that Keep You Close had a political/spy thriller element to it then I probably wouldn't have chosen to read it but sometimes it's good to push yourself out of your comfort zone and read something you wouldn't normally read.  Overall I found it to be an interesting read that had a lot more going on than at first meets the eye so I'm glad that I did add it to my reading list this Summer but I don't think it'll be going on any top 10 list... not that I do one anyway!