You Can Run: A Novel

Karen Cleveland

Aug 2021 · Sold by Ballantine Books

About this ebook

A CIA analyst makes a split-second decision that endangers her country but saves her son—and now she must team up with an investigative journalist she’s not sure she can trust in this electrifying thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Need to Know.

“[A] turbo-charged thriller [with] a final mind-blowing twist.”—People

We have your son. It’s the call that’s every parent’s nightmare. And for CIA analyst Jill Bailey, it’s the call that changes everything.

It’s Jill’s job to vet new CIA sources. Like Falcon, who’s been on the recruitment fast track. But before she can get to work, Jill gets the call. Her son has been taken. And to get him back, Jill does something she thought she’d never do.

Alex Charles, a hard-hitting journalist, begins to investigate an anonymous tip: an explosive claim about the CIA’s hottest new source. This is the story that Alex has been waiting for. The tip—and a fierce determination to find the truth—leads Alex to Jill, who would rather remain hidden.

As the two begin to work together, they uncover a vast conspiracy that will force them to confront their loyalties to family and country. An edge-of-your-seat thriller, You Can Run will have you asking: What would you do to save the ones you love?

Ratings and reviews

Karen Cleveland has become one of my favorite spy thriller authors and this book is the best yet. With her family in danger, Jill chooses to flee to a new state and start over again. But she quickly finds out that although you can run, there is no place to hide, especially from spies who want to find you. The action began on page one and continued all the way to an astonishing conclusion that left me stunned. Alex, the reporter in whom Jill confides, is intelligent, independent, compassionate and determined. In short, Alex and Jill are both very strong female protagonists. The plot is centered around rogue agents in the CIA, with plenty of subterfuge and secrecy going on as well as some really tense moments. I enjoyed the unraveling of the story and following the clues as Jill and Alex revealed them. I also really enjoyed the character of Jeremy and his attachment to his dog Max. Mostly, I was just thoroughly engaged in this story and hoping for a good outcome with the odds against Jill for saving her family. What a wild, engrossing ride through the spy world! Disclaimer Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

You Can Run Karen Cleveland A story of treachery, espionage and deception “You Can Run” is about spies, counter spies, spies spying on each other until it is hard to know just who is working for whom. But more than that, why are they doing this? The story begins in a first person present tense narrative by Jill who pulls readers into the events; she makes everything urgent, consuming, dangerous. Events go back and forth in time, the opening, four years later, and then one week earlier. In later chapters, the story continues with Jill’s accounts alternating with those of another character, Alex. Jill works for the CIA as a background investigator screening operatives, a searcher for facts and discrepancies. She talks to herself, second-guessing her own every move, watching everyone, terrified about a threat she has received. She quits her job, changes her name, and moves across several states, but she finds that she can run, but she cannot escape. Into her paranoid existence comes another, Alex, also a searcher for facts, but a journalist looking for that one big Pulitzer winning story. Tension and anxiety pour from every page as these two unlikely partners seek to uncover a story of treachery, espionage and deception. There is not just a small band of criminals behind this; it involves a foreign intelligence and the corruption might just reach to the highest levels of this country’s government. The pace is frantic and it is impossible to know whom to trust. “You Can Run” is filled with suspense, action, and non-stop twists and turns. You will not catch your breath until the end. I received a review copy of “You Can Run” from Karen Cleveland, Random House Publishing Group, and Ballantine Books. As the clock ticks, everything becomes more frantic, and yes, it ends with a HUGE bombshell, but everyone lives happily ever after …….or do they?

About the author

Karen Cleveland is a former CIA counterterrorism analyst and the New York Times bestselling author of Need to Know and Keep You Close. She has master’s degrees from Trinity College Dublin and Harvard University. Cleveland lives in North Carolina with her husband and three children.