37. The Girl She Used to Be by David Cristofano...

Melody Grace McCartney. Just another name in a long, long line of names - Sandra Clarke, May Adams, Karen Smith, Anne Johnson, Jane Watkins, Terry Mills, Shelly Jones, Linda Simms... But it's not just another name. It's her very first name.

Melody hasn't been Melody since she was six years old, when her family witnesses a mob hit, and the Feds come to take them away and put them into the Federal Witness Protection Program. She's had to learn new names, new towns, new histories, new job skills. Every time she moves, she has to be someone new.

Twenty years later, Melody's tired of her dead-end, middle-of-nowhere town, with the dead-end, middle-of-nowhere job, and the dead-end, going-nowhere love life. So she does what she always does at this point - call the Feds. Because they'll find her another no-name town, give her another no-name identity...

Only this time, someone walks in and knows her. Knows her name. Who she's been. Why she's running. Again. He should - it was his family that started hers on this path. And it's ironic that he's the only person in the whole world she can be herself with. But can she trust him?

The Girl She Used to Be takes a look at the effects of being in Witness Protection on a child, especially one who's not been especially well-protected. When she's found, Melody wonders, was it all worth it? All those towns? All those names? All the friends, strangers, homes, jobs, teachers, classmates? Kudos for a well-written debut novel by David Cristofano.

Title: The Girl She Used to Be
Author: David Cristofano
ISBN-10: 0-446-58222-0
ISBN-13: 978-0-446-58222-3
Paperback: 241 pages (ARC)
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, March 2009