Seventeen-year-old Meg Jones (not her real name) and her family are in the witness protection program, and they’ve changed towns six times in less than a year, each move bleaker and more debilitating than the last. Meg’s mother is an alcoholic, her father is depressed and secretive, and her 11-year-old sister is having trouble coping with all of the change. Fed up, Meg wants out of the program and will do anything to save her family, including digging up what her father did to get them into this mess. After ignoring her instincts and letting a cute Louisiana farm boy into her life, Meg becomes even more resolved to stay put. Surprises aplenty await readers in this high-stakes thriller, Elston’s debut. After Meg discovers the real reason her family went into hiding (which some readers may find disappointing after all of the buildup), her efforts to set things right strain credibility. For those drawn in by the story’s action and mysteries, Elston leaves the door open for a sequel. Ages 12–up. Agent: Sarah Davies, Greenhouse Literary Agency. (May)

Gr 9 Up—Meg Jones and her family have been under Witness Protection for eight months and have been relocated six times. Any day it might happen again: U.S. Marshals will arrive with no warning to shut down their lives and transfer them. The family will be given new personal histories to memorize, new names, and new appearances. They must never make a mistake. They must always stay in character. It's no wonder that Meg has nightmares, her little sister barely speaks, and her mom drinks. As for Mr. Jones, Meg blames him for all of it. Whatever he's done or seen to land them in this predicament has destroyed the family forever. The novel's first half is tense and captivating, as the Joneses adapt to a new home in rural Louisiana. The characters struggle under severe uncertainty and dysfunction. Their new home is dreary, they have very little money, and every bump in the night could mean trouble. Some rules of Meg's new life: Don't make friends, don't trust anybody, don't use the Internet. Again and again, she tries to discover who is after them and what happened last June, but her father won't discuss it. Elston then breaks the tension when Meg falls in love, confronts a repressed memory, and hits the road with her new boyfriend to free her family for good. From there, the plot loses emotional resonance and becomes implausible, but readers will likely enjoy the action. Everything works out in the end, of course, but a single unfinished story line suggests a forthcoming sequel.—Denise Ryan, Middlesex Middle School, Darien, CT

Who's never wondered what it would be like to enter witness protection and assume a new identity? Meg Jones, her younger sister Mary and their parents have run through six witness protection placements. Each time, something goes awry, and they are swept right out of their old lives and right into new ones, with new names, new looks, new challenges--and the same old feeling that something just isn't quite right. The latest stop is Natchitoches, La., a warm, colorful place with quite a few perks, including a job at a local pizza joint and a handsome boy named Ethan. Smitten, Meg decides to do whatever it takes to stay put, and that means finding out what her father witnessed, or perhaps what crime he committed, to warrant the family's entry into the strange world of witness protection. Once she's on the trail of the truth, Meg feels compelled to make things right for her beleaguered family, even if it means placing herself and her devoted new beau in grave danger. The fresh first-person narration serves the story well, providing grounding in reality as events spin out of control. Though the plot may seem a bit far-fetched at times, the realistic setting, believable romance and spunky protagonist will make this one worth the trip for mystery and romance fans. (Suspense. 12 & up)