Review: The Girl She Used to Be

When Melody Grace McCartney was six years old, she and her family witnessed a brutal mob murder by a member of the Bovaro family.  When her parents agree to testify against the murderer, the whole family is secreted away in the Witness Protection Program.  When Melody was a teen-ager, her parents were murdered by a member of the Bovaro crime family and Melody finds herself in the Witness Protection Program by herself.  Melody feels like she can’t get close to anyone, so she leads a lonely existence.

Whenever she gets bored with her current situation, she “cries wolf,” and gets a new identity in a new city.  She has done just that and is in the hands of the U. S. Marshals when John Bovaro, the son of the Bovaro family crime boss visits her and convinces her to leave with him.  The next thing you know, she’s been rescued by the U. S. Marshals.  Now, Melody has to make a decision – should she stay with the Marshals and a world she knows, or should she risk everything and go with John Bovaro?

It’s hard to believe The Girl She Used to Be is David Cristofano‘s first novel.  This book is exciting and loaded with suspense – it kept my interest from beginning to end.  It’s a short book and reads quickly, because you really want to know what’s going to happen next.  I didn’t want to put it down and found myself reading while I was walking around the house.  The book didn’t end the way I wanted it to, but the ending was certainly satisfying.  I hope the author is working on another novel, because I really want to read more of his work.

Review copy provided by Hachette Books.