cover image Tunnel Vision

Tunnel Vision

Susan Shaw. S&S/McElderry, $16.99 (272p) ISBN 978-1-4424-0839-5

Shaw (One of the Survivors) offers a tense story of life on the run, which opens with an act of violence, when 16-year-old Liza's mother is shot and killed in front of her. After an attempt is made on Liza's life soon after, it becomes evident that she was the target of both attacks. Liza and her father enter a witness protection program, trying to escape from the gang that's hot on their trail for reasons they don't understand. Readers are kept in the dark, too%E2%80%94Shaw offers little in the way of hints that might explain why Liza is being targeted. As father and daughter surrender their identities and race around the country, abandoning work, school, and family, Shaw provides a window into the stress they are under (on numerous occasions Liza mistakes passersby for the man who's after her), and how their shock over their tumultuous new circumstances affects their ability to grieve their loss. The open ending is realistically uncertain, a lack of closure that further cements readers' connection to Liza's feelings of futility, helplessness, and confusion. Ages 12%E2%80%93up. (Aug.)