ALA Booklist (Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)

When Sloane Sullivan chose her name, she was hoping this would be the last one. Five years ago, she witnessed a crime she can't remember, lost both of her parents, and has been in witness protection ever since tarting over in a new town with a new identity several times a year with Mark, the marshal assigned to protect her. She's close to graduation, with hopes of going to college and starting a permanent life with her Sloan Sullivan identity. Things get complicated when her childhood best friend is not only enrolled in her school but also turns out to be incredibly handsome and sweet; furthermore, she begins to suspect Mark is hiding something from her. This thriller is high on swoon and red herrings, but the twisty action doesn't start until later in the book. The pacing runs in circles a bit through the middle, but the budding romance carries the slower parts, and readers who are skeptical of the depiction of witness protection will get a satisfying payoff once the action rises.

Kirkus Reviews

A girl on the run unexpectedly encounters a familiar face in this debut thriller.Unable to remember details of the mob hit she witnessed six years earlier, high school senior Sloane Sullivan has changed her name 19 times so far—and learned to break free, blend in, and cut ties. Her parents are dead, but her guardian has kept her safe…until now. Newly arrived in North Carolina, Sloane just wants to finish high school, go to college, and escape both the witness protection program and the gangsters who want her dead, but when she discovers one of her new classmates is her childhood best friend and first love, black-haired, blue-eyed Jason Thomas, the chance to rekindle their romance makes Sloane reckless. Inevitably, Sloane (originally blonde and green-eyed) also attracts the amorous attentions of redheaded Sawyer and green-eyed, ethnically ambiguous Oliver—and the wrath of their ex-girlfriends. Having spent so much time assuming new identities, Sloane is nebulous as a character; her emotional journey is vivid but her history is vague. While there are enough twists to fill the Lifetime movie this novel resembles, and the marriage of torrid teen melodrama and an admittedly unrealistic crime story produces absurd (if action-packed) results, Cribbs excels at depicting complicated relationships and vulnerable characters.A solid beach read filled with love triangles and high stakes. (Thriller. 14-18)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

In Cribb-s intricately plotted debut thriller, high-school senior Sloane Sullivan (her 19th identity) has been in the Witness Protection Program for almost 6 years, after witnessing a violent crime. Her minder, Agent Markham, whom she calls Mark, has taken care of her through both her mother-s murder and her father-s eventual suicide. She-s ready to get out of the program and move on with her life. Staying anonymous, however, seems like a tall order after she runs into her childhood best friend, Jason Thomas. Sloane just wants to be normal, but her past is catching up with her, placing everyone she cares about in harm-s way. Cribbs draws an effective portrait of a young woman forced to make unusual and mature choices while navigating the more conventional stresses of teen life, and Sloane is a smart, savvy narrator. The tension increases exponentially in the second half, when events force Sloane to put the disparate pieces of her past together, resulting in stunning revelations. Just when it seems that a resolution is in sight, more surprises build to an explosive, satisfying finale. Ages 12-18. Agent: Steven Salpeter, Curtis Brown. (May)