This was a great book with a lot of action from page one. Twelve year old Emily is the victim of a vicious home invasion where her mother and sister are killed and she manages to escape. Emily is SMART beyond her years. Almost a little too smart to believe, but it certainly keeps the story interesting! Emily goes from well-behaved child to lying thief toll survive. She manages to get around by herself mostly by lying to people to get stuff while she is hiding from the FBI who knows she is alive and want to protect her. She goes to get a fake id from an ex-gang dude in Memphis, and amazingly he feels sorry for her and takes her in. He (Lucas) is a great guy actually and his little sister was killed by gang members, so he feels the need to take care of Emily. He starts physically training her to take care of herself and she learns quickly. This book is full of twists and turns and it moves quickly! It held my interest and I could not put it down. Emily is a great lead character--funny, honest, real and just trying to survive on her own at the age of 12! looking forward to the next book in the series!