Liars' Games

Juliet Powell, a former child-prodigy, wants her old life back-a life where she was happy, in love, and sheltered, a life working as a well-respected math professor in Massachusetts. What she has, instead, is a life in hiding and only partially protected under the witness protection program. She tells herself she will eventually adapt to her new life, but with each new identity comes more stories and more chances of getting them entangled. She's getting further and further away from who she really is. When she blows her cover yet again, her handler warns her this is her last chance. She needs to blend in like a chameleon and play the game, but how can someone who has always believed in honesty suddenly become a convincing liar? Compounding her problem with this new move, a political maneuver not of her choice and not within the usual rules of witness protection, ensconces her in the role of principal at a Denver high school full of gangs, drug dealers, and disgruntled employees. And then, when she discovers that a stranger is watching her and her young son, and her handler can't or won't move her, she must decide whether to run away and take her chances, or stay and fight to make the school safer. It's a book that on the surface deals with school violence and fear, but at the heart of it is a woman's struggle with lying and deception, trust, self-identity, and the moral decline of society.