this is a three-star book but i had a four-star time reading it. 
 it's a really fun fast ride and you get all caught up in the momentum of its zooom and it's only when it's all over and the dust settles that you see the flaws in the vehicle and remember that speeding causes accidents. there's a reason all the blurbs mention breakneck pace and white-knuckle plot and buckling up & etc, because it's escapism done perfectly, and it's a little silly to kick the tires on something that's just fun, so i won't, but i will have a spoiler section mostly for my own benefit in which i will hopefully avoid any further automotive analogies. 
 plot: it's about a woman whose husband dies under mysterious circumstances and instead of sticking around and answering questions from the police, she has a more extreme reaction - she runs away and changes her identity, her hair color and her entire persona down to what kind of alcohol she drinks. which may seem like overkill, but this isn't her first go at self-reinvention. 
 in fact, she goes through so many different identities in the course of this book, i'm not even sure what to call her in the review, so i'm going to have to go with SHE. which will differentiate her from any other females referenced in the review. 
 so, SHE leaves her home, her life, her name and her money and after reaching back into her past to call in a favor, SHE obtains the documents and cash to start over. again. who are these people? what are these favors?? no time to answer that now; we are on the run! while SHE's still working out her plan for her new life, SHE meets a woman named blue and they recognize something in each other; something they share that sets them apart from nice normal women leading nice normal lives. and while their story didn't go in the bad girls roadtrip with possible homoerotic subtext direction i was getting my popcorn ready for, blue still manages to have a profound effect on SHE before fading into the background, leaving us all wanting more. 
 but no time for longing because we are on the move again. 
 it's a really fun book, and the balance of present-day action, teases of backstory, and an alternating set of emails spanning the entirety of SHE's exile is perfect for keeping the reader off balance, knowing some details, but wanting to know so many more. 
 the problem is once you have the answers, that's really all you have. we never get any real insight into SHE's character, or maybe there's just nothing to discover; SHE doesn't have a "self" after years of adopting different personalities. there's just nothing of SHE to hold onto as a reader. lutz has been very successful writing humorous mysteries, but her lack of experience creating characters like SHE is evident here. this is a series of action sequences without the psychological component, so it ends up reading like a shallow gloss of this kind of character without the meat of what SHE could be in the hands of a different author. there's really no struggle to her story; there's plenty of sinuous adaptability, but it's ultimately unsatisfying because a car chase is a car chase, but what stays in the mind are characters. 
 again, the issues i had with this book were things i noticed along the way, but which really came into focus after i finished and realized, "oh, so we're just not gonna address that at all?" which means they're all spoilers. so, make good choices; if this is where we part ways, know that this book will show you a good time but you might want to eat breakfast alone. and if you're coming with me to spoilertown, watch your step: 
 (view spoiler)[ 
 *i'm not really sure how we are supposed to feel about SHE. SHE's neither heroine nor antiheroine. she was innocent of the initial crime, but SHE kills people and steals from blameless women throughout the course of this book, so it's hard to cheer for her too loudly. especially since the reason for her being on the lam in the first place is so unconvincing. i get really frustrated by characters who run away instead of having a conversation. SHE wasted her life and SHE continues wasting her life for so long. and maybe some of the frustration is because iiiiii would never do that, but still. yeah, her mom is really shitty and her boyfriend siding with his family is unfortunate, but it seems like there would be plenty of forensic evidence in her favor, so self-sacrifice seems foolhardy and unconvincing. 
 *and speaking of ryan, good lord. he makes no sense. i can accept, for dramatic purposes, lying about the accident. i can even accept lying for years and choosing family over true love, but it's absurd that he would blame her for this so long after the fact when he was there and knows the truth. his whole "you ruined my life" attitude makes no sense since she's the reason he (and his brother) have a life. SHE saved his life - literally and figuratively. it's one thing to side with family and another to be angry about it. 
 *and then there's that yawn of a late-game "twist" that everyone saw coming as soon as SHE's mother's affair was mentioned. we all know our soap opera tropes. 
 * and blue's awesome plan to drive a car off a bridge to get logan's confession or murder him or whatever her endgame was? i mean, i understand the poetry of it, but it's just ... impractical. there are too many variables, too many ways to go wrong. there are easier ways to accomplish that goals with less personal risk. and while we're in that scene, how would SHE even get in through the window of a sinking car, do her business, and then exit the same window with all the flailing and sinking and water pressure & etc? how tiny is SHE?? make more sense, resolution! or are we just drinking the same kind of movie kool-aid that pretends that sex in the backseat of a car is really fun and well-choreographed because no one has legs? and double that for sex in the front seat. who are these people who don't just end up smacking the steering wheel, the sunroof, overturning the change cup...? bottom line - cars are too small for most things. 
 *we don't really get closure at the end. we get answers about the first death/runaway situation, but we never find out the truth about frank's death. we're told it was "an accident," but not the specifics of how a grown man falls down the stairs hard enough to die and how it could have been misconstrued as a murder. unless she was just being way more overcautious than required. 
 *domenic as a love interest is wicked annoying. so much "darling" and "sweetheart" and glib shallowness. make better romantic choices. i hear blue's up for grabs... 
 i think those are all the gripes i can remember at this very moment (hide spoiler)] 
 anyway, thanks to jim for sending me this book!!