Tunnel Vision by Susan Shaw

Liza is just trying to get home. All she has to do is walk through the train underpass to meet her mom, but there’s a group of men in her way. They make her uncomfortable, but she decides to suck it up and make her way through. But moments later, everything goes wrong, and her mom is shot. And when Liza learns that she may have been the intended target, she knows nothing will ever be the same again. Still reeling from the tragedy of losing her mother, Liza is reluctant to leave everything behind to enter the witness protection program with her father, even though a new identity in a new place may be her only chance for safety. But even with moving from place to place, Liza knows that her mother’s killer is hot on her trail and that it’s only a matter of time before someone recognizes her and all hell breaks loose. How did she get in this mess in the first place? Liza desperately wants to know why she, of all people, is being forced to run, but in order to find out, she’ll need to stay alive.

Tunnel Vision is a story that is just packed full of questions and non-stop action. Now, I do like a healthy dose of action in my books, to keep me excited about reading, as well as questions to keep me interested, but it’s rather unsatisfying when the book is only about action and questions. Unfortunately, in Tunnel Vision, Shaw’s character and plot development left much to be desired. I found it quite difficult to relate to and care about protagonist Liza; there was something off about her that made her feel not very realistic. The fact that readers really only see her immediately before her mother is shot and in the wake of the tragedy doesn’t help either. I was told that Liza’s life was very different, as having to enter the witness protection programs should be, but I couldn’t see those changes in Liza’s character. My interest in this story was further dulled by a plot that was rather uninteresting, despite the constant atmosphere of danger. Liza and her father just keep moving around, spook at the slightest things, and receive help from possibly corrupt government agents. This would have been forgivable had the ending been particularly spectacular or clever, but sadly, the conclusion to this story was frankly lackluster and anticlimactic.

Though I didn’t find this novel a particularly enjoyable read, Tunnel Vision may still be enjoyed by fans of The Last Thing I Remember by Andrew Klavan and Severed Ties by Kevin Krohn.

Rating: 2.25

Review copy from Simon & Schuster Galley Grab