“Part coming of age tale and part spy thriller,” this funny, suspenseful middle grade novel ”could be a collaboration between Judy Blume and Ian Fleming.” —Ann M. Martin, New York Times–bestselling

Nicki Demere is an orphan and a pickpocket. She also happens to be the US Marshals’ best bet to keep a family alive. . . .

The marshals are looking for the perfect girl to join a mother, father, and son on the run from the nation’s most notorious criminals. After all, the bad guys are searching for a family with one kid, not two, and adding a streetwise girl may be just what the marshals need.

Nicki swears she can keep the Trevor family safe, but to do so she’ll have to dodge hitmen, cyberbullies, and the specter of standardized testing, all while maintaining her marshal-mandated B-minus average. As she barely balances the responsibilities of her new identity, Nicki learns that the biggest threats to her family’s security might not lurk on the road from New York to North Carolina, but rather in her own past.

“This inventive, clever story has a lot of heart at its center.” —Wendy Mass, New York Times–bestselling author of The Candymakers and Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life

“The biggest complaint that readers may have about Burt’s debut novel is that it ends.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Delightful.” —Booklist, starred review

“A funny, action-packed novel about the trials of school, parental arguments, and sibling rivalry—all with a dash of high-stakes thrills and dramatic showdowns.” —School Library Journal

“An engaging treat.” —Voices of Youth Advocates (VOYA)