Axton Betz-Hamilton, a scholar who studies identity theft, wrote this thoughtful memoir chronicling the decades her own family spent struggling with stolen identities. Betz-Hamilton tells the story with all the command of an expert and all the searing clarity of the only daughter of a dysfunctional family. The book is a welcome addition to the growing canon of memoirs about overcoming difficult childhoods, and its surprising conclusion is sure to appeal to true crime fans as well.Publisher description:
Axton Betz-Hamilton grew up in small-town Indiana in the early '90s. When she was 11 years old, her parents both had their identities stolen. Their credit ratings were ruined, and they were constantly fighting over money. This was before the age of the Internet, when identity theft became more commonplace, so authorities and banks were clueless and reluctant to help Axton's parents. Axton's family changed all of their personal information and moved to different addresses, but the identity thief followed them wherever they went. Convinced that the thief had to be someone they knew, Axton and her parents completely cut off the outside world, isolating themselves from friends and family. Years later, her parents' marriage still shaken from the theft, Axton discovered that she, too, had fallen prey to the identity thief, but by the time she realized, she was already thousands of dollars in debt and her credit was ruined. This is Axton's attempt to untangle an intricate web of lies, and to understand why and how a loved one could have inflicted such pain, by breaking the unwritten rules of love, protection, and family
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