In a dystopian California, a woman searches for her daughter with the help of an enigmatic outlaw in this "evocative, sensual, harrowing" zombie thriller (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
Awakening in a bleak landscape, Cass Dollar vaguely recalls enduring something terrible. With no idea of how many days or weeks have passed, she slowly realizes the horrifying truth: her daughter, Ruthie, has vanished—along with civilization as we know it. Instead of winding through the once-lush hills, the roads today see only cannibalistic Beaters: people turned hungry for human flesh by a government experiment gone wrong.
In a broken, barren California, Cass will undergo a dangerous quest to get Ruthie back. Few people trust an outsider—much less one who bears the telltale scars of a Beater attack. But she finds safety with a mysterious stranger, Smoke. And she'll need him more than ever when his ragged band of survivors learn that she and Ruthie have become the most feared, and desired, weapons in a brave new world . . .