Keep together. Keep your eyes open. Keep your wits about you.
The desert is unkind in the best of times. And the decade since the Civil War has been anything but the best of times for Daisy Wilcox—call her Willie—and her family. This tense, heart-pounding alternate history about a young woman fighting to survive the unthinkable will keep fans of Westworld and The Walking Dead reading late into the night.
A horrifying sickness has spread across the West Texas desert. Infected people—shakes—attack the living, and the surviving towns are only as safe as their perimeter walls are strong. The state is all but quarantined from the rest of the country. Glory, Texas, is a near ghost town. Still, seventeen-year-old Willie has managed to keep her siblings safe, even after the sickness took their mother. But then her good-for-nothing father steals a fortune from one of the most merciless shake hunters in town, and Willie is left on the hook for his debt. With two young hunters as guides, Willie sets out across the desert to find her father. And the desert holds more dangers than just shakes.
This riveting debut novel blends True Grit with 28 Days Later for an unforgettable journey.
Gr 9 Up—This debut novel is set in an alternate history of the American West. People live in fear of "shakes," who become infected after getting sick and then feed on other humans and spread the infection. Sixteen-year-old Daisy "Willie" Wilcox and her family live in the relative safety of Glory, TX, where she cares for her three younger siblings after her mother dies. Glory, a fenced-in town, is ruled by The Judge—a much-feared figure who doesn't care that his people are struggling to pay the monthly fee for his protection. When Willie's drunk father steals money and flees, it becomes her responsibility to get the money back. This sets her off on an adventure with the Garrett brothers, shake hunters who also act as guides to track down her father. Hunters aren't known to be trustworthy, often killing the very people they were paid to protect. Dark and gritty, this dystopian novel doesn't shy away from death or danger. Berquist wonderfully balances the pace of the plot. The main characters are realistic and avoid pitfalls of instant love and abrupt personality changes; even when learning to trust one another, the protagonists stay true to themselves. Full of surprising twists and turns, this is a story of determination and perseverance as well as survival in hard times. VERDICT A great addition to any YA collection.—Rebecca Greer, Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative, FL
