When an insect-borne plague begins to envelop the world, three sixteen-year-olds struggle to survive amongst the healthy âtruesâ and the infected âwickedsâ in this gripping dystopian tale from the author of The Winter Place.
A plague, called Wickedness, is pulsing through the world; and in its wake, itâs dividing the population into thirds:
The WICKED: Already infected by the droves of Singers, the ultraviolet mosquito-like insects who carry the plague, the Wicked roam the world freely. They donât want for muchâonly to maim and dismember you. But donât worry: They always ask politely first.
The TRUE: The True live in contained, isolated communities. Theyâre the lucky ones; they found safety from the Singers. And while the threat of the Wicked may not be eliminated, for the True, the threat has certainly been containedâŚ
The VEXED: The Vexed are the truly fortunate onesâthey survived the sting of the Singers, leaving them immune. But theyâre far from safe. The Vexed hold the key to a cure, and there are those who will do anything to get it.
In this brilliantly realized novel, three teensâAstrid, Hank, and Natalieâstart to realize that the divisions of their world arenât as clear as they seem, and are forced to question what being wicked truly means.