"Curtis Quinn is a Chicago mob legend with a price on his head and a particular set of skills. Beth Jarvis is a plucky teenager unwrapping the secrets of her hometown, Harlow, where no one is allowed to leave and a mysterious ceremony awaits her on her eighteenth birthday. What Beth doesn't know is the truth about her sister, Kate, who escaped over a decade ago and has evaded the town's sinister ruler, known only as the Mayor, and his High Servants, Scouts, and Disciples that rule the town, making her a local legend?and Curtis doesn't know that the girl he's fallen in love with, a woman he has called his wife for the better part of ten years, is Kate and that she's running from a threat far greater than the mobsters who want to kill him. When Kate disappears, Curtis follows the clues to Harlow, where he poses as the school janitor to investigate. When Beth tries to escape Harlow and the disgusting fate that awaits her, Curtis finds himself unraveling a mystery that leads to an impossible and terrifying conclusion?that the Mayor of Harlow is more than just a man and the hardest target he’s ever tried to kill."
"Teenage burn survivor Wilder Tate begins high school ashamed of his disfigurement. He finds an outlet tapping into his one-dimensional basketball talent as a shutdown defender and courts his cheerleader dream girl, only to endure heartbreak and setbacks that drive him to have a tissue-expander operation to rid himself of his scar tissue for good, but at what price? The operation costs him his basketball career and puts a wedge between him and his best friend, his mother, and his classmates. The only girl who understands him is Lane Makansi, an ostracized and bullied cutter who sees the truth of Wilder's self-loathing. Their unlikely friendship begins to salve their deep internal wounds until tragedy strikes—and Lane is the culprit. In the aftermath, Wilder discovers a capacity to forgive and empathize that he has never once applied to himself, leading to a dramatic decision that will change his life, and Lane's life, forever."
