The Dead-Tossed Waves »

Born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina, Carrie Ryan is a graduate of Williams College and Duke Law School. A former litigator, she now writes fulltime. She lives with her writer/lawyer boyfriend and two fat cats in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are not at all prepared for the zombie apocalypse. You can visit Carrie at www.carrieryan.com.

From the Hardcover edition.

Gabry lives a quiet life. As safe a life as is possible in a town trapped between a forest and the ocean, in a world teeming with the dead, who constantly hunger for those still living. She's content on her side of the Barrier, happy to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. But there are threats the Barrier cannot hold back. Threats like the secrets Gabry's mother thought she left behind when she escaped from the Sisterhood and the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Like the cult of religious zealots who worship the dead. Like the stranger from the forest who seems to know Gabry. And suddenly, everything is changing. One reckless moment, and half of Gabry's generation is dead, the other half imprisoned. Now Gabry only knows one thing: she must face the forest of her mother's past in order to save herself and the one she loves.


From the Hardcover edition.

Publishers Weekly

Ryan returns with a companion to her critically acclaimed debut, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, which functions as something of a retelling of that story, albeit with a different protagonist. Gabry lives in the seaside town of Vista, the same place that Mary landed at the end of the previous book. Like Mary's former village, Vista is carefully protected from the Mudo (the Unconsecrated), zombielike humans constantly seeking people to infect. After a reckless nighttime adventure with her friends turns tragic, Gabry avoids punishment, but can't escape the changes to and revelations about her life that quickly mount. Like its predecessor, this book features a breach of the town, an escape into the Forest, a love triangle, the ever-present and inexhaustible Mudo, and an extraordinarily bleak mood. But it also offers an expansion of postapocalyptic detail (including the Recruiters, a militant, policelike organization that hunts and brutalizes as much as it tries to protect) and a few inspired surprises. Despite the books' similarities, readers are sure to be hooked, as this novel also retains Ryan's gripping storytelling style and engaging prose. Ages 14–up. (Mar.)