What would you do to bring the person you love most back from the dead? Anything. That's what Thea Andrews thinks after her husband dies and she's left in a well of grief and despair that she can't escape. What she does next will start a chain reaction that will change the course of history. Finley Douglass lives in a cursed world where illness runs rampant, wars are never won, and nobody ever dies. He grew up inside the walls of Essex, Vermont, built to keep everyone safe from what lies outside. That is, until his home is raided. Now he and his brother have to escape from town, find the rebellion camp, and convince them to help save his family; all while being in possession of a weapon that's rumored to drive anyone who holds it mad.