Action! Humor! Fantasy! "Kicking off a new series with a bang (several bangs, in fact), Stroud sends two young fugitives with murky pasts fleeing murderous pursuers across a fractured future Britain." Kirkus Reviews, starred
Scarlett McCain is a shoot-first ask-questions-later kind of outlaw. She scrapes by on bank heists, her wits and never looking back.

She s on the run from her latest crime when she comes across Albert Browne. He is the sole survivor of a horrific accident, and against her better judgement, Scarlett agrees to guide him to safety.

This is a mistake. Soon there are men with dogs and guns and explosives hot on their heels. Scarlett s used to being chased by the law, but this is extreme. It was only a little bank she d robbed . . .

As they flee together across the wilds, fighting off monstrous beasts, and dodging their pursuers, Scarlett comes to realize that Albert Browne is hiding a terrible secret. And that he may be the most dangerous threat of all.

In this fast-paced, quick-witted whirlwind of a story, Jonathan Stroud introduces two unlikely allies the outlaws Scarlett and Browne who are about to become the most notorious renegades in all that s left of Britain.