Author(s): Mandy Hager

Children & Young Adult

Set in NZ 20-odd years in the future, corporations have carved up resources for themselves, leaving the local population disconnected from the land and living with water and food shortages, depleted oil and gas supplies, climate change effects and a divided and impoverished society where only those at the top have any wealth or power.
Ash (Ashley) McCarthy is an 18-year-old living in a student hostel. The novel opens with Ash and his friends embarking on a night of heavy drinking, to settle their fears over the torpedoing of an Australian ship in NZ territorial waters after a prolonged dispute. Ash receives the terrible news that his father has died in a bomb blast. Nothing is ever the same again as Ash must deal with his father's death, look after his handicapped brother and leave town as the threat from offshore gets seriously worrying. Ash is thrown into a fast-paced series of disasters, finally learning the awful truth about his mother.