The Watch

For the past ten years, Kaya has lived with her adopted brother, Wes, in a compound called Attica, with no memory of her past before arriving at the sanctuary. They live with a bunch of other survivors who escaped the plague, and leaving is mostly forbidden for fear of becoming infected, though Wes is allowed to leave with a couple of others from time to time on scavenging missions to gather supplies. After a recent run, Wes returns and starts acting strangely, then one of the others on that trip develops the disease and is dispatched before they can infect anyone else. The leaders of their community continue to maintain order by strict rules that seem odd to Kaya, but they have kept the folks in Attica alive for decades. When Kaya is chosen to be bonded with someone she hardly knows, she starts to have questions, and when she begins to have visions of a man from her life before Attica, she wonders whether her memories are returning. If she’s smart, she’ll not want to know the truth. Smith reveals a fascinating society behind the walls. That, and Kaya’s journey to find answers, will have readers completely enthralled from the first page to the last. Suspense, horror, and many surprises await.—Jeff Ayers