Life has been tough for Ally and her best friend Bon. They have been homeless, living in abandoned city tunnels like hundreds of other children and teenagers. Hope for their future suddenly arrives with an election and a candidate who vows to look after the homeless and reintegrate them back into normal society.

Finally, Ally and Bron can see something better for themselves and their friends. Maybe their lives spent trying to remain invisible to wealthier city residents will change.

Now, working all day in a laundry with only short breaks and dangerous conditions, Ally knows it was all lies. Her and hundreds of other children and teens are slaves to the Administration, working where they are told, sleeping when they are told and still trying to remain invisible to the guards that watch their every move and will shoot you for the tiniest infraction.

At least Ally and Bon are together at night. It is the time that Ally looks forward to and it gets her through every day. But Bron has begun acting strangely. He’s not at his work station during the day and returns at night without concrete answers. Ally worries about what he is not telling her.

Talk of an outside uprising filters through to the workers and suddenly this revolt is among them. Everything is in turmoil, Bon is missing and Ally is beside herself with worry. Where is he? What is he hiding? Are her friends part of something revolutionary?

When Ally is taken aside by the Administration and given a chance to learn more, she grabs an opportunity to be free. Or is it also wrapped up in deceit?

Set in a dystopian world where a military coup has taken over, the homeless are turned into slaves for an organisation called the Administration. Key figures of this government rule with an iron fist, and armed guards and all have a moth tattoo on their wrist. This moth represents something only they know – a even worse plan for the future.

17 year old Ally tells the story, flicking forward and back to her memories to allow the reader to flesh out her world in their own mind. Her life is one of drudgery, routine, terrible food, dangerous working conditions and very little time to herself. Even then, that is monitored.

We experience Ally’s emotions through her daily grind, her worries about her best friend Bron, her very sparse moments of laughter with her friends, and frustration of feeling ignorant of what’s happening in the world outside. Just a pawn in a meticulous plan by her government, she feels hopeless, until a random chance falls in her lap.

This leads to a sequel – due out April 2023. For me it can’t come quick enough. 

Author – Mette Jakobsen

Age – 14+

(2022, Harper Collins, Action, Betrayal, Crime, Dystopian, Friendship, Greed, Grief, Murder, Mystery, Poverty, Guards, Guns, Violence, Control, Fear, Prison, Slaves, Party, Celebration, Tunnels, Love, Bombs, Escape, Revolution, Fight back)