In this twisted Lauren Oliver-meets-A.S. King debut, Julian has just eight more lives to burn in order to uncover a brutal secret.

In a speculative thriller set in an alternate world startlingly close to our own, humans have nine lives—and they can’t wait to use them up.

The government has death incentives aimed at controlling overpopulation. As you shed lives, you shed your awkward phases: one death is equal to one physical and mental upgrade.

Julian’s friends are obsessed with the idea of burning, but Julian is determined to stay on his first life for as long as he can. His mother burned too fast and inflicted a debilitating rebirth sickness on herself.

Julian realizes that he’s going to have to burn at some point—especially when he becomes a target for Nicholas, the manipulative leader of the Burners, the school’s deadly secret society. And when Julian eventually succumbs, he uncovers suspicious gaps in the rebirth system that may explain exactly why his mother went so far down the rabbit hole years ago.

Along with a group of student dissenters, Julian sets out to find answers and is soon on the verge of exposing the greatest government conspiracy ever unleashed on the world.

• A Dystopian World: In a society where people have nine lives, death is a social upgrade—unless you’re Julian, who is desperately trying to hang on to his first.
• One Boy Against the World: He’s determined to be the academy’s only ‘One.’ But when he becomes a target for the manipulative Nicholas and the school's suicide club, he’s forced to burn a life just to survive.
• Rebellion Against the System: After uncovering suspicious gaps in the rebirth system, Julian and a group of student dissenters set out to expose a secret that connects to his mother’s tragic past.
• A Race for the Truth: Julian has just eight lives left to unravel a conspiracy that could shatter their world, and the powerful people behind it will do anything to stop him.