First published 2026
You open your eyes in a stark compound surrounded by endless desert. Nine other women share your confusion, all young and desperate to escape the chaos outside. Poverty, violence, and climate disasters have made the world unlivable. Now cameras follow your every step, streaming to millions of viewers hungry for entertainment. The rules become clear: ten men will trek across the wasteland to reach you. Not all will survive the journey. Those who arrive will change everything. You must compete, but the prize remains unclear. The cameras never stop rolling. The audience never stops watching. What starts as a chance for a better life becomes something darker. Each decision could mean survival or elimination. Each alliance might save you or destroy you. The desert holds no mercy for the weak. The show demands everything from its contestants. You came here seeking escape from a broken world, but the compound may be more dangerous than anything you left behind.
Genres: adventure, action, 21st-century, apocalyptic
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Desert
Period: 21st-Century
304 pages · Paperback · Random House Trade Paperbacks
Content warnings: violence