The first wave left behind fog. Only the luckiest managed to escape the second wave. But those who survived later after the third—could hardly be called lucky. And the fourth wave erased all human laws, replacing them with its own, one unique rule: if you want to live, don’t believe anyone. And now the fifth wave rolls in even closer, and Cassie goes into the unknown along an expressway littered with the remains of people and machines. She escapes those who only look like humans; the kidnappers of her little brother; the skilled, capable killers who carry out a sweep of the captured planet.
In this new world, only loners survive. Finding a partner means reducing your chances by an order of magnitude. Joining a group means vanishing—probably. Cassie has to follow this rule… until she meets Evan Walker. And now she has to choose—between trust and despair, between fighting and surrender, between life and death.