The Border

Genre-busting author McCammon (The River of Souls) pulls out all the stops for this exhilarating alien-invasion epic, which harkens back to his 1987 blockbuster, Swan Song. The spectacular opening introduces an amnesiac teenage boy who abruptly becomes aware of himself in a full-tilt sprint through a post-apocalyptic battlefield, with wounds that should have killed him, and knowledge and abilities he doesn’t understand. Ethan, as he calls himself, is clearly more than he appears—a fact that doesn’t escape the apocalypse’s survivors, expressively depicted in their despair and desperation, with whom he holes up outside Ft. Collins, Colo. Two years prior, alien species nicknamed the Gorgons and the Cyphers brought their own war to Earth’s atmosphere, killing many humans and turning others into mutant cannibals. As revelations about Ethan become increasingly poignant, McCammon expertly turns up the tension, and the group embarks on a riveting journey toward a destination they have little chance of reaching. This story blends the gripping horror and action of McCammon’s earliest novels with the empathy of his more recent work, making it one of his finest. Agent: Cameron McClure, Donald Maass Literary Agency. (May)