Rick Yancey: Summary

Rick Yancey is a full time author who is constantly writing. His other works are, The Highly Effective Detective, The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp, The Monstrumologist, Trailers, Reveal, Rags and Bones, Confessions of a Taxpayer, and A Burning in Homeland. Some interesting things about him are; he is adopted, his family owns a farm in Florida, and his wife is a daughter of the American Revolution who is descended from patriots on both sides of her family. The novel is set in Dayton, Ohio after a series of deathly “waves” brought humanity to the verge of extinction. In the novel, it switches between two main characters, Cassie Sullivan and Ben Parish. We see through both of their eyes the events they have been through and eventually
them meeting each other. There isn’t one protagonist instead there is two.
Cassie Sullivan is a sixteen year old high schooler and before she met anyone her best friend was her M16 assault rifle. Cassie is strong, determined, and does not stop for anything. She has had a trust problem since how the world is now, trusting no one is the way of life. She dislikes the “Others” and likes no one except her brother Sammy, Ben Parish and her M16 of course. Her father, Sammy, and her lived in a camp with a bunch of other survivors. When school buses came with military personnel to take the young children, she was unwilling, but her father decided to let Sam go with them to be safe. After the school buses left the soldiers led everyone else to a building where they were to be killed. She escaped moments before the massacre and made it her priority to get Sam back. Cassie is a good person, she has to do what she has to do to survive.
Ben Parish was a star football player in high school before the 1st wave. He is described as buff, tall, and handsome. Ben survived everything, but during the 3rd wave he contracts the plague and gets saved from doctors at Camp Haven. Ben is strong, brave, and regretful. He dislikes Camp Haven and everyone there after he finds out the truth. Ben is assigned to Squad 53 and becomes the sergeant. Ben ran away, leaving his little sister Sissy behind. He keeps her locket with him and promises to stop running away. Ben is a good soldier because he cares for his squad members and fights to protect Sammy when he meets him.
Commander Vosch is the mastermind behind this scheme to turn the humans on themselves. Vosch has steel cold eyes, a blank face, and is cruel. He is an “Other” and so is every adult on Camp Haven. Vosch likes to see his scheme working and coming to plan. He dislikes anyone that tries to interrupt his work. He plans to take take the children and train them to be hardened elite soldiers. Vosch at first seems friendly because he promises the kids will be safe with him, but that quickly changes when we see that he orders the soldiers to massacre the camp survivors.
Sammy Sullivan is the little brother of Cassie and is trained to be a soldier in Voschs’s sadistic plan. Sam is strong for his age and cares for his older sister. He also views Cassie as a role model since his parents died. Ringer is also a kid that was taken to be a soldier and is moved to Squad 53 after Tank had gone “Dorothy” or gone insane and brings their squad to graduate in the top three. Ringer helps Ben with shooting and discover that Reznik, their drill sergeant, and everyone else wasn’t who they seemed. Evan Walker is known as a Silencer and they are assassins that kill surviving humans. Evan shoots Cassie in the leg, then brings her back to health and falls for her. He is an “Other” aswell, but helps Cassie find her brother and destroy Camp Haven.
The novel introduces us first to Cassie Sullivan then Ben Parish later in the novel. Cassie Sullivan has had it rough surviving the Waves. She has seen her Mom die from the plague in the third wave. She managed to just escape a massacre of innocent survivors and her father. She also saw her little brother go with the men that massacred those innocent and is left to fend for herself. Surviving the Waves and the “Others” has made Cassie develop a trust issue. It’s kill or be killed now. Shoot first, ask questions later. Before Sam was taken on the big yellow school buses, he gave her his teddy bear in case she were to be scared. Cassie’s goal is to find her brother and free him from the soldiers. Ben Parish is the same age as Cassie and went to the same High School before the “Others” came in their giant spaceship. We’re introduced to him when he wakes up in a tent, plague ridden, and A group of looters had broken into his home and murdered his family. His little sister, Sissy, was pulled away from him and he reached to save her, but only grabbed ahold of her locket around her neck breaking it free. After he grabs it he runs outside to escape, but tripped and was beaten senseless by the looters. He ran away when his sister needed him most and he wasn’t there. He doesn’t forgive himself and makes a promise to stop running away. The “Others”, as Cassie calls them, are the ones that come in their gigantic ship and are the ones to blame for the disastrous events that happened. The First Wave was a huge Electromagnetic Pulse that wipes out all the electricity on earth and brought down any aircraft. The “Others” basically turned off the lights after the ten days they arrived. In The Second Wave the “Others” dropped giant metal rods twice the size of the Empire State Building and three times as heavy onto the fault lines of creating massive tsunamis killing three billion. The Third Wave wiped out ninety seven percent of the remaining survivors by making birds the carriers and spreading an advanced form of Ebola. The Fourth Wave and most recent one to happen introduce the Silencers. Silencers are the “Others” inside human bodies and try to take out as much of the remaining humans as possible. The Silencers are like sleeper agents and are given a host when it is born and don't activate until they are triggered. This tears the survivors apart because they don't know who to trust. Evan Walker is a Silencer that Cassie befriends after he helps her get Sam. There is no exact date or year, but this all happens in present day Dayton, Ohio. Cassie and Ben both have the goal to find Sam and escape with him. Cassie wants to free him because he was taken from her and knows what the soldiers are planning to do with all the kids. Sam is also Cassie’s little brother and only family member left. Ben wants to get Sam because he was in Squad 53 and didn’t graduate with them and was left behind. Ben gave him Sissy’s locket and promised to not run away anymore.
The climax of the book is right at the end where Cassie and Evan create a plan to infiltrate Camp Haven and escape with Sam. When Cassie enters her cover is blown pretty soon. Dr. Pam takes her into the “Wonderland” room and that's when Cassie attacks the doctor and knocks her unconscious. Dr. Pam had inserted a chip into Cassie that would terminate her, but unbeknownst to her she had removed it and put it up the doctor’s nose. The doctor kills herself not knowing it was inside her. Cassie runs out and pretends to have witnessed someone else kill Dr. Pam when security guards arrive at her location. The guards take her into a room where she escapes through the ventilation shaft and into the armory. She grabs all she needs to blend in, an assault rifle, and a huge ten inch blade. She then notices that there is an arsenal of Eyes that are just waiting to explode. She makes her way up the shaft again and makes her way into a large auditorium where all of the squads were getting together to leave. She gets onto the floor but is stopped by a Silencer and had to kill him before he would take action. She finds Sam and heads to the hallway to leave. Cassie is the speaker through this passage and the purpose is shown through her fighting her way to find Sam. From her escaping the guards and to her having to kill a Silencer because he would be in her way. I chose this passage because it shows how determined Cassie is and how if anything gets in her way she'll make sure to move it.
Ben Parish wakes up in Camp Haven in the medical ward and it’s part of his plan to find Sam and escape.
He goes into the restroom and tricks the doctor into thinking he needed help. Ben knocks him out and wears the doctor's scrubs. He then makes his way and to find Sam, but then Eyes start blowing up the base in sections and he rushes even though he tore his sutures and is bleeding. He makes his way to the auditorium and sees Sam with what looks to be another soldier. He also won't let anything get in the way so he grabs his gun to shoot the soldier, but Sam stops him and says it's his sister. After they meet up they take out Sam’s chip and get caught by security. They’re brought back to the “Wonderland” room and Sam is in the execute chair. Cassie and Ben are in the room with security. Evan then comes in through the vent and kills the security guards. They run to the airfield because that's where all the kids are heading and Evan leaves to set off all of the Eyes to destroy the camp. They get intercepted and picked up in a military truck by the rest of Squad 53. Ben is the speaker for most of this passage and during his time we see how he got to s\Sam and what he did. He is committed and promises to not run away
anymore.
I liked the ending of my novel because it ended making me want to read the other two books in the series. I also really enjoyed reading it the whole time. I would definitely recommend this book and the series as well. It never seems to stop with the action and intensity.