As with his earlier books, Hughes gives readers a chance to explore Rhode Island as he chose the setting for this novel. The one thing that is different is that it is set in a Providence of the future, in which environmental catastrophes have driven the surviving humans into the remaining domed cities scattered throughout the country.

This is the world in which Eli Papdopoulos, a thirteen year old living in this dark futuristic Providence. His family is one of the most influential in the country, largely because they own InfiniCorp, a massive corporation that has become entwined with the federal government. This started to happen decades earlier when InfiniCorp, under the leadership of Eli's grandfather, designed and distributed a treatment for the Great Sickness. This illness decimated the world's population before it could be stopped.

As time passed, InfiniCorp became more important throughout the country as it took over running most of the dome cities and caring for the people on various levels as they tried to compensate for the extreme nature of the worsening global warming. While most people don't realize it, humanity is fighting to survive as the planet is wracked by the horrors of the growing ecological disaster. Eli is about to learn the truth and find his whole will crash in on him as the harsh reality hits.

Outside of the domes, there is only a harsh, desert-like environment. It is not impossible to survive, but life in the Outside is filled with health issues, food shortages, and mutations. Those living in the Outside believe that one day a savior would come into the world to help everyone.

The Outsiders are not alone in hoping for change. Foggers, environmental activists willing to do anything to halt InfiniCorp, are hoping to bring about a change in leadership in the hopes of saving humanity. Eli is approached by some of these Foggers and finds himself starting to question everything about his culture, even his family and their ties to the company. Things clearly are not as good as they seem.

It is this questioning, and some incidents that bring the eyes of the authority at InfiniCorp his way. He is accused of treason and sentenced to imprisonment and word duty at an Offshore Reeducation Facility in the Gulf of Mexico. It is there that he meets Tabitha, a Fogger who has also been imprisoned on the former oil well. She identifies him as being able to resist the electronic brainwashing that has been taking place and hopes they will be able to work together to escape.

This is definitely a timely tale that explores the ecological dangers we are just starting to confront on a global scale. Hughes has done a good job of predicting what might happen in a worst-case scenario in which governments and business decide to ignore the problem for short-term gain. The result is a world that draws a bit on The Matrix and Dune and setting it in a unique world for younger readers. It really challenges them to think about the issues.

The book is definitely filled with action and interesting characters. Eli has a nemesis in the form of his cousin Spider, but he also has a really interesting ally in the form of Marilyn, a pet mongoose given to him by Grandfather. Marilyn is not your average pet as she has been technologically enhanced with a microchip in her brain that allows her to telepathically talk with him and remotely interact and control technological devices.

The characters are interesting and pretty unique, though the dystopian elements are not tremendously original, but then that is rarely the case with the sub-genre. Locals will be thrilled to read about streets and other locales within Providence that are mentioned and play pivotal roles in the storyline.

I thought the story was really interesting, but it somehow seemed to lag, even with all of the action. I think it is because there is an awful lot of introspection going on for Eli, Marilyn, and Tabitha, who all get turns as being stars in certain chapters. The constant pausing for thinking does slow things down quite a bit, but it also helps the reader to fully understand what is going on in this new, otherworld presented by the future.

This is very clearly the first book in a series. Besides a note highlighting it on the cover, the book does end without any sort of conclusion, leaving readers with quite the cliffhanger as they await the likely volume 2.

I did like the fact that Hughes included an Author's Note highlighting how he came up with the ecological details within the story. This includes his research as well as what scientists are saying has happened and might happened. Like most such notes, there is also an indication as to what was included due to creative license. Young folks looking for more information about the environmental issues included in the book will also find a pretty extensive list of resources with which to kick off their investigations.