With the heightened ability to charm almost everyone, while carefully concealing her heinous desires, Mary Hightower was hibernating or in an "interlight state" in a glass coffin waiting to be reborn as who she was back in Everlost, a place between the living and before the light. Meanwhile, tied to the front of the train heading west, Allie the Outcast seems to have little chance of escape, let alone to find out what happened to Mary, her nemesis. After having peered in Mary's mind, Allie was shocked to discover what Mary Hightower was secretly planning to do and Allie vowed to destroy Mary before she could do the ultimate evil deed.

Mary had an army of children that she gathered to help her with her dark mission and Milos was determined to keep them together until Mary woke up. As a skinjacker, Milos had the ability to move into the bodies of living people and could make them do his will. Only those souls who were not dead and in deep comas could be skinjackers and Mary had gathered as many of them as she could to carry out her real mission, unbeknownst to her followers. Allie is one of the best skinjackers there is and Milos has no intention of setting her free. Yet when a mansion lies on the train tracks and blocks their way, events take a very dramatic turn!

Fans have already been raving about the first two books written in The Skinjacker Trilogy by Neal Shusterman, the renowned bestselling author of young adult fiction, and they are sure to be wowed with Book 3 with its powerful percussion of a grande finale! The characters are wonderfully drawn and Shusterman marvelously captures the essence of each character in a very unique way, while representing a certain type, so these otherworldly characters are easy to picture in your mind. The plot while relatively simple to follow is masterfully intricate and full of unexpected triumphs and disasters. While this engrossing and bewitching afterlife story is can be read on its own and enjoyed, its full flavor can best be savored by reading the whole series in sequence. Totally awesome and fantastical! A must read!

Book Summary

As Mary Hightower slumbers in a glass coffin waiting to be reborn back into Everlost, her allies and henchmen begin to carry out her terrible mission. Mary’s army is joined by a newcomer: Jix, a spy for the Mayan King of Everlost. A furjacker who skinjacks great cats, Jix has his own agenda.

Meanwhile, Mikey McGill desperately tries to rescue Allie the Outcast. At his side is Nick the “Chocolate Ogre,” who has become pure chocolate and hardly remembers himself at all. Mikey encounters a creature that scares even the mighty McGill: a scar wraith, whose touch can extinguish an Afterlight forever.

It becomes clear that the outcome will determine not just the fate of Everlost, but the fate of the living world as well.

Critically acclaimed author Neal Shusterman brings to a close the trilogy that Kirkus Reviews called “beautiful and imaginative” with this stunning final volume.