The teenage son of an Appalachian single mother who dies when he is eleven uses his good looks, wit, and instincts to survive foster care, child labor, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, this is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival....

Speed and self-confidence, that's Astrid's motto. Nicknamed "the little thunderbolt," She loves to spend her days racing down the hillside on her skis or sled, singing merrily as she goes, and drinking hot chocolate made from real chocolate bars with her grumpy best friend and godfather, Gunnvald. She just wishes there were other children to share in her hair-raising adventures. But her world is about to be turned upside down, first by the arrival...

It began on a quiet Sunday in Gatlin, Nebraska. That was the day the children slaughtered all the grownups. Isaac, the boy preacher, told them that He Who Walks Behind the Rows was pleased, and three years later the children still follow Isaac and his evil teenage disciple, Malachai. When a young couple accidently drive into Gatlin, they begin to discover the town's terrible secrets and become part of the children's bloody mission.