The Ferryman

This stand-alone book from the author of The Passage tells the story of a group of survivors on a secret island paradise where things are not as they appear.

The Prospera archipelago, established by the enigmatic genius known as the Designer, is sheltered from the horrors of the collapsing outer world. The fortunate inhabitants of Prospera live long, happy lives on this paradise-like island until the percentage of their forearm monitors, which track their physical and mental well-being, drops below 10 percent. After that, they retire themselves and take a ship to the island called the Nursery, where they are prepared to start again and have their deteriorating bodies restored along with their memories erased.

As a ferryman, Proctor Bennett of the Department of Social Contracts has a fulfilling vocation of guiding individuals through retirement and, if needed, enforcing it. But Proctor's not feeling good at all. He has been dreaming, for starters, which is not supposed to be possible in Prospera. In addition, his monitor % has started to decline quite quickly. Then then comes the day he is called to retire his own father, who, before being forced aboard the ship, leaves him with a strange and confusing letter.

Something is stirring in the interim. The laboring men and women who keep Prospera running—the Support Staff—have started to wonder where they fit into society. There's growing unrest and reports of a rebel organization called "Arrivalists" that could be instigating a revolution.

Proctor soon finds himself doubting everything he had previously thought to be true, involved in a far larger cause than he had understood, and on a frantic journey to know the truth.