The last thing FBI agent Will Brody remembers is the explosion. He wakes without a scratch. The building is in ruins. His team is gone. Outside, Chicago is dark. Cars lie abandoned. No planes cross the sky. He’s relieved to spot other people --- until he sees they’re carrying machetes. Claire McCoy, the head of an FBI task force, stands over the body of Will Brody. A terrorist has claimed 18 lives and thrown the nation into panic. Against this horror, something reckless and beautiful happened. She fell in love…with Will Brody. But the line between life and death is narrower than any of us suspect --- and all that matters to Will and Claire is getting back to each other.

For 30 years, humanity struggled to cope with the brilliants, the one percent of people born with remarkable gifts. Now the White House is a smoking ruin. Madison Square Garden is an internment camp. In Wyoming, an armed militia of thousands marches toward a final, apocalyptic battle. Nick Cooper has spent his life fighting for his children and his country. Now, as the world staggers on the edge of ruin, he must risk everything he loves to face his oldest enemy --- a brilliant terrorist so driven by his ideals that he will sacrifice humanity’s future to achieve them.

A terrorist network led by brilliants has crippled three cities. Nick Cooper has always fought to make the world better for his children. As both a brilliant and an advisor to the president of the United States, he’s against everything the terrorists represent. But as America slides toward a devastating civil war, Cooper is forced to play a game he dares not lose --- because his opponents have their own vision of a better world. And to reach it, they’re willing to burn this one down.

In Wyoming, a little girl reads people’s darkest secrets by the way they fold their arms. In Chicago, a woman can go invisible by being where no one is looking. They’re called “brilliants,” and Nick Cooper is among them; a federal agent, Cooper has gifts rendering him exceptional at hunting terrorists. His latest target may be the most dangerous man alive, a brilliant intent on provoking civil war. But to catch him, Cooper will have to violate everything he believes in --- and betray his own kind.

A man wakes up naked and cold, half-drowned on an abandoned beach. The only sign of life for miles is an empty BMW. Inside the car he finds clothes that fit perfectly, shoes for his tattered feet, a Rolex, and a bank envelope stuffed with cash and an auto registration in the name of Daniel Hayes. None of it is familiar. Is he Daniel Hayes, and if so, why doesn't he remember?