Black River Falls

Seventeen-year-old Cardinal has escaped the virus that ravaged his town, leaving its victims alive but without their memories. He chooses to remain in the quarantined zone, caring for a group of orphaned kids in a mountain camp with the help of the former brutal school bully, now transformed by the virus into his best friend. But then a strong-willed and mysterious young woman appears, and the closed-off world Cardinal has created begins to crumble.

A thrilling, fast-paced work of speculative fiction for teens, from a bestselling author, Black River Falls is an unforgettable story about survival, identity, and family.

He remembers the world before the virus. They don’t. What happens when protecting them means trusting a girl with no past?

• Enemies to Friends: Cardinal’s only ally is the former school bully, a boy whose memory loss has transformed him from a brutal tormentor into a loyal best friend.
• High-Stakes Survival: In a quarantined mountain camp, Cardinal must protect a group of orphaned kids from the dangers of a collapsed world and the new threat that just walked into their lives.
• A World Without Memory: Explore a gripping speculative world where a virus has wiped society’s slate clean, leaving survivors to redefine who they are.
• A Fight for Identity: When a mysterious girl arrives with secrets of her own, Cardinal must question everything he knows about loyalty, survival, and the family he’s fought so hard to build.

"Hirsch is skilled at creating lost protagonists who need a jolt, and fans will appreciate this quiet, well-rendered look at a boy who’s suffering more from being stuck in his own memories than the townsfolk who lost all of their own." —Bulletin  "In this fast-paced novel, Hirsch (The Darkest Path) has created a terrifying reality that explores identity, memory, morality, and what it means to be a family." —Publishers Weekly   "Hirsch allows the backstory to unfold slowly, salting clues as to Card’s family and his former relationship with Greer. But he also interjects a sweet love story and tricky ethical and moral decisions throughout this thought-provoking novel of family and survival—and superhero comics." —Booklist  "Both a gripping, suspenseful thriller and a poignant meditation on memory and attachment.”  —Eliot Schrefer, two-time National Book Award finalist and New York Times best-selling author of Endangered and Threatened  "Who are you if you don’t have your memories? With incredible characters and fascinating twists, Black River Falls is a powerful story you won’t be able to forget.”  —Joelle Charbonneau,New York Times best-selling author of The Testing trilogy and Need  "Jeff Hirsch’s Black River Falls is fabulous! Fresh. Original. And dare I say memorable. I could not put it down!”  —Roland Smith,New York Times best-selling author of Peak and The Edge  "Smart and full of heart, this book is for readers who love pondering the big mysteries, even in the darkest of places.”  —Martha Brockenbrough, author of The Game of Love and Death