As they celebrate the opening of their underground nightclub, the Zeroes, six teenagers with unique abilities, learn about the sinister power of Swarm, who uses a crowd's rage to kill--and who loves killing Zeroes.
Tally's perfect life as a Pretty is disrupted when she receives a letter from herself, written when she was an Ugly, reminding her of the promise she made to take a drug developed to cure the brain lesions that keep the Pretties shallow and happy--and when she takes the pills, she becomes a target of those determined to keep Pretty society carefree.
The Midnighters are baffled when the blue time suddenly occurs in the middle of the day. They soon discover that the walls between the secret hour and real time are crumbling, and, unless they can stop it, the dark creatures will have a chance to feed after centuries of waiting.
After rebel Tally Youngblood brings down the uglies/pretties/specials regime, fame, instead of beauty, becomes the new world order, and fifteen-year-old Aya Fuse embarks on a dangerous plan to boost her popularity ranking.
Upon Tally's sixteenth birthday she undergoes an operation to turn from an ugly duckling into a stunning girl, but she makes a promise just before the surgery to be the guinea pig for a future experiment.
In alternating chapters, eighteen-year-old Darcy Patel navigates the New York City publishing world and Lizzie, the heroine of Darcy's novel, slips into the "Afterworld" to survive a terrorist attack and becomes a spirit guide, as both face many challenges and both fall in love.
Fifteen-year-old Aya Fuse, an Extra, just wants to lay low, so when she discovers the secret lives of the Sly Girls, she wants to report their story, but she knows that would propel her into a celebrity status she's not prepared for.
Three years ago an event destroyed the city of Poughkeepsie, forever changing reality there. Uncanny manifestations and lethal dangers now await anyone who enters the Spill Zone.