Eighteen-year-old Ethan Jones lives in Newhome, a town built upon the decaying ruins of post-apocalyptic Melbourne, ruins haunted by the ferocious Skel, a nomadic tribe of degenerate savages. The Skel are ramping up their attacks on Newhome's foraging teams and infesting Melbourne's ruins in ever greater numbers. Is this part of a larger plan that could spell the town's doom? Meanwhile, the last thing Ethan expects when he and his companions rescue a two-car convoy from the Skel is a Japanese teenage girl with an outlandish dress-sense, who after they take her back to Newhome, goes to great lengths to ingratiate herself into his life. But is it in gratitude for saving her life or is she seeking something more? And what a quandry she places him in, for he knows the rules, that no man is permitted to be alone with an unmarried woman. But how can he drive such a gentle soul away when she touchs his heart so deeply, even though she clearly carries the pain of a broken heart. At the same time, Newhome's police force, the Custodians, are suspicious of Ethan's foraging team's successes and are pulling out the stops to find out which member of his team has the illegal mutant ability that gives them an edge over the other teams. Should these peacekeepers discover Ethan is the mutant they seek, they will haul him away and dissect him like a frog.

For eighteen-year-old Ethan Jones, Nanako, and the surviving members of his foraging team, the trip back to Newhome is a nightmarish journey fraught with danger. When they do get back to Newhome, Nanako's dreams of a normal life are shattered when Ethan's jilted ex-fiancé makes it her personal goal to turn Nanako's life into a living hell. And as if that isn't enough, she and Ethan fall afoul of a senior officer of the town's draconian Custodian police force. To complicate matters, more memory fragments from Ethan's missing year surface, bewildering him with their horrific implications - what exactly did he get up to with the Hamamachi Rangers two years ago? Did they - did he - really commit such heinous crimes? Furthermore, a Hamamachi Ranger who used to have the hots for Ethan stumps him when she asks if Nanako has told him the dreadful things that happened to her after she was dumped back in Hamamachi two years ago. What are these disturbing secrets from her past that Nanako is hiding from him? Against this backdrop of personal anguish, the Hamamachi Rangers and ferocious Skel, dead set upon revenge, unleash their diabolical plan against Newhome. But how far will they go in their quest for vengeance? Can the Custodians stop them, or should Ethan risk his life again by stepping up to help save the town, going against Nanako and her insistence that he stay away from combat because she can't bear the thought of losing him.

The Thrilling Conclusion to the Forager Trilogy Eighteen-year-old Ethan Jones, Nanako, and the other foragers have fled Newhome after being accused of being terrorists. However, with Captain Smithson's parting words of "Don't forget us," ringing in their minds, they realise the only way to save Newhome from the Hamamachi Rangers and their Skel allies is to document and expose the Rangers' villainy. Yet what sounds like a workable plan is nothing of the sort, for they have to journey into the very heart of Skel territory to obtain the information they need. Leigh's warning that "nothing ever goes as you want or plan it to," turns out to be prophetic. An assassin, a botched raid, and the Skel and Rangers stopping at nothing to prevent them from revealing the Rangers' activities all complicate matters. To add to their woes, a word whispered in Ethan's ear by a new addition to their party brings his world crashing down about his ears. Moreover, should he share this information with Nanako, all her hopes and dreams for the future will be destroyed as well. The question is - how long can he keep such a secret from her?