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- "It all happens in one night..."
- Book slogan
Lies is the third installment in the Gone Series by Michael Grant. The first edition was released on May 4, 2010.
Back of the book excerpt
"IT HAPPENS IN ONE NIGHT: a girl who died now walking among the living; Zil and the Human Crew set fire to Perdido Beach, and amid the flames and smoke, Sam sees the figure of the boy he fears the most: Drake. But Drake is dead― or so they thought.
Perdido Beach burns and battles rage: Astrid against the Town Council; the Human Crew versus the mutants; and Sam against Drake, who is back from the dead and ready to finish where he and Sam had left off. They say that death is a way to escape the FAYZ. But are the kids of Perdido Beach desperate enough to believe that death will set them free?"
Main Points
- Orsay, the girl who can read people's dreams inside (and apparently outside) the FAYZ, begins to be known as a prophetess and, with Nerezza,(a creature made by the darkness) a newly introduced and mysterious character, tells the FAYZ citizens that their fifteenth birthday is the escape from the FAYZ, and that their parents are waiting for them just behind the FAYZ wall.
- Sam begins to suffer from paranoia about Drake Merwin from the events of Hunger, in which he is whipped almost to death by the boy. When he finds evidence that Drake is still alive, he runs away from town.
- Caine and his followers are suffering from starvation and have resorted to cannibalism. He is told by Bug that there is an island with food on it, and so he hatches a plan to get there, using Zil's Human Crew as a distraction to get through the town.
- Zil Sperry and the Human Crew, a freak hater group, set fire to half the town of Perdido Beach on the orders of Caine so that he can escape. Several children are hurt or killed.
- Astrid and Sam have an intense argument about the the balance of power within the FAYZ. At the end of Lies, they still do not appear to have resolved the disagreement.
- Mary Terrafino goes off her medication again, and starts to believe in Orsay's prophecies.
- The town council, mad at Orsay's prophecies, start spreading lies about her. The town finds out that they've lied, and Astrid publicly apologizes. This is the main reason for the title.
Plot
Before the events of the book, Astrid had compiled a town council to take the strain off Sam leading the kids, in the hopes that she will be able to bring about new rules and laws that everyone will follow.
At the beginning of the book, a young girl named Jill is forced out of her home by the Human Crew because she's a freak. Soon after, a girl named Sinder tells Sam that Orsay is calling herself a prophet. Sam investigates and finds out that Orsay is saying she can see the dreams of family members outside the FAYZ wall. Also, Orsay seems to have made a new friend, a girl named Nerezza, who Sam has never seen before.
Sam and Edilio find Brittney's grave open and realize that the girl is alive. Instead of telling the Town Council like they have been told to, Sam decides to keep the news secret; he thinks that any more 'craziness' will just get the kids in even more of a panic.
Jill is taken to the daycare, but is soon picked up by Orsay and her mysterious friend, Nerezza.
A dead boy is found on the beach who appears to have been whipped to death. As soon as he sees it, Sam knows that Drake Merwin has returned, but no one believes him. This is mostly because they do not want to think that the boy is back from the dead, after Caine killed him in 'Hunger'.
Caine and his followers, almost dead from starvation, resort to eating human flesh; revealed when they find Panda's dead body and Caine is given a leg. However, he knows that they cannot last much longer outside the town. Bug finds a magazine detailing a nearby island which he believes will have food.
Sam is angry with Astrid because she won't let him go after Zil and his gang, despite knowing that they are trouble. Tensions rise between them, when they have a small argument.
Meanwhile, Caine plans to use Zil to start a fire in the town so that he and his followers can get through to steal a boat to the island. From the beach, a member of the Human Crew shoots at them, sinking one of the boats, but Caine decides not to save the people- less mouths to feed, he reasons.
Later, Astrid tells Mary not to "poof" and not to believe Orsay because she says that she is lying. However, the council argue against Astrid that she can't prove Orsay is lying. Astrid knows that she can't be the head of the council anymore and she failed again.
During the fire in the town, they find out that Drake Merwin really is alive, and Sam, who was tortured by Drake, does everything to find and kill him, but doesn't succeed. Although he finds Drake on the beach, he runs in fear from him. The Darkness uses Brittney's immortality and Lana's healing powers to give Drake a second life. But now, Brittney and Drake are fused together; one moment, Brittney's mind and body is present, but then Drake gets control and his mind and body is present. This change goes back and forth.
After the fire, the town is left in devastation. Kids are dead, and a lot are injured. Jack, Dekka and Orc managed to put out the fire by collapsing houses that it would have spread to. Even so, it has decimated a good portion of town. Sam has a huge argument with Astrid about how he is the one who always goes and gets stuff done, while everyone else is content to put a leash on him and tell him what to do. He flees the town.
Caine finds the island, and two boys named Sanjit (Wisdom) and Virtue (Choo). They, with their three foster-siblings, have been on the island for the whole time and do not know what is going on in the rest of the FAYZ. When Caine arrives, Sanjit doesn't like the look of him and the Power he has observed Caine using. Caine and the others ask for food and eat like hungry wolves. Later, Sanjit drugs their food and escapes while they are sleeping. They escape on a helicopter that is driven by Sanjit.
Sam goes up to the power plant, where Drake almost killed him in 'Hunger'. After hearing a sound, he uses his Power to destroy the room. Content that he has visited his past demons, he leaves.
In town, it is discovered that Astrid was lying about Orsay. In an attempt to regain the kids' trust, she makes a speech about how she wants to try to help the town, and shows the new laws she has come up with. At the same time Nerezza tells Zil to gather his crew and start a riot, which he does. Drake emerges as well, and begins to terrorise the kids. They are herded towards the beach.
Brianna finds Sam and brings him back in time for the final showdown. Mary, who has come to believe Orsay completely, has gathered the Littles and drawn them to a cliff to commit mass suicide as a way to go back to their parents' as Orsay says. Orsay is found to be dead, killed by Nerezza, who has been manipulating her for the whole book. It is revealed that Nerezza is in fact the avatar of the Gaiaphage, the Darkness. Dekka deals with Zil, dropping him from high up with her Power. It is unknown whether Zil has or has not survived this fall but once he is mentioned lying with terrible leg trauma. Also, with Brianna's help, Dekka saved the Littles as Mary jumped off the cliff for her big One-Five. Sam confronts Drake and burns him, but finds that he can regenerate with Brittney's ability. Nerezza uses Jill, the "Siren," to sing, which stops everyone but her, Drake and Little Pete in their tracks. It is then that the helicopter which Sanjit is driving arrives, cutting out the noise of Jill, and allowing Sam to destroy Nerezza and imprison Drake. In the aftermath, Little Pete finds his Game Boy smashed and screams in terror, which causes the FAYZ wall to seemingly disappear, however only briefly, revealing beyond what appears to be Orsay's vision of the outside world.
At the end of Lies, Drake and Brittney, as one, are kept in a basement. Brittney wants Sam and the others to kill her, because only that would kill 'The Demon' Drake. But Sam cannot do this because it would feel like killing an innocent girl, so they keep on imprisoning the "undead thing" in the basement.