Deuce struggles for respect in a new topside town where she is treated like a child and avoided by Fade, a situation that compels her to volunteer for patrol duty and protect topside citizens from an unexpected upsurge in Freak activity.

The explosion of racial hate and violence in a small Alabama town is viewed by a young girl whose father defends a black man accused of rape.

"Seventeen-year-old Veronica 'Ronnie' Miller's life was turned upside-down when her parents divorced and her father moved to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Three years later, she remains alienated from her parents, particularly her father-- until her mother decides it would be in everyone's best interest if she and her brother spent the summer with him"--Jacket.

Katie Carew wishes she could be anyone but herself, and turns into a hamster.