Ottilie Colter and her brother, Gully, have always fended for themselves. So when Gully goes missing one night, Ottilie sets out to find him -- and soon makes a horrible discovery; Gully has been forcibly recruited by the Narroway Hunt, a secretive male-only organisation that hunts savage, blight-spreading monsters called "dredretches". Disguising herself as a boy, Ottilie infiltrates the Hunt -- but quickly realises that taking her brother home won't be easy. Trapped in the heart of the dredretch-infested Narroway, it's impossibly dangerous for them to leave. But as she trains to become a Huntsman alongside her brother, hoping for a chance to escape, how long can she keep her true identity a secret?