In the shadows of the Tail, Andre Layton spends his days rationing meager portions and plotting a revolution with his fellow "Tailies." They are the forgotten ones, the stowaways who fought their way onto the train during the freeze and have lived in squalor ever since. Layton, a former homicide detective, is a man haunted by the world that was, but he is driven by the desperate need for justice in the world that remains.
Melanie, meanwhile, is playing a high-stakes game of her own. She carries the weight of the entire human race on her shoulders, making impossible choices to keep the tracks clear and the engine turning. To her, order is the only thing standing between humanity and extinction. To Layton, that order is a cage that needs to be broken. In the shadows of the Tail, Andre Layton
His chance to change everything comes unexpectedly. A gruesome murder in Third Class forces the train’s elite to do the unthinkable: invite a Tailie forward. Melanie Cavill, the formidable Voice of the Train and Head of Hospitality, needs Layton’s detective skills to find a killer before the unrest spreads. She carries the weight of the entire human
As Layton moves through the opulent cars of First Class—where fresh strawberries are served on china and real beef is a daily luxury—he realizes the killer is only a symptom of a much deeper rot. He discovers that the "Eternal Engine" is being kept running by secrets far more dangerous than the cold outside. His chance to change everything comes unexpectedly