

Now she's been recruited by a secret West Point unit for cadets with extraordinary abilities. And for Carl, it's just the beginning.Scarlett Winter has always been an outsider, and not only because she's a hardcore daredevil and born troublemaker-she has been hiding superhuman powers she doesn't yet understand. Phoenix Island is ground zero for the future of combat intelligence. For this is no ordinary government project. Gifts from the fatherly Old Man, who wants to transform Carl into something he's not sure he wants to become. But he makes enemies, too, and after a few rough scrapes, he earns himself the nickname "Hollywood" as well as a string of punishments, including a brutal night in the "sweatbox." But that's nothing compared to what awaits him in the "Chop Shop"-a secret government lab where Carl is given something he never dreamed of.

Sentenced to stay until his eighteenth birthday, Carl plans to play by the rules, so he makes friends with his wisecracking bunkmate, Ross, and a mysterious gray-eyed girl named Octavia. Located somewhere far off the coast of the United States-and immune to its laws-the island is a grueling Spartan-style boot camp run by sadistic drill sergeants who show no mercy to their young, orphan trainees. Classified as a "terminal facility," it's the end of the line for delinquents who have no home, no family, and no future. His latest incident sends his opponent to the emergency room, and now the court is sending Carl to the worst place on earth: Phoenix Island. He can't seem to stay out of trouble-using his fists to defend weaker classmates from bullies.

A champion boxer with a sharp hook and a short temper, sixteen-year-old Carl Freeman has been shuffled from foster home to foster home.

But on Phoenix Island, the choice will be made for him. The judge told Carl that one day he'd have to decide exactly what kind of person he would become. For fans of The Bourne Identity, Alex Rider, and Melissa Marr. WINNER OF THE BRAM STOKER AWARD FOR SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A YOUNG ADULT NOVEL John Dixon's critically acclaimed Phoenix Island reads like " Lord of the Flies meets Wolverine and Cool Hand Luke " (F.
