It is 1945, and the world is in the grip of war. Hideki lives with his family on the island of Okinawa, near Japan. When WWII crashes onto his shores, Hideki is drafted into the Blood and Iron Student Corps to fight for the Japanese army. He is handed a grenade and a set of instructions: Do not come back until you have killed an American soldier. Ray, a young American Marine, has just landed on Okinawa. This is Rays first ever battle, and he doesnt know what to expect, or if he will make it out alive. He just knows that the enemy is everywhere, with ambushes and dangerous traps. But then the two of them collide in the middle of the battle... And choices they make in that single instant will change everything. Alan Gratz, New York Times bestselling author of Refugee, returns with this high octane story of how fear and war tear us apart, but how hope and redemption tie us together.