Michael Grant’s Hunger is the second of nine novels in the young adult dystopian series Gone, which is set within a mysterious quarantine zone called the FAYZ (Fallout Alley Youth Zone). Established in the first book, the FAYZ is an impenetrable, 20-mile-wide bubble centered on a nuclear power plant near the fictional town of Perdido Beach, California. In an event known as the “poof,” everyone aged 15 and older instantly vanished, leaving the remaining children and young teens to fend for themselves. In the absence of adult authority, the survivors must forge a new society, struggling with leadership, resource management, and social order. This volatile situation is complicated by the emergence of supernatural abilities among some of the children, who are labeled “freaks” or “mutants.” These powers, which range from telekinesis to super-speed, are a result of the radiation from the power plant accident that created the FAYZ, and as revealed later in the series, an alien virus from a meteorite that struck the plant 13 years earlier.

As Hunger begins three months after the FAYZ’s creation, the initial shock has worn off, but new and more desperate challenges have emerged. The readily available food supplies have been exhausted, pushing the community toward starvation and leading to increasingly violent internal conflicts. Furthermore, the environment itself is mutating, producing monstrous creatures and posing new threats, all while a malevolent entity known as the Darkness grows in power, threatening the fragile society from within. At the end of Gone, twin brothers and rivals Sam Temple and Caine Soren learn that those who disappear are lured by an illusion of a loved one masking a hidden monster. They avoid the “poof” on their 15th birthday and remain in the FAYZ. Sam defeats Caine in a battle and spares his life. Exiled from Perdido Beach, Caine vows revenge.