Teenager Griz, his two dogs, and the rest of his family live on a small island off the west coast of Scotland. His family has been there since the Baby Bust, a global epidemic of infertility that left the earth almost entirely depopulated. They lead a simple life of farming and fishing until a traveler arrives to trade scavenged equipment for food. The family is suspicious but lets the man ashore. Griz wakes up the next morning from a drugged sleep to see the stranger's vessel sailing off with their supplies and one of his dogs. Griz and his remaining dog Jip leap onto his small boat and give chase. But things don't go quite as expected, and he and Jip end up on the mainland of Britain, which is not as empty of people as he'd been led to believe. Griz is still determined to get his dog back, however, and the many dangers and surprises might slow him down but won't stop him. VERDICT Less violent than Harlan Ellison's classic A Boy and His Dog or Adrian Walker's more recent The Last Dog on Earth, this latest by Fletcher (The Oversight) still provides plenty of excitement and danger in a well-developed posthuman world that isn't quite devoid of hope (or dogs) yet.—Dan Forrest, Western Kentucky Univ. Libs., Bowling Green

Since the Gelding rendered most humans infertile, the global population has dwindled to a mere few thousand. Griz has never had neighbors or been in a crowd, though he and siblings Ferg and Bar are familiar with the concepts from photographs, homeschooling, and handed-down stories. Griz directly addresses readers about his family, his dreams, and life on an island, somewhere near what might have once been England. "In my whole life, I haven't met enough people to make up two teams for a game of football," says Griz, who scavenges and explores on land and sea. When a stranger steals Jess, one of Griz's beloved dogs, what's to be done but go after them? Griz is comfortable taking care of himself, though he is grateful to encounter John Dark, who speaks a different language and helps Griz after a nasty encounter with a boar. Action builds as Griz closes in on Jess, the stranger, and other "Baby Bust" survivors. While not as tightly crafted as Cormac McCarthy's The Road, this tale may gain traction with similar readers. Griz's casual acceptance of a depopulated world makes the plot believable, though the pacing early on may feel slow to some readers. VERDICT For high school libraries seeking independent teen heroes in dystopian settings.—Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TX