Jebel Rum's family is honored as royalty because his father is the executioner. With his father soon retiring, Jebel treks to the faraway home of a legendary fire god to beg for inhuman powers --and become the most lethal of men. It will be a dark and brutal journey filled with lynch mobs, suicide c...

Jebel Rum's family is honored as royalty because his father is the executioner. With his father soon retiring, Jebel treks to the faraway home of a legendary fire god to beg for inhuman powers --and become the most lethal of men. It will be a dark and brutal journey filled with lynch mobs, suicide cults, terrible monsters, and monstrous men.

In a kingdom of merciless tyrants, Jebel Rum's family is honored as royalty because his father is the executioner. But Rashed Rum is near retirement. And when he goes, there will be a contest to determine his successor. It is a contest that thin, puny Jebel has no chance of winning.

Humiliated and ashamed, Jebel sets out on a quest to the faraway home of a legendary fire god to beg for inhuman powers so that he can become the most lethal of men. He must take with him a slave, named Tel Hesani, to be sacrificed to the god. It will be a dark and brutal journey filled with lynch mobs, suicide cults, terrible monsters, and worse, monstrous men. But to Jebel, the risk is worth it. To retrieve his honor . . .

To wield unimaginable power . . .

To become . . .

The thin executioner. Inspired by Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, international bestselling master of horror Darren Shan takes readers on a thrilling, fast-paced journey into a nightmarish world where compassion and kindness are the greatest crimes of all.