The 5th Wave is a trilogy of young adult post-apocalyptic sci-fi novels written by American author Rick Yancey.

Through an intriguing expedition to find her brother during an alien invasion, Cassie is met with callous decisions to maintain survival.

Leading to murder, mayhem, and chaos, Cassie is required to fight the army that resides in Camp Haven.

They exist in an unknown form and attack through a series of "waves" as their mothership orbits the planet: A powerful electromagnetic pulse is emitted by the Others, causing the immediate failure of all technology.

After being "implanted" by the Others prior to the Arrival, people infested with alien consciousnesses are tasked with killing the remaining humans.

Yancey stated in an interview with Lightspeed Magazine that the basis for The 5th Wave came from a question he asked his wife about her worst fears.

The book opens in the midst of the Fourth Wave and follows Cassie's quest to find her brother, Sammy, after he is taken by U.S. Army soldiers.

Cassie is shot by an Other-affiliated sniper, a "Silencer", from the woods on her trek, and is later rescued by Evan Walker, who nurses her back to health and agrees to help her find her brother.

It is revealed over the course of the story that the soldiers are recruiting (truly, abducting) children into an army, telling them they are the last hope for fighting back against the Others.

Sammy is placed in Squad 53 and befriends squadmate Ben Parish, who is coincidentally Cassie's long-lost crush from high school.

While deployed, Ben and his squadmate Ringer start to piece together their true purposes and learn that Wright-Patterson is actually run by the Others.

After box office performance was poorer than expected and heavy criticism as of January 11, 2022, there have been no further talks in making a sequel.

Ringer sets out to find an alternate route, though it goes awry when she mistakes Teacup, a small girl of the squad, for a Silencer, shoots her, and is taken by an approaching helicopter.

Evan attempts to kill Grace after he finds out she is hunting Cassie, and though he fails, he manages to flee during an attack by hidden assailants.

He also reveals to Ringer that Silencers were never actually Others, just humans planted with fake memories and enhanced by the twelfth system with a link to the alien Mothership.

When they arrive back on base, Razor kills Teacup, whom Vosch used as a bargaining chip, in order to set Ringer free.

As the novel closes, Cassie and Squad 53 recover from the bomb that destroyed the hotel, when Evan, weak and exhausted, emerges from the woods.

However, he walks into a trap when Cassie drops a live electric cable on the wet surface beneath him (as a result of the sprinkler system).

Ben, Sam, and Megan dive out of their helicopter as the soldiers and pilot die, and they realize Cassie and Ringer must still be alive.

She takes out an explosive pill from her pocket that Vosch originally gave to Ringer so she could kill herself rather than be destroyed in the bombs of the Fifth Wave.

Benjamin "Ben" Thomas Parish or "Zombie" - the varsity quarterback of the football team at Cassie's school.

He becomes a member of Camp Haven's makeshift army, not knowing that they are The Others (though he eventually finds out), taking the nickname "Zombie".

First introduced by killing Cassie's father and gathering her brother Sam into a yellow school bus under the guise of safe keeping.

After this violent confrontation, Private Poundcake, now mortally wounded, goes back to the hotel to retrieve the bomb dropped by Sammy and detonates it an arms-length away from Grace, killing both of them.

Traveling through Urbana on a hopeless mission to save Teacup and Ringer, he dives into Zombie at the last second and takes a bullet to the back.

Evan and Cassie manage to get the bomb out of her, for which they plan to use to attack the others, though Poundcake ends up detonating it to save the others from Grace.

In disbelief that Camp Haven could be a coup, he accidentally kills himself by taking the tracking devices and detonating his own kill-switch.

Lieutenant Bob - Was forced to commandeer a Black Hawk helicopter and escort Ringer, Teacup, and Razor away from Vosch's base.

In March 2012, Columbia Pictures picked up the film rights to the trilogy, with Graham King and Tobey Maguire attached as producers.

While the film was a moderate box office success, it was negatively reviewed by critics and audiences, and there has been no word on any sequels.