Fifteen-year-old Peak Marcello is invited to climb Hkakabo Razi, one of the most isolated mountains in the world, but getting there involves a four-week trek through a tropical rainforest that is rife with hazards, which turns out to be more dangerous than summiting the mountain itself.

Fifteen-year-old Peak Marcello is invited to participate in an "International Peace Ascent" in the Hindu Kush, with a team made up of under-eighteen-year-old climbers from around the world--but from the first something seems wrong, so when the group is attacked, and most of the climbers are either killed or kidnapped, Peak finds himself caught up in a struggle to survive, shadowed by the Shen, a mysterious snow leopard.

"Jenny Calhoun climbs mountains to forget what she's done, who she was. But this time, when an excursion up Denali turns deadly, she is forced to accept the help of the one man she hoped she'd never see again--the man she nearly killed"--Provided by publisher.