When the doors of the lift crank open, the only thing Thomas remembers is his first name. But he's not alone.He's surrounded by boys who welcome him to the Glade ? a walled encampment at the centre of a bizarre and terrible stone maze. Like Thomas, the Gladers don't know why or how they came to be there ? or what's happened to the world outside.All they know is that every morning when the walls slide back, they will risk everything ? even the Grievers, half-machine, half-animal horror that patrol its corridors, to try and find out ...