Wool - Hugh Howey

This book had gathering dust for years, yet a week ago I decided it would be the first time I'd pick it up since its welcoming day on my bookshelf. After the first chapter, I was hooked. I can't wait to finish this page-turner.

Wool begins with Holston and his wife Allison and describes the futuristic skyscraper-esque silo they and millions of others live in. Thousands of stories divide the population socioeconomically, children are awarded to couples through a lottery system, and the air outside is poisonous.

The view outside of the silo is shaded by windows covered with grime; the population is controlled through Cleaning Days, which send those on the brink of death out into the world--armed with a single oxygen tank and wool pads--to clean the dirt off the windows.

Allison had been secretly investigating the skeletons her government is hiding until her mental break. Holston doesn't think he can take much more of the inside. The mayor is looking for a new sheriff and happens upon a qualified girl from Down Deep with a mysterious past and present.

What would you do if the world outside was deadly, and the air you breathed could kill?