I don't know how I'm going to win ... I just know I'm not going to lose...
Max Dauntless - The Fight Back Begins plunges readers into the perilous town of Arlingston, nestled in the north of England. It's the early nineties, and for Luke Sanders and Tessa Winters, the teenagers who are living through it, survival is a daily fight. Luke, a tenacious orphan with a rebellious streak, was driven by a desperate need to uncover who had murdered his father. Tessa, embodying the quintessential girl next door, harbours deep trauma from a broken home, sharing her life with a father prone to alcoholism and violence, and still reeling from the decade-old disappearance of her mother.
Luke and Tessa, two troubled teenagers ostracised by society, struggle to maintain their grip on life amid a daily fight for survival as their worlds disintegrate around them. Fuelled by a need for retribution, Luke stumbles upon a life-altering truth from his late father's past, starting a relentless pursuit of vengeance that leads him and Tessa deep into their hometown's vicious, murky criminal world, where they face off against many unforgiving villains and find themselves in danger.
With more sinister forces at work within the criminal underworld, the teenagers suddenly find themselves fighting for their very existence when a vicious biker gang begins preying on their friends and family, resulting in utter disaster. As their hometown reels from a string of savage killings and teeters on the edge of a brutal gang conflict, Luke, and Tessa find themselves in grave danger. However, the armies of the night fail to consider their most dangerous enemy: Luke Sanders, Max Dauntless.
Don't let life beat you; instead, choose to fight back.