Hit Books in Order

The Hit books are Delilah S. Dawson doing YA dystopian thriller at full speed. The premise is brutal and clean. America is effectively under bank control, debt has become a weapon, and the fine print can turn ordinary people into property. In that world, teenager Patsy is forced into becoming an indentured assassin to save her mother.

That setup is as ugly as it sounds.

The first book, Hit, works because it keeps the system personal. Patsy is handed a list of targets and almost no room to make moral choices, yet every choice still costs her something. The series does not ask whether the world is unfair. It starts from the fact that it is, then watches what happens when a girl with very little power is pushed into becoming useful to that machine.

Strike widens the frame. Once Patsy is on the run, the story moves from survival under orders to survival inside resistance, manipulation, and competing visions of freedom. That keeps the second book from feeling like more of the same. The big question stops being only "Can she get out?" and becomes "What kind of people are waiting on the outside, and what do they really want from her?"

The tone here is sharper and more grounded than in Dawson's fantasy work. There is some chemistry, some banter, and plenty of momentum, but the real fuel is anger at systems that turn debt, poverty, and fear into profit. Patsy is easy to root for because she never stops feeling like a frightened teenager trying to think fast in a world built to crush hesitation.

If you want one of Dawson's most direct, plot-driven series, this is a strong place to go. Read Hit first, then Strike, and expect a ruthless premise, hard choices, and a heroine who keeps getting pushed toward the line between survival and complicity.