Revived

by Cat Patrick

hardie grant Egmont. Young Adult. Paperback RRP $22.95

Reviewed by Barbara Brown

Daisy Appleby is stung by a bee. Daisy Appleby is allergic to bees. Daisy Appleby dies.

Daisy is only 15 when she is tragically stung by a bee at school, on a day when she has forgotten her epipen. But then Daisy Appleby isn’t her real name. And this is Daisy’s fifth death.

Every time Daisy dies she is brought back to life by a secret government super-drug called Revive. If she is killed by damaging vital organs she cannot be revived, and she must always have her “parents” close by so they can administer the drug quickly. But there are rumours that Revive doesn’t always work.

Daisy has always been a loner, never getting too close to others just in case she has to leave abruptly. Every time she dies, she must move to another city and change her name. She is, after all, a government secret. She has a number of friends who are also in the same program but she rarely sees them and only gets to chat to them over the internet.

Now Daisy is 15, discovering friendship and first love. Can she stop dying and be a normal teenager for a while? She can… until her past catches up and she realises that her life is in danger… danger of dying for good.

A unique story that was a race to the finish to see if Daisy’s next death will be her last.

The Reading Stack reviewed Cat Patrick’s Forgotten in April 2011.

 http://www.catpatrick.com/

Forgotten

by Cat Patrick

hardie grant Egmont. Young Adult. Paperback RRP $22.95

Reviewed by Barbara Brown

London Lane forgets her past. At precisely 4.33am her brain resets ready for a brand new day. But London never forgets her future – and the future of all around her. She sees the future in bits and pieces and it is something that London cannot forget.

Every morning the first thing London does is check her bedside table and the notes that are there to remind her of what has happened in the past couple of days and things she may need to do today. Most of the mundane things like eating, dressing, her room and school, teachers, best friend and her mum are firmly entrenched into her future memories that she knows what to expect and there are never any real surprises. But when London meets Luke she realises he isn’t in her future memories, therefore she won’t remember him. And Luke is someone London really wants to remember.

Everyday London meets up with Luke and even though she knows they are going out, Luke always takes her breath away. Why isn’t Luke in her future? Yet months into their relationship he is still there in her past and present but nowhere in her future memories.

Then London starts to dream of a funeral. Whose funeral is it? She sees a person who must be her grandmother and the father that she has never remembered. She wants to ask her mother but her mother has been hiding a secret from London and with the help of Luke, London starts to get answers. But the funeral must be in the future so whose is it? When she starts to see that Luke isn’t in her future does that mean this funeral is his? Is that why he isn’t in her future memories?

Forgotten kept me reading until the end – several hours later. A very interesting and yet gripping novel that could be classed as a love story but also could be classed as a suspenseful thriller. Neither classifications are correct. It’s the story of a girl with an interesting abnormality. This is Cat Patrick’s debut novel and it is good – truly not to be forgotten.

http://www.catpatrick.com/