Revived by Cat Patrick

Hardie Grant Egmont, 2012. ISBN 9781921690631.
(Age: 13+) Recommended as a light read. Daisy Appleby died in a bus crash, but was revived minutes later by a secret agency, with a drug called Revive. Daisy, an orphan, becomes a test case for the drug
and dies five times, each time being revived. Each time she dies, she has to change her name, her home and her school. When she finally meets a boy that she really likes, Matt McKean, and his sister Audrey, who she knows can be a real friend, she begins to question the morality of using the drug.
From the opening paragraph with its description of Daisy dying from a bee sting, Patrick had me hooked with this unique story. At the back of my mind was always the question of whether Daisy would survive another accident and whether the government agency would actually revive her again. At the same time I became involved in Daisy's questioning about whom should receive the drug and what was really happening with the people who were given it. Daisy's easy going approach to death changes when a friend has terminal cancer and there is nothing that she can do about it. The drug Revive doesn't work on people whose organs aren't perfectly healthy when they die.
Threaded through the themes of death, friendship and a growing romance, is a thrilling story of what is really going on with the man who controls the Revive program. Daisy uncovers a sinister plot and puts herself in real danger in her search for the truth. There is a dramatic and nail biting climax where all is revealed.
Told in the first person by Daisy, this story was compulsive and I finished it quickly. It was easy to read and is sure to appeal to girls who like a feisty main character, romance and lots of suspense.
Pat Pledger