The Gift

Publication Date: 16 December 2016.

Jenna isn't well and she needs a heart transplant. Eventually the good news comes - her doctor has found a donor. Jenna receives a new heart and the surgery is a success, but something has changed. Since the surgery Jenna's been having very vivid, detailed and scary dreams. Dreams that seem so real that on waking, Jenna feels like the events have happened to her, but yet she knows that they haven't. Could these memories belong to the donor? And if yes, it's obvious to Jenna that something was very wrong in that person's life. Jenna embarks on a mission to find out who the donor was and to figure out just exactly how and why this person died.

Let me say at the outset that I liked this read, without loving it. It's classified as a psychological thriller, which is my favourite genre. I've read tons of books that fall into this category and perhaps that's why it's more difficult to impress me. So, I didn't find myself head over heals in love with this one. It's a good thriller that builds at a good pace. I found myself dying for the story to progress more quickly so that I could get to the heart of the story and find out all that I was wanting to know. For me personally, I found that the story took a while to get moving. There seemed to be a number of events that took place that didn't actually progress the story in any way. One example, is the event that happens with Sam's younger brother. Also, I didn't think that the ending contained any major twist. For some, the ending will be good enough, but for me, I like to be left with a shock. That didn't happen here. But, having said all that, I did find the concept of Cellular Memory - the term used to describe the feelings and memories that some transplant patients experience after surgery - fascinating. The fact that people sometimes experience memories of the donor, defies logic and there is no rational explanation. But apparently such a thing exists. Wow! All in all, this is a good, solid read, but lacks a wow factor.

My rating: * * *

I would like to thank the author, Louise Jensen, the publisher and Netgalley for my ARC. It was my pleasure to write an honest review.