Format: E-Book, 432 pages
Release Date: November 7, 2017
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Source: Edelweiss
Genre: Young Adult / Science Fiction
In this gripping debut novel, seventeen-year-old Cat must use her gene-hacking skills to decode her late father’s message concealing a vaccine to a horrifying plague.Catarina Agatta is a hacker. She can cripple mainframes and crash through firewalls, but that’s not what makes her special. In Cat’s world, people are implanted with technology to recode their DNA, allowing them to change their bodies in any way they want. And Cat happens to be a gene-hacking genius.
That’s no surprise, since Cat’s father is Dr. Lachlan Agatta, a legendary geneticist who may be the last hope for defeating a plague that has brought humanity to the brink of extinction. But during the outbreak, Lachlan was kidnapped by a shadowy organization called Cartaxus, leaving Cat to survive the last two years on her own.
When a Cartaxus soldier, Cole, arrives with news that her father has been killed, Cat’s instincts tell her it’s just another Cartaxus lie. But Cole also brings a message: before Lachlan died, he managed to create a vaccine, and Cole needs Cat’s help to release it and save the human race.
Now Cat must decide who she can trust: The soldier with secrets of his own? The father who made her promise to hide from Cartaxus at all costs? In a world where nature itself can be rewritten, how much can she even trust herself?
This Mortal Coil is the debut release for author Emily Suvada. 17-year old Catarina Agatta is a talented hacker who has spent the last two years living on her own in the Black Hills of South Dakota after her father, Dr. Lachlan Agatta, and his assistant Dax, were taken away by the mega-corporation Cartaxus. Since then, Cat has tried to avoid the mindless humans that were were exposed to the Hydra virus. A virus that has brought humanity to the very brink of the apocalypse. Hydra is a virus that causes spontaneous combustion in humans called a Hydra cloud.
The cloud contains swirling airborne virus particles that infect anyone in its path. One of the more curious aspects of the Hydra virus is that if you actually eat the flesh of one of the victims before they combust, you have temporary immunity from the virus. Cat's only real contact has come in the form of Agnes, a woman who knows her as Bobcat. She also works with a group calling themselves The Skies which is a group of survivors who chose not to give up their freedom and their technology in order to live in some underground bunker operated and controlled by Cartaxus.
But, things quickly change. When Lieutenant Cole Franklin, a Cartaxus black out soldier, arrives with news of her fathers death, he also brings news that he may have created a vaccine for the Hydra virus. He is also programmed to protect her against anyone who attempts to harm her. Cat may hold the answer to saving humanity, but first she has to struggle with understanding her father's methods, a growing affection for Cole, and her own identity which threw me for one helluva a loop once it was revealed. Cat must choose who she actually trusts, while at the same time, unlocking what might be more than she is willing to give up in order to save humanity from extinction.
Cat's story is one of secrets and revelations. Secrets of who she is. Secrets of what she is capable of. Secrets that are so damning once they come out, that they force Cat into taking action that she might have never figured out had it not been for fate, and circumstances which will remain unspoiled by me. This is a curious world where the technology written about isn't at all far-fetched. Technology evolves on a daily basis. One day soon in the future, maybe not in my lifetime, there will be healing apps that people can download to fix what ails them, including some we've spent trillions on trying to understand and cure. There will be apps that will allow you to change your appearance so cosmetic surgery will no longer be required. You can even lost that fat that you've been dying to get rid of instead of doing exercise, or going through painful liposuction. This story is far from being a stand alone. The last chapter of this book is not only revealing, but sets the stage for the sequel.
Great review! Sounds like an interesting story, I might have to add this to my tbr list. Thanks for sharing!
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