This Mortal Coil
by Emily Suvada
Synopsis:
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?
Review:
Cat has been surviving in a harsh, plague-ridden world for years. And when a young soldier arrives, Cat doesn’t trust him at all, even when he says he knew her father. When she discovers that she is the key to unlocking the cure, Cat and Cole embark on a dangerous trek to her father’s lab in hopes of saving humanity.
This Mortal Coil is the first in a apocalyptic trilogy. The plague in this novel causes humans to turn feral and zombie-like and eventually explode, causing the infection to spread further. As a unique twist, a temporary cure for the plague is to cannibalize and infected person before they rupture. It’s disturbing, but the darkest part about the story. The danger and suspense is non-stop. With a bit of romance, and a lot of fun plot twists – this impressive debut is was very hard to put down. I will definitely read the next installment soon.