Author: S.A. Bodeen
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends, 240 Pages (May 25th 2010)
From: the Publisher, Thank You!
Synopsis: Mason has never known his father, but longs to. All he has of him is a DVD of a man whose face is never seen, reading a children’s book. One day, on a whim, he plays the DVD for a group of comatose teens at the nursing home where his mother works. One of them, a beautiful girl, responds. Mason learns she is part of a horrible experiment intended to render teenagers into autotrophs—genetically engineered, self-sustaining life-forms who don’t need food or water to survive. And before he knows it, Mason is on the run with the girl, and wanted, dead or alive, by the mysterious mastermind of this gruesome plan, who is simply called the Gardener.
Will Mason be forced to destroy the thing he’s longed for most?
Review: 4 Stars - The Gardener is a fasted paced Sci-fi thriller that’ll keep your eyes glued to its pages while shaking your head in shock as the events unfold throughout the small town and for the characters within.
Mason, our main character is a hero of sorts. Or at least he works hard to be. He doesn’t want to be seen as the monster everyone assumes he as at first glance. His face is scared due to a horrible accident with a neighbor’s dog when he was little. It’s the scar, his over six foot frame and the unknown that keep people away. He lives with his mom; she works for a retirement home in town. He’s never known his dad except for a DVD he’s had since the dog attack of his father reading him a story from a children’s book, which strangely his face is never shown.
When a shocking event occurs leaving Mason unsure what to do, he takes his life and the life of a stranger – a girl into his own hands to try to save her. He knows nothing about what’s going on, she can’t remember anything except she’s scared and wants to get away from TroDyn and ‘The Gardener’; and with Mason not understanding just what he’s getting them all into, he does the one thing he feels he has to do – save this strange girl.
As always, without giving to much away… the story takes a darker turn, throwing our hero into a world he never expected to find just on the other side of town; or even the shocking information he finds out about his parents and the girl he’s fighting to save.
The mystery and shocking nature of the plot, characters and the writing made this book extremely hard to put down. Bodeen has created a story that’ll give you goose bumps. I’ll be looking to pick up her other book – The Compound and will be keeping an eye out for more from Bodeen in the future.
FTC Disclaimer: I did not pay for this book, nor have I been compensated at all in any way or means for reading and writing this review.
Sounds exciting!
ReplyDeleteSounds interesting. Very creepy and dystopian.
ReplyDeleteThe cover looks very creepy.
ReplyDelete