Book Review and Author Interview: Revived by Cat Patrick

Cat Patrick has some crazy cool concepts as starting points for her books.  There was FORGOTTEN (my review) about a girl who can only remember the future and not the past and the upcoming ORIGINALS about three clones who share the life of one girl.  REVIVED is about Daisy, a girl who has died 5 times and been brought back to live by a drug called Revive.

At the start of the novel, Daisy is killed (her 5th time) by bees and she has to move from Michigan to Omaha, Nebraska with her agent "parents" to start over.  Though she shunned contact back in Michigan, she decides to live more in Omaha and becomes friends with a girl named Audrey and her hot brother Matt. Meanwhile, Daisy discovers that the Revive program might be more sinister than she thought.

Daisy and her relationships with Audrey and Matt take up a lot more page time than the intrigue surrounding the program.  Though they seemed to form deep bonds more quickly than is probably realistic, I enjoyed their camaraderie and conversations and found the plot developments genuinely moving. REVIVED is a quick, satisfying read.

I'm thrilled to have Cat on the blog today for a short interview.  Let's dive in!

REVIVED features a drug called Revive that brings its taker back to life. Despite the fact that it doesn't really work that way, if you could give Revive to anyone in history, to whom would you give it to and why?

I'll admit that Stephen King's 11/22/63 is fresh in my mind, but I'd love to bring back President Kennedy and see how the world would be different with him still in it.

Being able to cheat death, Daisy at first doesn’t seem to grasp the real value of life. Was this thematic undertone a deliberate choice or did it naturally develop while you wrote?

It was a deliberate choice. I always knew Daisy would discover the value of live through loss. The loss itself developed over the course of writing and editng the book but the intent remained the same.

Since you created a secret government agency with sinister motives, I have to ask – are you a conspiracy theorist? What are our governments hiding from us?

I wouldn't call myself a conspiracy theorist but like anyone, I do wonder what secrets our govermnet keeps from us. My first thought: Aliens!

The kids in the Revive project face off against the animals of Pet Sematary – who wins?

Yikes! Unfortunately, I think the animals of Pet Semetary would win because eventually, the drug Revive would run out. I think those animals are impossible to kill.

When I got my first check from my book advance, I splurged on a Kate Spade handbag. What did you buy?

Some funky Fluevog shoes. I love them!

Thanks Cat! REVIVED just came out in hardcover. Find out more about it at the author's website.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book as part of a publisher sponsored blog tour.