The Recipient

Casey Schillinge is a brilliant young woman who rewards her recent graduation from university with a trip to Asia. On that trip she contracts a tropical disease that destroys her heart. Her parents bring her back home to Australia to wait for a new one. They finally get the call that a heart is available, and Casey is rushed into surgery. Her body accepts the heart, and everything seems like it will go back to normal. However, Casey begins to withdraw and starts having terrible nightmares. She tries everything to keep from sleeping, but it makes her further deteriorate, so she decides to find out what her dreams really mean. As it turns out, her donor was murdered, and Casey is determined to solve the case. After all, she is The Recipient, and this poor woman gave her the chance to live.

Since the author is a nurse, it lent a lot of credibility and gave insight into the medical side of this story. It’s always a question for those who have never had an organ transplant if the recipient takes on the personality of the donor. Mr. Mayes did a great job of showing that as a possibility and what an organ transplant can both physically and emotionally do to a person. Overall, a great read that was fascinating medically and had great character development on the part of Casey.