REVIEW: The Gift by Louise Jensen

The Gift by Louise Jensen

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Read: 7th October 2018

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Purchase: Amazon

★★★ 3 stars

THE GIFT is a compelling psychological thriller with a difference. It centres around the yet to be proven hypothesis/topic of cellular memory - in that memories can be stored in individual cells and that these cells can be transfer to the organ recipient, with them often experiencing recognition of a memory, an event, experience or emotion alien to them but one that was familiar to the donor.

When Jenna fell ill with the flu but failed to recover, she was diagnosed with viral myocarditis (which in layman's terms is a viral inflammation of the heart muscle). Growing more and more exhausted by the day, she grew weaker and weaker till a heart transplant was her only option. However, we all know how long those waiting lists are.

Callie was a young outgoing woman, engaged to be married and with a loving family and her whole life ahead of her. Till one night, on a road in the middle of nowhere she crashed into a tree and was pronounced dead at the hospital.

BUT...Callie's heart was a match for Jenna and despite the relief they felt at this second chance, they were also painfully aware that this gift only came to her through another family's grief.

But then something happened. While Jenna was incredibly grateful for this precious gift - this second chance - something changed inside her. She didn't know what. Only that it had. The plans she had made with boyfriend Sam who wanted to marry her were now alien to her. She couldn't. Her life had changed drastically. It now consisted of life before and after, and what they had planned for BEFORE could no longer happen now AFTER. Although she still loved him deeply, she lied to him and said she no longer did. It was the only way she could give him the chance to have a better life and the children she will never have. Her precious gift of life, her new heart, had come at a great cost.

But it's not the only thing it came with...

Soon after the transplant Jenna began having obsessive thoughts. As well as a range of emotions, panic attacks, anxiety, paranoia, obsessive fears and very strange surreal dreams. The barrage of medication she is on is to ensure she does not reject her new heart. However, these medications also come with side effects....many of which Jenna is experiencing. So she dismisses them as just that at first.

But then strange things start happening. She hears a woman screaming, brakes screeching, and has a sense she is being followed. These things are seemingly so real to her she no longer feels they are just mere side effects. Something is happening to her and she has no idea what.

She Googles (as you do) and discovers something called "cellular memory", where a memories of a donor's life and experiences are retained in the cells that are transplanted along with the organ the recipient received. She becomes obsessive about finding out more information, printing off pages, and is convinced that this is what has happened to her...as it all begins to make sense. The strange dreams, the sudden love of strawberries (which she loathes), the emotions she feels when she comes into contact with people her donor knew, the sounds and experiences - it all makes sense. Callie's memories have become a part of her.

As part of her post transplant treatment, Jenna also sees a therapist and she begins to bombard her with this information and details of things she would never know. But her therapist assures her that she is on some very strong medication with these very aspects as known side effects. Jenna doesn't know whether to believe her or not. But that doesn't matter - she just won't tell her everything. She hasn't told her that she sought out and made contact with Callie's family...well, not right away.

So if she has inherited Callie's memories in the form of fragmented dreams and muddled images, what is Callie trying to tell her? Is there something more to her death than otherwise known?

As Jenna continues contact with Callie's family, she begins delving into her past to try and gain some understanding as to what really happened to Callie. Why she was so frightened, and what - or who - she was running from?

Jenna begins to learn more about Callie and is about the uncover to truth...but it could cost her everything - her loved ones, her sanity and even her life - as Jenna begins to feel her body is starting to reject her new heart.

I was a little disappointed in the outcome which I felt to be a little anti-climatic, but the Epilogue just about made up for it.

THE GIFT is definitely an intriguing read, although I didn't enjoy this as much as I did her debut thriller "The Sister", it was still compelling. I'm glad I read it.