This Mortal Coil

In this gripping debut novel, seventeen-year-old Cat must use her gene-hacking skills to decode her late father's message concealing a vaccine to a horrifying plague.

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?

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published: 11/07/2017
ISBN: 9781481496339
Pages: 432
Weight: 1.30lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.30w x 1.30d

Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 08/15/2017
Publishers Weekly 09/18/2017
School Library Journal 10/01/2017
Voice of Youth Advocates 10/01/2017 - Recommended - Better Than Most
Booklist 11/01/2017 pg. 66
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 12/01/2017 - Book Of Special Distinction
Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2018 pg. 127 - Recommended, Satisfactory

Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 193495 / This Mortal Coil
Reading Level: 5.4 / Interest Level: Upper Grade / Point Value: 19