The Recipient by Dean Mayes

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Title: The Recipient
Author: Dean Mayes
Published: May 1, 2016
Publisher: Central Avenue Publishing
Pages: 416
Genre: Psychology thriller 
Review: ebook given to me



Casey Schillinge is a vivacious young woman on the verge of making her mark on the world. While backpacking, she is struck down by a tropical disease and suffers cardiac failure. But at the eleventh hour, Casey receives a life-saving heart transplant - and a rare second chance to begin again.
Three years later, Casey has become a withdrawn shell of her former self: she is estranged from her loved ones, afraid of open spaces and rides the line between legitimate and criminal work. The worst of her troubles come in the form of violent night terrors; so frightening that she resorts to extreme measures to keep herself from sleeping. When she can take no more, she embarks on a desperate search for the source of her dreams. ​In so doing, she makes a shocking discovery surrounding the tragic fate of the donor whose heart now beats inside her chest. As she delves deeper into the mystery of her donor, she realizes her dreams are not a figment of her imagination, but a real life nightmare.



I got to pick out a free book to read and I picked this one. The blurb pulled me right in and once I started it was hard to put down. We are introduced to Casey who is a normal young woman until she ends up contracting a tropical disease that causes her to need a heart transplant. When she receives the new heart everything is okay until three years later she is not the same person as she once was before. I have to say I really loved how Casey worked in the hacking world, to me that is pretty awesome. When Casey starts being not able to sleep she starts to listen to her dreams, it seems that something tragic happened and she will have to uncover it. She probably won't ever be able to rest until the truth is out. Casey will have to find out more about her donor and the sinister things that are happening behind closed doors with those that aren't expecting it. 
I really loved the idea of the residual memories being left behind by a donor, to me that is pretty neat. Though I guess also scary because you just never know about who or what that person was or was like. When I first started reading it and we see how Casey was starting to change I literally thought at first, she is a serial killer. No way around it. So I was a bit surprised that it was not something that severe, though I could see it go that route if the author wanted it. 



When he emerged in 2010, Adelaide based Intensive Care Nurse and author Dean Mayes, had almost given up on the prospect of ever being published. by then in his 30's with several abortive writing attempts under his belt, Dean believed he had missed his opportunity. But Dean had an idea for one last story he wanted to tell and, rather than allow it to wither and die in his imagination, he decided to blog it instead.
Quite unexpectedly, Dean's blog took off and after a chance encounter with Canadian based publisher Central Avenue in mid 2009, Dean's dream like tale about a young man who discovers he has taken on the memories and dreams of a complete stranger, became his first novel. Dean was signed to an initial two year contract and in 2010 "The Hambledown Dream" was published. The novel has since gone on to receive global attention and critical acclaim.
Dean set about penning a follow up novel that was not merely a repeat performance and in 2012 "Gifts of the Peramangk" a powerful Australian family saga. Chronicling a dysfunctional Aboriginal family in the struggle streets of Adelaide's suburban fringe, "Gifts of the Peramangk" has been described as significant literary achievement. In October 2013, it was nominated as a finalist in the prestigious EPIC Awards for contemporary fiction.
Dean's third feature length novel, a psychological thriller set in Melbourne called "The Recipient", showcased his ability to cross genres and deliver a taut and gripping tome about a heart transplant patient who discovers her organ donor was a murder victim - and that the murder remains unsolved.
Dean is currently editing his fourth novel, a return to his romantic roots, called "The Artisan Heart", which is scheduled for a September, 2018 release.
He lives in Adelaide, Australia with his partner Emily, their two children Xavier and Lucy. An Intensive Care Nurse with over 15 years of clinical experience in adult, paediatric and neonatal medicine, he can often be found lying on a hospital gurney at 3 in the morning with a notebook in hand, madly scribbling ideas while on his break.
Dean is represented by Michelle Halket and is published by Central Avenue Publishing of Vancouver, Canada.

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