For fans of The Walking Dead and The Hunger Games comes a YA novel about freedom, choice and family - and the terrifying disease that makes them mutually exclusive. From the day she was born, Lena has viewed the world through the jagged window of a razor - wired fence. The hundred - acre property she shares with her mother in the Australian outback may keep her safe from the Y - Carrier disease, but it is no longer enough to hold Lena's interest, and her mother's increasingly tight grip on her free will is stifling. Just as her curiosity blooms and her courage rises, she meets a boy through the fence - the first boy she has ever laid eyes on. His name is Patrick and he comes with a dangerous yet irresistible invitation of adventure beyond the fence, an invitation to which Lena cannot say no. But Lena's newfound freedom is short - lived and she soon discovers that the Y - Carrier disease is not the only enemy she faces on the outside. Her new enemies want something Lena has, and they are willing to do anything to get it...
http://www.divabooknerd.com/2014/03/carrier-by-vanessa-garden.html Carrier started brilliantly, the premise of a teen girl being confined to her home, a rampant virus killing the female population and the mystery of Patrick immersed me within the storyline. But sadly the final few short chapters felt as though the story was verging on the ridiculous. It left me feeling deflated, as though two different books had been merged together. I'm not generally big on criticism, but with a rewritten ending, a longer and more drawn out storyline, this book could easily be a five star read.
I really enjoyed Vanessa Garden's Captivate, and this one has the potential to surpass. I would love to see it further developed. But as is, I can't see too many readers appreciating the ending.
