The Donor - Clare Mackintosh

Release Date: 20th February 2020

Genre: Short Story / Thriller

'The Donor' is a short story written for the Reading Agency Quick Reads 2020 Collection - check out their website for more information on this years books!

Lizzies daughter has been dying for her whole life - after finally making it through cancer treatment, her heart was failing quickly. But now, thanks to a precious heart transplant she finally has the chance to live. Meg can be just another fourteen year old girl and go to school, eat too much chocolate and be mad at her parents.

The whole family is eternally grateful to the stranger who saved Megs life, so when a letter turns up from the young boys mother asking to meet ... how can she say no? Karen lost her son and her husband in a tragic accident, and seeing her own childs heart keeping Meg alive brings them closer than anyone. Most definitely too close.

In just over a hundred pages, somehow this story still managed to pack in twists and turns that I didn't see coming at all - I expected a straightforward story but it was still full of surprises. The tension was building from the get go and I wasn't left with any real questions about the characters or where they came from, we still got a fully rounded idea of who each key player was which is an impressive feat in such a short story.

And somehow in amongst all this there was still time to address issues surrounding complex family dynamics, loss and grief, which were all handled very well. This was a super easy book to read, I sat and read the entire thing in under thirty minutes so it's perfect if you want a quick thriller fix around your busy life.

The ending I both loved and hated at the same time - it felt like a very standard thriller finale but it still definitely worked in context with the rest of the story.

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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