Revived by Cat Patrick

When Daisy was in elementary school, she was killed in a school bus accident.  Then she was brought back to life through a secret government program using a drug called Revive.  Since then, Daisy's lived with the comforting knowledge that if anything should ever happens to her again, her guardian, Mason, an agent in the program, will bring her back with the drug.  But after Daisy moves to a new town and becomes friends with a girl with terminal cancer, Daisy begins questioning the motives of the Revive program.  And then she discovered the program has a much darker side than she ever could have imagined.

So this book has a totally misleading blurb on the back.  It says how Daisy takes risk, knowing that she can always be brought back.  I expected a book about a girl doing crazy things, like cliff diving and running in to oncoming traffic for an adrenalin rush.  It was not about that at all.  Yes, Daisy has died several times, but it mostly seems to have to do with the fact that she has a severe bee allergy and a habit of forgetting her EpiPen.  She's not exactly a crazy risk taker.

Daisy certainly has a skewed idea of death, however, because of what her experience has been.  Death is not permanent to Daisy.  She's never really thought about the people who could not be Revived from the school bus crash, only how great it was that so many of them were saved through the amazing program.

When Daisy moves to a new town (because she's died from a bee sting and brought back) she becomes close friends with Audrey, whom she later learns has terminal cancer.  She also starts dating Audrey's brother Matt.  Daisy begins to question the motivations of the program.  If there's this amazing drug, why isn't it being shared?  Why didn't the agents try to save the bus kids in other ways if Revive doesn't always work?  Why does she get to be brought back to life over and over, but Audrey can't?

There's also this whole sinister side to the Revive program Daisy discovers and is trying to figure out, but what made it more than just a "teen uncovers sinister plot" story was Daisy coming to understand what death really means.  Audrey does die, and there's nothing Daisy can do about it (Revive doesn't work with disease that destroys the body) and now she has to come to terms with what death actually means.

A riveting read that also had a very thoughtful side.