Reviews for Contagion

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

An unusual plague sweeps across Scotland in this trilogy opener.In the opening pages, 12-year-old Callie Tanzer is being experimented on by scientists in biohazard suits in an underground bunker. She dies after being consumed by fire. Now she's a ghost witnessing the spread of a sickness that is soon let loose into the wider population of Scotland and beyond. Being a ghost is frustrating, but Callie's determined to find her family, including her half brother, Kai, who has been obsessed with locating her after she disappeared a year ago. Enter Sharona "Shay" McAllister, who contacts Kai with information about Callie's disappearance (Shay conveniently has a photographic memoryit's been a year, after all). It's insta-sparks for Kai and Shay, but there's no time for character development, because the epidemic, dubbed the Aberdeen flu, starts killing off friends and neighbors. Luckily, Kai and his mother, an epidemiological researcher, are immune. Shay gets sick and survives, but survival comes with creepy abilities. Survivors are now being hunted, and Callie is consumed by the need for revenge. Shay and Kai fall in love laughably quickly, and the plague's origins take a back seat to navel-gazing and improbable plot twists. All main characters seem to be white. Fans of the genre deserve better than this.Boilerplate apocalyptic fodder. With kissing. (Dystopia. 12-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.


Publishers Weekly
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At the Shetland Institute in Scotland, Subject 369X is sick and in desperate need of a cure. She is not allowed to speak, but if she were, she would say that her name is Callie and that she is 12 years old. Hundreds of miles away, in Killin, Scotland, 16-year-old Sharona (Shay) sees a flyer for a missing girl, Callista. Shay has a photographic memory and can pinpoint exactly where and when she last saw the girl: on the day she was abducted. Meanwhile, a "cure" given to Callie for her disease manages to kill her, but her spirit remains and wants revenge. Feeling responsible for not realizing that the missing girl was in trouble a year earlier, Shay reaches out to Callie's family and meets her brother, Kai. Sparks fly between the two, but as they fall in love, a deadly, contagious flu takes hold of Scotland. In this first volume in a new series, Terry (the Slated trilogy) tackles the science of antimatter and what happens when human experimentation turns into deadly disease. This page-turning near-future paranormal thriller requires some suspension of disbelief, but the love story and mystery will keep readers engaged till the cliffhanger end. Ages 12-up. Agent: Caroline Sheldon, Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.


Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

A deadly virus is wiping out entire communities in Scotland, and three teens are all that stand in the way of the epidemic annihilating all of civilization. One of those teens is already dead: Callie, the little sister of handsome Kai, is a ghost, following her brother and his new girlfriend, Shay. The two of them are among the few immune to the virus and, as such, are tremendously valuable to the doctors in search of a cure. Callie is initially jealous of Shay's relationship with Kai, but when she discovers that Shay can hear and communicate with her, Callie is thrilled to have contact with a living being. Alternating first-person viewpoints from each protagonist enrich the story. Nonstop action, evil scientists, and plenty of imaginative deaths will engage fans of postapocalyptic fiction. While the abrupt ending of this series starter may frustrate some, two more titles in the Dark Matter trilogy promise many future plot threads to explore.--Debbie Carton Copyright 2019 Booklist


School Library Journal
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Gr 7–10—Terry's American debut, the first in the "Dark Matter" trilogy, provides a sinister scientific plot mixed with the supernatural in the form of a contagious epidemic with world-ending consequences. Shay, an older high school student, and 12-year-old Callie are thrown together unexpectedly when Shay experiences a photographic recall of Callie's abduction from the previous year. The trigger for Shay's flashback comes from a missing person flyer she stumbles upon at the supermarket, leading her to call the contact number. This is how she meets Callie's brother Kai. Not realizing how powerful a role her memory will play in the upcoming quest to bring an end to the deadly disease, Shay vows to do whatever she can to help Kai find his younger sister Callie. Little do they know that Callie, who was abducted and experimented on with the deadly disease, is the first to survive its fatal impact. The problem is that her survival caused her to take on a new form, and when she escapes her imprisonment, a wave of destruction is unleashed upon the world. For some mysterious reason, Shay's and Callie's families have immunity to the disease's deadly grip. Set in Scotland and told from Shay's and Callie's alternating perspectives, this fast-paced tale accelerates to a cliff-hanger conclusion shortly after Shay comes to a devastating realization. VERDICT Fans of Michael Grant's "Gone" series, Lauren James's "The Next Together" series, and Emma Pass's The Fearless will not be able to wait for the next installment in this survival story that is steeped in mystery and revenge.—Sabrina Carnesi, Crittenden Middle School, Newport News, VA

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