Horn Book

Cat suffers from crippling headaches after falling out of a tree while bird watching. She's sent to I-CAN, a high-tech facility that promises to cure her but that also has nefarious plans to implant DNA from dead geniuses into its patients. Messner's premise is rich with potential, but the narrative pacing is uneven. A note on real-life genetic engineering research should spur conversation.

School Library Journal

Gr 6-9 Cat Grayson hopes that checking into the International Center for Advanced Neurology, a prestigious clinic in an isolated section of the Florida Everglades, will help fix the headaches and memory issues that have plagued her since she suffered a concussion. Her first sign that something is amiss, though, is that the resortlike clinic houses only five other teenage patients. After overhearing a suspicious conversation and snooping through some files, Cat and her new friends discover that I-CAN's doctors are secretly using gene therapies to turn teenagers into clones of famous scientists, possibly for nefarious purposes. A series of narrow getaways ensues as the group attempts to flee to safety. The simple language and high-interest plot, reminiscent of Lois Duncan's Down a Dark Hall (Little, Brown, 1974), make this book accessible to reluctant or hi/lo readers. However, the pacing is too slow for a thriller and the characters act older than their stated years (12 to 14). Medical inaccuracies are distracting-traumatic brain injuries are as unlikely to be cured in a week as patients' charts are to be easily found and understood-and the kids' investigations rely too much on documents that just happen to be left visible on office computers. An author's note attempts to explain the underlying science, but long URLs are sloppily presented. Supplement this title with more sophisticated YA biomedical thrillers like Nancy Werlin's Double Helix (Peniguin, 2004) or Lydia Kang's Control (Dial, 2013). Jill Ratzan, I. L. Peretz Community Jewish School, Somerset, NJ

ALA Booklist

Following a traumatic head injury, 12-year-old Cat knows what it's like to be missing pieces of yourself. Then she's accepted at I-CAN, a "miracle" treatment center for neurological disorders in the Florida Everglades. Things seem strange right away: the small number of patients (only six), the isolated island facility, the prohibition against cell phones, and the absences and personality changes of those undergoing Phase Three. After overhearing a sinister conversation, Cat and the others do some judicious (though implausibly easy) snooping, where they learn that the miracle cure is a ruse. Instead, the children are to be implanted with the DNA of dead scientific paragons such as Oppenheimer and Edison as part of a modern-day Manhattan Project. Their escape through alligator-infested swamps ahead of hired thugs is suspenseful though ultimately reassuring, as the enemies are punished and the children are saved. An author's note explains the real science used as a basis for this thriller, which will get kids talking about the role DNA plays in our identities. A smart, safe scare.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

When 12-year-old Cat Grayson is sent to the International Center for Advanced Neurology (I-CAN), an elite clinic specializing in head injuries, she hopes their revolutionary techniques will cure her post-concussion trauma. Instead, she discovers a diabolical plot to use the young patients at the clinic as test subjects in an attempt to recreate some of the greatest scientists of all time. Rather than have their minds overwritten with those of Thomas Edison, Marie Curie, Robert Oppenheimer, and others, Cat and her new friends flee I-CAN, attempting to elude their erstwhile captors in the Everglades as they seek help. But with killers and alligators at their heels, they have to rely on their own ingenuity-and the talents of a resurrected genius. Messner (Hide and Seek) delivers an exciting middle-grade thriller inspired by cutting-edge science and historical events, drawing on the Manhattan Project and Tuskegee experiments to weave something new and interesting. Sadly, the characterizations pale in comparison to the atmospheric setting and tense story line. Ages 10-14. Agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (Sept.)

Kirkus Reviews

Six middle schoolers + mad scientists + Everglades = adventure. Cat, along with five other children who have suffered head injuries, goes to what is billed as the pre-eminent neurological center in the world, the International Center for Advanced Neurology, located in the Everglades. At first, she receives excellent care, but she soon overhears an ominous conversation that leads to her discovery of the awful truth: The terrible Dr. Ames and his colleague intend to implant the children with the DNA of long-dead scientists, including Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, Marie Curie and even Leonardo da Vinci. Worse, they learn that Trent, who has already received a transplant, has virtually become Thomas Edison. Trent not only has Edison's DNA, he has Edison's century-old memories and speech patterns. Cat and her friends seize an opportunity to escape, relying on Trent's technical expertise and "inherited" memory to evade the bad guys. As she outlines in her author's note, Messner follows good science in her descriptions of head-injury treatment; she also gives teachers opportunities to explore the differences between hereditary and acquired characteristics in her more fictional genetic "science." Her characterizations are solid and age-appropriate; Trent, as young Thomas Edison still avidly working on alternating currents, supplies some laughs. With plenty of thrills, friendship, some humor, intrigue and an easy good-guys/bad-guys escape plot, young readers will find lots of fun here. (Science fiction. 10-14)