Tabula Rasa

Publication 9/23/2014

The Bourne Identity meets Divergent in this heart-pounding debut.

Sixteen-year-old Sarah has a rare chance at a new life. Or so the doctors tell her. She's been undergoing a cutting-edge procedure that will render her a tabula rasa - a blank slate. Memory by memory her troubled past is being taken away.

But when her final surgery is interrupted and a team of elite soldiers invades the isolated hospital under cover of massive blizzard, her fresh start could be her end.

Navigating familiar halls that have become a dangerous maze with the help of a teen computer hacker who's trying to bring the hospital down for his own reasons, Sarah starts to piece together who she is and why someone would want her erased. And she won't be silenced again.

A high-stakes thriller featuring a non-stop race for survival and a smart heroine who will risk everything, Tabula Rasa is, in short, unforgettable.
from goodreads.com

Beth says 3.5 Stars...
The concept behind this book is absolutely fascinating and I love the idea of a breakneck story with this kind of intensity.  I enjoyed my reading, but definitely felt like there were some problems with the novel.  A major issue I had was with the setting.  For the attempted scope of the story, keeping everything located within the hospital ended up problematic.  The feeling of claustrophobia created by limiting the setting worked against the feeling of the book.  Enough intensity came from the plot; the extras were unnecessary and distracting.  The plot itself moved fairly quickly, but the information drops weren't particularly well timed.  All of the action did work in the book's favor with the battle sequences coming off as unpredictable and exciting.  I can totally see how they would pull action fans in, and it definitely made the book a page turner.

Sarah is fairly well characterized and interesting.  She's easy to root for, despite how little she knows about herself.  Her struggle to learn about her past is a bit mishandled, which goes back to my earlier note on the information pacing.  The other characters did certainly add to the narrative.  Thomas was particularly awesome with his snark and thoughtful attitude.  He didn't take undue risks, but wasn't afraid of going for it when necessary.  The only individual that I felt really lacked depth and that I was ambivalent to was the villain.  I think that's one of the reasons I didn't like this book as much.  It's hard to love something when the "evil" force in the story feels contrived and elicits no strong response.

Overall, I wanted more from the villain and better information reveals.  This book is for people who want a thrill ride or fast-paced adventure.  If you're looking for depth, look elsewhere.
ebook from Netgalley