Review: The Gardener (Bodeen)

Title: The Gardener
Author: Bodeen
Genre: Science Fiction, Experiments, Adventure
Pages: 240
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The only thing that Mason knows about his father is the DVD he has of a man reading a children's book, but the man's face is never shown.  One day Mason decides to play this DVD to a group of comatose teens at the nursing home where his mom works...miraculously, one of the teens responds.  A beautiful girl with a mysterious past.  Before he knows it, he has helped the girl escape the nursing home, and they are on the run.

Through the course of their escape/adventure, Mason learns that the girl is part of some crazy genetic science experiment to turn teenagers into autotrophs--organisms that do not need food or water to survive, but can make their own nutrients from the sun.  Will Mason be able to save the girl from "The Gardener"?

This is the newest book from the author of "The Compound," which is an Evergreen Award Nominee book for 2011.  Mason is not your typical teen; he is quiet and shy, but also wants to save people.  And "the girl," as we know her for most of the story, is so mysterious that you want to learn all about her. There is plenty of action and creepiness to keep you turning the page!