This novel was born during NaNoWriMo 2017 and finished during the Covid-19 lockdown. I was prompted to write it on hearing that the law around organ donation was to be changed to an ‘opt out’ system. I was already familiar with anecdotal stories of organ recipients relating how they had developed strange tastes and habits, seemingly from the organ donors. Although I took this a step further, I was surprised to find later that much of what this book covers has actually already happened in real life.
Emma’s teenage son, Nathan, has died in a tragic accident. His heart, liver, kidneys and corneas have been removed in the new UK ‘opt-out’ system of organ donation. Emma wants to know the names of the recipients but is told none of them want contact with the donor family. Anecdotal stories on the internet have convinced Emma that transplanted organs retain a memory of the personality of the donor. Perhaps by finding and befriending the recipients of her son’s organs, she will feel close to her son once more? However, husband Graeme is becoming increasingly out of patience with her relentless and obsessive desire to be re-united with her son and so she must set out on her quest alone, using the dark web to get the information she needs. The recipient of her son’s heart, Stuart, becomes her friend and confidant—a role he regrets taking when it is realised that a series of brutal murders all have one thing in common; Emma.