Resurrecting Sunshine

Gr 8 Up—When Sunshine died almost a year ago, the world mourned the singer. Adam Rhodes, Sunshine's boyfriend and backup guitarist, wishes he could process his grief in private—for Sunshine and the girl she used to be when she was still called Marybeth and they were growing up in foster care. Instead, Adam settles for dulling his senses with alcohol. When Dr. Elloran shows up at his door, he expects her to be another reporter or fan. Instead, she offers Adam the impossible: Elloran plans to use cloning and Memory Archiving Port (MAP) technology to bring Sunshine back to prove to the world (and Elloran's investors) that Project Orpheus can resurrect the dead. If Adam plays along—helping this new Sunshine remember the final days of her life and restoring other degraded memories—he'll have the chance to see Marybeth again. As Adam remembers the tragedy that led to his and Sunshine's fame, he is forced to confront painful memories of her death and begins to question if his decision is right for anyone. Simplistic and utilitarian world-building, including poorly explained technology, ground this sci-fi novel in 2026. A slow start and weak execution detract from a potentially intriguing premise. Koosis raises some interesting questions about cloning, depression, and suicide, but her prose falls short of insightful answers.