Reviver Review

Reviver

Seth Patrick

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Able to wake the recently dead, and let them bear witness to their own demise. Twelve years after the first reviver came to light, they have become accepted by an uneasy public. The testimony of the dead is permitted in courtrooms across the world. Forensic revival is a routine part of police investigation. In the United States, that responsibility falls to the Forensic Revival Service. Despite his troubled past, Jonah Miller is one of their best. But while reviving the victim of a brutal murder, he encounters a terrifying presence. Something is watching. Waiting. His superiors tell him it was only in his mind, a product of stress. Jonah is not so certain. Then Daniel Harker, the first journalist to bring revival to public attention, is murdered, and Jonah finds himself getting dragged into the hunt for answers. Working with Harker's daughter Annabel, he becomes determined to find those responsible and bring them to justice. Soon they uncover long-hidden truths that call into doubt everything Jonah stands for, and reveal a threat that if not stopped in time, will put all of humanity in danger...

A creepy and disturbing thriller read which had me shivering and wondering what there really is out there. Set in the near future, a special type of person is discovered, a reviver who can bring the dead back for a few minutes to say goodbye to their loved ones or help the police capture their murderers... Without getting bogged down in how this process is actually achieved, Reviver leaps straight into some big questions – what is there for us after death? Are those who return just the memories of those who died or their souls? And once brought back, can these remnants be banished again easily? With most of the focus on a Reviver who has had a troubled past but finds himself drawn into the questions behind the process when he glimpses something else behind the departed souls...

The early parts of the book do cover a lot of background setting the scenes and laying the groundwork for the way the world now works with Revival common place in murder investigations. This is intriguing though and it takes a while before you notice not much has happened – and then about half way through the story really takes off with revelations and discoveries that wouldn’t have made sense without the slow build. The end does finish in a very different place than you would expect and with some loose ends left dangling, desperate for a sequel.

I could easily picture this working as a either a film or a TV show (think Bones or CSI but with actual talking from the dead) – so it’s no surprise the rights have already been sold. With this disturbing cover, this is a blending of horror, thriller and crime that does something different from many other books out there. I am looking forward to another book in this world!

Recommended for fans of SJ Bolton and Christopher Pike. 8 out of 10