The basic premise is this: Revivers are able to talk to the dead. In this way, in the case of a suspicious or sudden death, the police can find out how they died or relatives can have the chance to say goodbye. In the 12 years since revival was uncovered the public has split into two factions; those who have accepted it as part of life for the comfort it brings families and the justice it serves on behalf of the victims and those people - know as Afterlifers - who loathe and despise the practice as an abomination before God.
Jonah Miller is a particularly skilled Reviver who works for the Forensic Revival Service, a federal department that specialises in revival. Jonah discovered his latent 'gift' as a child in tragic and harrowing circumstances, but his skill at revival is rare so his workload is high, and his consequent burnout rate likely to to be high. During a routine call to a violent murder, the victim becomes truly terrified by something coming for her from the 'other side' and after Jonah loses his connection to her a voice speaks to Jonah through the woman, a voice that is watching him, and waiting. At first Jonah is told it's overwork and made to rest, but when Daniel Harker, the journalist and novelist that broke the news of the Revivers, is murdered, Jonah resolves to do all he can to bring the killers to justice. It's during these investigations that Jonah uncovers the true nature of private interest in revival and how dangerous the watching voice could actually be.
Okay, so the idea of being able to revive the dead is nothing new but Seth Patrick puts a decent enough spin on it as a forensic process along with all the requisite procedural elements that it works really well. He also manages to marry a fairly traditional noir detective story with all the tropes and traditions that implies to a contemporary, SF'nal setting with a great deal of aplomb and the finished story fairly crackles along at a gripping pace. That said, it's not without it's problems.
While, as I said, the world-building is pretty good and the process and particulars around revival are decently realised, the first half of the book has far too many chunks of info-dump, which in and of itself I could live with, but elements of it do contradict each other which make parts of the second, and infinitely better, half of the book exasperating at times. It's all very well having 'rules' for your world - in fact it's to be encouraged - but they shouldn't contradict each other such that the reader is thinking about the plot holes while still reading the story. I was also little disappointed that the 'noir 101' playbook was so steadfastly adhered to as it did make cyphers out of a lot of the characters. All the women were either sexy or plain, honest or duplicitous, capable or inept. All the men were strong, handsome and smart or weak, weasely and stupid (and/or fat) there were little or no shades of grey in any of them, even the leads, so it's just as well that the plot is strong enough to keep the story rolling along and the reader interested as there's precious little character to invest in.
That said, it would be churlish to say it's not a good book. If you're a fan of detective mysteries or thrillers, it's an accomplished debut and a fine introduction to what will no doubt be a very successful series of books. The execution is terrific, Patrick's prose is very good and he shows a deft touch with plotting and pacing that many struggle to match even after years of writing, no doubt a product of his time as a games writer.
Me, I'm looking forward to the film. If it's half as exciting as the book it'll be brilliant!
Reviver is published by Macmillan, and is available with free delivery from The Book Depository and on the high street from Blackwell and all good book stores.