Title: Revoked

Author: MK Pachan

Genre: Mystery

Revoked focuses on a double-homicide of the worst imaginable. A mother and child are found dead in their home by Detectives Cam Clay and Mitch Raines. Detective Clay is hell-bent on solving these murders as the suspect list grows and the body count continues to rise around him and his team.

Plunging right into the story, we find ourselves front and center at a possible crime scene. The pacing is adrenaline-induced and makes it hard to stop turning the pages. MK Pachan has a style of writing that makes us believe in what he writes.

Most of the dialogue has such an authority that it makes us wonder if the author has been employed as a detective, himself. Humor is used well in the book, and at times it is a balm to the horrific scenes that find a home in this story. There are also lines throughout that cut us deep. For example, “No, it wasn’t easy to be a cop’s wife. Or the cop left behind.” Those few words speak volumes and conjures up a plethora of emotions, akin to the works of James Patterson.

The suspects the author included have a good variety and keeps the protagonists on their toes. The first suspect brought to our attention is a young man who is the only person left alive at the crime scene, followed by a neighbor who is a recovering sex-offender. As the story progresses, we are introduced to a third, who’s the incarcerated husband of the dead woman and father to the murdered child. Although all the characters in the novel are uniquely their own, there was one character who seemed to shift in personality by the end, which felt unnatural.

There are points in the story that come across as over explained. As readers, most of us are not privy to what police acronyms stand for. That being said, the information could have been executed in a way that was more natural and kept it flowing in an otherwise absorbing read.

Additional murders take place that leave a few detectives in the police department scratching their heads. They try to piece together how the killings may be linked, if in fact they are. However, higher ups in the department try to make it an easy open-and-shut case so that hysteria doesn’t break out in their district.

The details that go into the murders are terrifyingly vivid and make for a queasy stomach at times, but that only illuminates the effectiveness of the writing and the world that we find ourselves in. A few sentences with missing words toward the end of the book do jump out at us and are distracting, but they can easily be fixed with a few strokes at the keyboard.

The setting, because it is in Canada as opposed to the United States, makes for a new and exciting backdrop and ups the originality factor several degrees. Although Canada is not an unknown world in mainstream fiction, it juxtaposes well with an occupation that may feel unfamiliar to some.

Revoked has an ending that readers will not see coming. Readers starting on page one should prepare for a ride that will not be forgotten. MK Pachan is the authority on detective procedurals. He brings the underbelly of our world to the surface and sets it on fire. Revoked will keep readers up at night, reminding them to double check their locked doors.

This Editorial Review was written by the Book Review Directory staff. To receive a similarly honest, professional review for one of your own books, click here.