A tightly wound procedural that balances emotional depth with street-level realism.
In his second Cam Clay novel, Pachan blends the sunbaked chaos of Stampede with a bloody, slow-burning gang war. The Calgary Stampede is in full swing when a young man is shot execution-style in his own driveway. Detective Sergeant Cam Clay catches the file. It looks like a gang hit, until the bodies start stacking up and the evidence stops making sense.
Pachan threads the procedural needle tightly: interviews, neighborhood canvasses, forensics; it’s all here, layered with just enough grit and emotional weight to keep the pages turning. Clay is flanked by a well-drawn cast: the unflappable Breslow who knows when to push and when to back off; the sincere Sanchez, who delivers deadpan one-liners in full cowboy getup; and a city that feels alive and fraying at the edges. The contrast between cowboy hats and gunshots, midway rides and meth labs, gives the story its pulse. But it’s Clay who gives it heart. He doesn’t chase justice for glory. He does it because someone has to, even when the cost is personal.
A slick, brutally honest tale.
Pub date
ISBN 978-1-03-832487-0
Price $33.49 Hardcover, $20.99 Paperback, $4.99 eBook