Ghost of a Chance by Simon R. Green
Ghost of a Chance is the first book in author Simon R. Green’s Ghost Finder series. It follows the adventures of Josiah Charles Chance, Happy Jack Palmer, and Melody Chambers. All three work for the mysterious Carnacki Institute located in Buckingham Palace. The institute was founded in 1587 by Queen Elizabeth I and runs independently of the government. The institute studies ghosts to protect the citizens of the British Empire. A job with the Carnacki Institute is a job for life. JC also owns a rare occult bookstore, Happy is an accountant, and Melody runs an erotic fetish magazine. The story starts with them finishing a job in a parking lot. Usually field agents are given a couple months, but the current boss, Catherine Latimer, has ordered them to report in. There seems to have been a huge paranormal occurrence in the London Underground and JC’s team is ordered to investigate the Oxford Circus Tube Station.
JC is a level ten telepath and team leader of the group. Happy also is a telepath but likes to dull the pain with pills. Melody is the tech genius and support for JC and Happy in the field. All three are social outcasts but the best at what they do.
If the Carnacki Institute are the shadowy good guys, then the Crowley Project is it’s evil twin. They were created to harness the powers of the supernatural for their own benefit and will stop at nothing to gain more power. They have sent agents Natasha Chang and Erik Grossman to recover whatever they find in the Oxford Circus Tube Station. They are willing to cheat, kill, and steal to meet their goals and will go head to head against the Carnacki Insitute agents.
I’m a huge fan of Simon R. Green’s Nightside novels and he continues to impress with Ghost of a Chance. He continues to put out great stories and gives readers deeply flawed characters that you still want to root for. This book is a great start to a new series that I will keep reading.
Book Stats:
- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Ace; Reprint edition (August 31, 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0441019161
- ISBN-13: 978-0441019168
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Books in the Ghostfinders series in the order they should be read:
Ghost of a Chance
I am also a huge fan of his Nightside books. I love how he adds such dry humor sometimes, I loved listening to the audiobooks, I forget who read for him, but my god he was good. I cracked up at quite a few parts!! Thanks for bringing this to my attention, I put it in my wish list at amazon and will def be checking it out soon!
I just found and really like Green’s The Secret Histories series and now this one looks like a neat addition to the reading stacks. Thanks for the cranium’s up.
I just finished The Man with the Golden Torc by Simon R. Green and really enjoyed it. This sounds like another great series! Thanks for the review