Got ghost problems? You're in luck. The intrepid agents of the Carnacki Institute will investigate. They'll do whatever's necessary to take care of the problem, from convincing the ghost it's time to move on, to kicking its sorry ectoplasmic ass. Their best team is a three-person operation, capable of handling any problem. There's JC Chance, the leader; technogeek Melody Chambers; and drug-addled telepath Happy Jack Palmer. Between them, they have every eventuality covered.
Fresh off a job involving a haunted supermarket parking lot, the team is sent to deal with an extremely nasty incident originating in the Oxford Circus Underground station, an unprecedented event that's just the start of their worst adventure yet. Something ancient, alien, and powerful is threatening to break through down where the sun never shines, and it'll take everything the team has just to survive, much less succeed. And just to complicate matters, they have to deal with their evil counterparts from the Crowley Project, who believe the best opportunity is the one seized through force and blood. But when the chips are down and it's everyone for themselves, can the two teams work together? And who's going to tell JC Chance that falling in love with a ghost is a monumentally bad idea? (All of them, that's who.)
Fresh off a job involving a haunted supermarket parking lot, the team is sent to deal with an extremely nasty incident originating in the Oxford Circus Underground station, an unprecedented event that's just the start of their worst adventure yet. Something ancient, alien, and powerful is threatening to break through down where the sun never shines, and it'll take everything the team has just to survive, much less succeed. And just to complicate matters, they have to deal with their evil counterparts from the Crowley Project, who believe the best opportunity is the one seized through force and blood. But when the chips are down and it's everyone for themselves, can the two teams work together? And who's going to tell JC Chance that falling in love with a ghost is a monumentally bad idea? (All of them, that's who.)
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I probably don't talk about it a lot, but Simon R. Green is hands down my favorite horror author. He writes these incredibly detailed and imaginative stories, with the type of world building that really lets you see everything with your mind's eye. In Ghost of a Chance I can see how the series is going to be another great creepy production.
First let me say that this definitely has all the earmarks of a first book in a new series. There is a lot of explanation, a lot of character building. It's the kind of stuff that Green's already known for, but in this book you really get even more than usual. I don't think it's bad, this series just doesn't have the base that his John Taylor books do. JC, Happy, and Melody are new to us and what they do takes a bit more explanation. Though I do love the fact that it's still all taking place in and around the same world that we've been introduced to before. Something has to be going on in London outside of Nightside right? And this book shows us that.
I know that doesn't tell you a whole but I do tend to prefer titles to stand for themselves. Take the blurb and my thoughts and go pick up this book from your local bookseller - it's a grand ride and a great beginning to a new series.
Overall Feeling - Thumbs up.
Series - 1) Ghost of a Chance
