Monday, August 30, 2010

Ghost of a Chance: By Simon R. Green

GHOST OF A CHANCE

SUMMARY

The Carnacki Institute exists to "Do Something" about Ghosts-and agents JC Chance, Melody Chambers, and Happy Jack Palmer will either lay them to rest, send them packing, or kick their nasty ectoplasmic arses with extreme prejudice.

REVIEW

I’ve been a fan of Simon R. Green for years. I’ve read almost everything he’s written, and with differing levels of enjoyment for each of them, I’ve liked them all.

That is until now.

Green’s latest book, Ghost of a Chance, is utterly horrible. I really wanted to like it and even gave it more of a chance than I would other books, but it was just bad. It seemed poorly written (which shocked me as this author is a fun and talented writer), contained weak and un-engaging characters, and had a plot that couldn’t support a tea leaf.

But more than anything else, it was just boring. The story starts out with the main characters in a situation that looks like it will require, battle, bloodshed, and brandishing of cool and unique weapons. But Green doesn’t do any of this, he fixes the situation without having the characters do anything. In fact one of the main characters, JC, just tricks the evil ghost into submission.

Really the whole thing comes across as a bad joke. Like a bad spin off of the Ghostbusters. But what’s more, Green spent too much time trying to break up the segments for the main characters. He was able to do this successfully with his Deathstalker series, but this time the characters just weren’t relatable or engaging, or at the very least interesting.

While I’m a huge fan of Simon R. Green, I really think he could have done a better job with this. He has proven himself to write antihero characters well, he has written intricate plots before, and he has some of the most original ideas I’ve read in his Nightside series. But he just didn’t perform in this book. I hope his other books will still have the panache they’ve had in the past, but as for this series, I can confidently say, thus far it’s a sensational disappointment.

RATING
4 out of 10

INFO

Publisher: Ace

Published: August 31, 2010

Price: $7.99

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