Ghost of a Chance

Ghost of a Chance (2010) Simon R. Green

I can’t help myself. I know it isn’t good for me, but I have this addiction to Simon R. Green’s Nightside.

I’ve read the Eddie Drood novels, and they’re OK, but they just aren’t the same. But I keep ordering them, and when I saw he had a new series, I preordered it without blinking.

The Carnacki Institute is a super secret organization housed in Buckingham Palace that takes care of ghosts and other hauntings. JC, Melody, and Happy aren’t the best operatives the Institute has, but they’re good, and they’re willing to take on the things that go bump in the night. Of course, working for a secret agency, doing work that is a threat to body and mind isn’t necessarily a career from which you retire, and when you save the world, you don’t get to tell anyone. (Conversely, if you die in the line of fire, no one knows about that either.)

JC, Happy, and Melody aren’t John Bloody Taylor, and the London in which they work isn’t Nightside, but there are plenty of scary creatures out there, and each member of the trio has different skills they can bring to bear against the monsters.

There are monsters. The monsters do horrific things. And there is snark. Lots of snark. All three of which combine to make the perfect Simon Green novel.

No, it’s not Nightside, but it’s fun and enjoyable, and an enjoyable read while waiting for the next Nightside book.
Rating: 8/10

Published by Ace

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