Chance: A Novel Author: Visit Amazon's Kem Nunn Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0743289242 | Format: EPUB
Chance: A Novel Description
Amazon.com Review
An Amazon Best Book of the Month, February 2014: Eldon Chance is a neuropsychiatrist in crisis. Though he’s developed a successful career “listening to the woes of others,” he’s rarely attuned to his own. Turns out, he’s got plenty. At the start of this smart, twisty, and addictive book, Dr. Chance’s life--“the life he’d so carefully arranged for himself”--is falling apart. His costly divorce forces him to sell his antique furniture, a decision that introduces him to the remarkable character named Big D, a hulking, unhinged, tattooed, self-proclaimed Iraq war vet turned furniture restorer who becomes buttoned-up Chance’s unlikely friend, mentor, and potential savior. Something of an amateur philosopher (as well as a self-taught Samurai), Big D is drawn to people’s frozen lake obsessions--the things they want so bad they’re willing to walk to the center of a frozen lake, “where the ice is thinnest.” Chance’s frozen-lake desire is one of his patients, the mysterious and dangerously manipulative Jaclyn Blackstone--or, more accurately, her sexier alter-ego, Jackie Black. In his reckless pursuit of Jaclyn/Jackie, Chance confronts her corrupt and abusive husband, an Oakland homicide detective, Romanian thugs, and his own secret past. --Neal Thompson
From Booklist
Psychiatrist Eldon Chance, who makes his living providing testimony in court cases, is appalled to see the life he had so carefully constructed for himself break apart. In the middle of a nasty divorce and a summer full of “drought and ash,” with his savings rapidly dwindling, he finds himself attracted to Jaclyn Blackstone, a patient suffering from dissociative identity disorder. Unfortunately, she is married to an abusive and violently jealous Oakland homicide detective who threatens to harm Chance’s daughter if he pursues Jaclyn. Then Chance meets D, a hulking, philosophical ex-soldier who is working in an antiques warehouse in San Francisco’s Mission District. D proves to be on intimate turns with the mind-set of predators and agrees to coach Chance on how to deal with the detective. Suddenly, Chance finds himself in a violent and unpredictable underworld, far removed from the placid decorum of the courtrooms where he plies his trade. Nunn, best known for the cult surfing novel Tapping the Source (1984), excels at creating complicated, flawed characters with fascinating backstories. This gritty, twisted tale will be of prime interest to noir fans. --Joanne Wilkinson
See all Editorial Reviews
- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: Scribner; First Edition edition (February 18, 2014)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0743289242
- ISBN-13: 978-0743289245
- Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Chance: A Novel Preview
Link
Please Wait...