Ghost of A Chance [Dramatized Adaptation]

Written by Simon R. Green

Narrated by A Full Cast, Ken Jackson, Patrick Bussink and 13 more

The Carnacki institute exists to Do Something About Ghosts. Lay them to rest, send them packing, or kick their nasty ectoplasmic arses with extreme prejudice.

The institute's operatives are the best of the best. JC Chance: sharp, brave, charming, and almost unbearably arrogant; Melody Chambers: science geek, techno-wizard extraordinaire who keeps the antisupernatual equipment running smoothly; and Happy Jack Palmer: the telepath with the gloomy disposition, the last person anyone would want navigating through their head.

• Language: English
• Publisher: GraphicAudio
• Release date: Jun 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9781648807411

Simon R. Green

Simon R. Green was born in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, England, where he still lives. He is the New York Times bestselling author of more than seventy science fiction and fantasy novels, including the Nightside, Secret Histories and Ghost Finders series, the Ishmael Jones mysteries, the Gideon Sable series and the Holy Terrors mystery series. Simon has sold more than four million copies of his books worldwide.

Reviews for Ghost of A Chance [Dramatized Adaptation]

[thothj · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Since I really love Simon Green's "Drood Family" series, I expected to really like this book. But instead, I should have listen to a friend of mine when he said not to bother with it. The characters were half-finished and not overly interesting. The plot was interesting, but I found myself more interested in learning about the two organizations the groups belonged to (Carnacki Institute and the Crowley Project) than I was in the plot. Also, the BIG climatic ending, was only about 10 pages long, not really worth the build-up. I am probably also going to be passing on the second book in this series. I am disappointed. Interesting idea, but a phoned-in story.

[jalenv_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Can't say I'm familiar with Simon R. Green's books, but Ghost of a Chance caught my eye. When I flipped the book over and found 'The Carnacki Institute' on the top line, I was hooked. I've been a fan of William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki the Ghost Finder since I read what I consider the two best stories, 'The Gateway of the Monster' and 'The Whistling Room', in anthologies. This book starts out promisingly enough with its introduction about bad places in the world. While neither as succinct or poetic as the opening description of Hill House in Shirley Jackson's The Haunting, it gets the mood set.Notes:It's not wise to assume that all readers will get all references (I'm certain there are some I'm missing and I'm almost a year old than the author), so:Chapter one:If you haven't seen the 1984 classic movie, Ghostbusters, I definitely recommend it. I also recommend checking out the 1986-1991 animated show based on the movie, The Real Ghostbusters -- at least the weekday episodes. The ones that originally aired on Saturday mornings are aimed more at children. (The 1986 Ghostbusters animated series is unrelated.)

[page.fault · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Sigh. I've now read at least one book in most of Simon R. Green's major series, and I think I'm going to give up. I find the concepts of his books tantalizing in general, and even though there's nothing I fundamentally dislike about his books, I'm just somehow the wrong audience type.

Ghost of A Chance is an urban-fantasy action adventure story--basically what you'd get if you mashed together Ghostbusters with James Bond.

HERE IS YOUR BOOK, SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT.

THE TEAM:
The Leader: J.C. Chance. "The rising star of the Carnacki institute," as our narrator informs us, his codename is actually 007. Handsome, debonair, apparently charismatic, dresses in elegant suits, and wears sunglasses, even in a train station. Repeatedly refers to his team as "children" in a cheerfully patronising manner. Smiles constantly. The narration will repeatedly point out how special he is. Everything he ever does will turn out right, even if all of heaven and earth must interfere to make it so. Note the unsubtle initials. WWJD indeed.

The Smart Guy: Jack "Happy" Palmer, slobbish, short, balding, chubby, depressed, class-10 telepath. The ironically-nicknamed Happy is able to read the emotions of those around him and instigate and defend against psychic attacks, but is also a nervous wreck to the point of psychosis. He spends most of his time either high on various prescribed antipsychotics, antidepressants, and anti-anything-elses, or comedically sulking and depressed, or both. He gets to act as The Paranoid/Comedic Screamer whenever they encounter something frightening.

The Chick: Melody Chambers. The Narration introduces her as "the main brain and science geek", except that her tech is entirely useless throughout the entire plot, so she really functions as Edgy Female. There is really only one word that succinctly describes her (it rhymes with 'itch'), but I've been trying pretty hard not to write profanity in my reviews, so I can't use it. Pretty, fierce, nervous, emotional, sexualized, and bad-tempered. Jokes around her involve skirts, vibrators (how worse her temper is because hers is broken, urk), and how she can bed various other members of the team into happiness. Spends the rest of her time in pointless bickering with everyone she comes in contact with.

We also have a Distressed Damsel, Dark Chick, and The Brute but more details are a little spoilery, and, if I'm honest, I'm really bored with writing this, so I'll leave it to you to discover them. In terms of the villains, let it simply be noted that (1) a pink catsuit is involved, (2) the only POC is described as having a heart darker than her skin (kill me now), and (3) they are notable for their tendency to eat ghosts and (literally) torture kitties in a really horrifically disturbing and graphic manner, just to avoid any semblance of moral complexity. They're also comic relief. I had trouble putting those two facts together.

THEIR MISSION:
Something has taken over the Underground. Commuters have been whisked away by ghost trains and terrible things have bubbled up from the deeps. Most of the commuters who could be salvaged are now sectionable. The Team's task: stop whatever is doing it, all the while avoiding the rival team from the Crawley Institute.

THE DOSSIER:
I think my major issue is that Green's books tend to be very much about characters, yet the characters are extremely static. Action certainly happens, but it tends not to be enfolded in a tight plot. Things just happen and characters react (statically) to them. As a mystery reader, I can't really cope with the former; I am still irritated by not having a clear understanding of what on earth was going on. Since characters are really why I read, I also can't deal with the latter. I think the books would function well as movies; it's been over a decade since I saw it, but the character dynamics really do remind me of Ghostbusters. The comedic dialogue is constant and never-ending, and while the characters' circumstances will change, including one case of ridiculously superficial InstaLove, their personalities remain entirely static. To enjoy this book, you need to go in realizing that Our Hero is already The Hero. You can watch him gain power and confidence, but he already has all of the skills and experiences to succeed.

Another issue I had with this book in particular was the sheer extreme of Tell rather than Show. Every single character emotion and reaction is provided by our narrator. Sometimes it's helpful; when one of the characters undergoes InstaLove with a female he has seen for less than a minute and who has spoken about three words to him, I actually appreciated the narrator explaining that he had discovered "True love for the first time," because there is no way I would have guessed that on my own. Other times, it's less than helpful, especially since the narrator often paraphrases what the characters just said out loud a few sentences before, or facts that are so mind-numbingly obvious that they are better left unsaid. I also have trouble judging Green as a pure humour writer; his descriptions of various ghostly atrocities are graphic and disturbing and he also tends to try to drop into Earnest Adventure Story Mode. Take an example (names removed to protect the innocent from spoilers.)
"If [he] persisted in his attempt to rescue [her]...he would die. And his soul would be trapped on the hell train forever....[he] knew that, as surely and certainly as he knew anything, and didn't give a damn. It might be true, or it might not; you couldn't trust anything on a hell train. But even if someone he trusted had told him he was doomed, and damned, he would have gone on anyway. Because [she] needed him. So he thrust his face into the bitter cold wind, and stamped his frozen feet, and forced himself down the length of the car, one hard step at a time. Forcing himself on, against everything the train could throw at him.
Because in the end that's what love is. To go on, despite everything, driven by hope and faith alone."

or

"She flew down the car towards him....[he] walked in glory down the car to meet her. They came together in the middle, and the whole of the car was full of their love, a force so powerful it seemed to beat on the air like great wings. [He] reached out to her, and she put out her hands to take his; and his fingers passed right through hers. Because he was alive, and she was dead, he was flesh and blood and she was just a ghost; and because there were some things even the Light could not change.... “We can never touch,” said [..]. “But we have
each other.” “You say the sweetest things,” said [..]"

Whether or not you find that touching and sentimental or ludicrous, glutinous, purple prose depends on your level of cynicism.

For all that, I think the book could be fun if you go into it with your comedy/adventure-movie mentality firmly in place. Even I found myself chuckling at certain well-placed one-liners such as, "Confidence is fun. Sanity is better". The constant character quipping is reasonably well-done, the interactions between the team and its antagonists are entertaining, and the storytelling is fast-paced. I've never been into superheroes, but I think the dynamic here is very similar; if you like those, this may be a good match. So if you are looking for a pure and light ghostly adventure, this may well be worth a look.


IF YOU CHOOSE TO READ THIS BOOK, THIS REVIEWER DISAVOWS ALL RESPONSIBILITY.
THIS REVIEW WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IN APPROXIMATELY 5e12 SECONDS.
GOOD LUCK.

[krumbs_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A lot darker and more violent than I expected and I didn't connect at all with any of the characters. Also, some if it was too reminiscent of the author's Nightside series (particularly the train--from the first Nightside book). I don't think I'll be following this series.

In addition, I really wish publishers would pay more attention to the character descriptions when commissioning the covers. This one was disappointing.

[princess0starr · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

There are books that disappointed me. There have been books that I’ve torn to shreds in my criticism. There have been books that made me physically angry. There’s only been one that I’ve actually thrown at a wall. (The other book I wanted to chuck across the room, I couldn’t because I was reading store merchandise.)

This book holds the honor of creating the rectangle indentation in my wall.

The writing is terrible. I couldn’t think it possible to pad out 260 pages, but this guy managed it. It’s repetitive, boring, and abuses adverbs. The world-building is INSANELY weak—I have no idea what the hell these institutes do, aside from ghost-busting. Oh, and there’s telepaths, but nothing’s described aside from going into trances and have telepathic blast battles. While the plot had some potential, it’s underdeveloped and feels like a cheap rip-off of better books/movies/etc. There are only two locations in the entire book, which I’m assuming he thought up the one and didn’t want to bother writing about anywhere else. The action scenes are lazy. THE CHARACTERS. Oh my Lord, I could go on forever about them. Our main trio is nothing but a collection of clichés—the quiet nerd who’s secretly kinky, the douchebag smooth talker and the paranoid grump. None of them do anything worthwhile, and there’s no attempt made by the author to make them connect to the reader. The villains are a complete joke. When your self-described ‘femme fatale’ shows up wearing a PINK LEATHER CATSUIT and keeps talking about how “Daddy’s bad little girl is going to have fun,” she’s not threatening, she’s a joke. Her creepster partner is no better. Also, the “I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours” scene between the villains is a complete rip-off of every James Bond-inspired gadget listing that manages not to be funny and only serves to pad because most of the gadgets (including the infamous pre-loaded incantation iPod) don’t even figure into the plot.

The point where I threw the book with great force was when the Douchebag smooth talker falls in insta-love with a ghost girl who’s being tormented by the forces of Evil. And then he gets a Heavenly power-up. No. Fuck this book.

Oh, by the way, I flipped to the end just to see what the deal was—Fenris is apparently the Big Bad. And the last line is Douchebag asking the Ghost Girl if she can transform herself into a sexy nurse.

[thelibraryhag · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This first book in the Ghost Finder series has so much going on that it is impossible to do a summary. There are ghosts, demons, good guys and bad guys, haunted subway trains and floods of blood. Basically, lots of crazy action. I will be reading the next one because I need to see where this is going. I think I would have liked it better if it had been a bit less bloody, but I did like the characters and the premise.

[hjjugovic · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

More of Simon Green's formula. Every now and then a funny quip, but mostly flat characters and over-the-top monsters. The love story in this one was particularly absurd. Not a promising new start to a series. Would like to see this one end "suddenly, and violently, and all over the place."

[jessierose_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed reading this book but I do agree with some of the previous reviews. In terms of the romance between a main character and another character, I wasn't sure what it came from. It felt like these strong emotions were brought to the forefront for a reason and I'm not sure why.I did like how there are these two companies that deal with the same problem using different methods. I thought that the three main characters of JC, Happy and Melody were good characters although I wish the novel was longer so that I could have more from them.Overall, this novel is a fun read but it does feel like it's missing something. Maybe the next novel in the series will flesh out the universe and the characters.

[sandylee_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The Carnacki Institute and the Crowley Project are rival organizations in the quest for the supernatural—one to save society from the evils and one to gain the power from the evil. J.C., Happy and Melody are like TVs Warehouse 13, where the Institute has all kinds of antique goodies from the bygone and not so bygone era. Their purpose in life is to investigate hauntings and the latest is taking place at London’s Oxford Circus Tube Station. Happy is the drug-popping telepath who keeps medicating himself to keep the voices out of his head. J.C. has powers even the Institute isn’t aware of. And Melody is the techno-geek. Natasha and Erik are with the Crowley Project and their job is to eliminate the competition. They all descend on the Circus Tube which has a number of weird things happening. J.C. if pretty sure someone was murdered and hasn’t quite found the “white light” while a demon has other plans. There are a number of weird things taking place and Natasha and Erik end up working with the Institute in order to conquer the beast. Natasha’s bag of tricks like chicken feet and her habit of eating ghosts are weird at best. Erik is just disgusting. These are a hodge-podge of characters, not one of them that memorable. I do like Green’s writing though (Nightside Series) so will try one more in the Chance series to see if it improves.

[nerilka · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Great start but disappointing. I can't quite put my finger on the problem -it's like the novelization of a superhero film where a comic book hero was poorly converted to the big screen and then this screen representation was converted to a book. Lots of wise cracks and a fast moving plot but the characters are too overblown and there's no depth.

[ljt_5 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This is really odd - a Simon Green book which is totally boring and has extremely flat characters. Just going through the motions...

[chaos012 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Simon R. Green is one of the authors I just got to buy from the store as I see them. So, I picked up 'Ghost of a Chance'. The first of the ghost finders series. The story is about J.C. Chance (The Leader), Melody Chambers (The techno-wizard), and Happy Jack Plamer (A pill-popping telepath) of the Carnacki institute are sent to the Oxford Circus tube to investigate a haunting. To make things more difficult, the Crowly project sent two of there own agents. Natasha Chang (A femme fatale ghost eater) and Erik Grossman (a mad scientist). The story is over all forgettable and certain elements are just feel thrown together and an ending that was just cheesy. The characters are usually the high point in his novels but, these were flat. The only one I liked was Happy Jack. This isn't the worst book hes written (that 'honor' goes to The Unnatural Inquirer (Nightside, Book 8). Maybe by the next book in the series, he will flesh out the characters more a have a much more engaging story.

[edstan76 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ahhhhhhh Simon once again has captivated me with his wit, whimsy, charm, and shenanigans. This is the first of The Ghost Finders series. The Carnacki Institute exits to protect the planet from all sorts of ghosts, goblins, spooks, things that go bump in the night. Basically all of your halloween villainy (my words). JC Chance, Melody Chambers, and Happy Jack Palmer make up the best of the b list or is it c list from the Institute. They get sent in after the a list groups have all ready died or disappeared. For the first novel they are sent deep into the Underground at London's Oxford Circus tube station to find out what's haunting it. Opposing them are 2 agents of the Crowley Project, femme fatale Natasha Chang (ghost eater) and rouge scientist Eric Grossman (mad doctor). They are there to prevent JC's group from succeeding in their mission and to cause all sorts of general chaos and mayhem. For a change Simon wrote this in 3rd person. So for those of you that don't like first person (YES I'M LOOKING AT YOU AND GLARING) read this book. I was looking for references to his other series and i think i found some real subtle ones. I'll have to check back to see. I can't wait to see some cross-over between the Nightside or the Drood family.Check out this book and laugh your ass off!!!

[krau0098 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I really love Simon Green's Nightside and also liked the first book in his Secret Histories Series (the only one I have read in that series so far). So when I heard he was starting a new paranormal series called Ghost Finders, I was eager to read the first book in the series. Overall it was okay, Green has created an interesting world but the characters were a bit cliche and hard to distinguish. I was hoping for more, but what was here is a start.The book follows two teams of "ghost-hunters". The first is the Carnacki Institute, the good guys. There team consists of JC Chance (a prodigy hunter), Melody Chambers (a woman very focused on her technology) and Happy Jack Palmer (a pill popping telepath). The second team are the Crowley Project (The evil team); this team features a La Femme Nakita kind of telepath and a psychotic surgeon. JC's team are called on to help solve a problem in London's Underground. The trains down there have gone wrong and are eating people. When JC and team arrive they find that something more evil than they could imaging has taken root. The Crowley Project is also there to try and harness the evil for their own purposes.Let's start with what I liked. Green does a great job with imagery and comes up with a lot of interesting and creative ideas. He's not afraid to delve deep in the macabre and that makes things entertaining. This book was a bit creepy and horrific, but never went into that "too scary to read" region for me. Overall I liked the general idea of the characters and how the Carnacki Institute team was full of "good guys" with some bad vices. This series is a good idea and this book an interesting start. Unfortunately this book really fell flat in a couple places for me. The characters are overly characterized and come off as clownish at times, which makes it hard to take the story seriously. The dialogue between them occasionally gets campy to the point of painfulness. There were a few times I wished one of the good guys would get eaten. It also drove me nuts that JC Chance fell in love at first sight with that ghost lady. It happened so suddenly and was so improbable that it was irritating; then to have his love for this ghost drive so much of the plot...well it pretty much drove me nuts.Overall this was not one of Green's best works. I would start with the Nightside series and then move on to the Secret Histories series before reading this one. That being said Green does set-up an interesting idea, world and characters in this book...the characters were just a bit too campy to pull it off. I will probably read the next book in the series just because I found some of the things Green did in this book intriguing. I am hoping that the next book does a better job with the characters and has a more believable plot.

[dswaddell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

JC Chance and his team go out to protect the unknowing public from the horrors around them. However when scary things start happening underground they are in over their head. A very good introduction to a new series. The characters are well developed by the end of the book and the stage set for further adventures.