Chance

Listeners will find San Francisco as much a character in Nunn's sinewy, gritty thriller as psychiatrist Eldon Chance. After a nasty divorce, Dr. Chance finds himself drawn to a patient, Jaclyn Blackstone, who is suffering from dissociative identity disorder. Adam Verner portrays the characters entering Chance's new life, as well as his ex-wife and daughter, with empathy, finding a unique style and voice for each. Listeners will find it completely credible that "D," an imposing ex-soldier, understands the mindset of abusive predators like Jaclyn's husband. Verner intensifies the drama, suspense, and plot twists with his subtle presentation of Nunn's flawed but engaging characters. Contemporary crime fiction at its best. S.C.A. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

Starred review from December 2, 2013
Best known for his surfer noir classics Tapping the Source and Tijuana Straits, Nunn switches gears with this brilliant and cerebral psychological thriller. The quiet, ordered life of Dr. Eldon Chance, a recently divorced Bay Area forensic neuropsychiatrist, begins to unravel when he makes a series of ill-fated decisions. First, he gets involved with Jaclyn Blackstone, a beautiful, emotionally fragile patient who can’t seem to escape from her abusive, manipulating husband, who is an Oakland homicide detective. Chance crosses another line by hiring D, a massive, enigmatic man who hangs out at an antique shop, to recreate a missing piece for a set of furniture he plans to sell as original. Chance soon finds himself in the unlikely role of student to D’s teacher in the realities of street justice. When Jaclyn’s husband begins targeting Chance, the good doctor is forced to depend on his new mentor to survive. By the surprising conclusion, we learn that all the main players have hidden histories of their own. Agent: Lynn Nesbit, Janklow & Nesbit Associates.