Chance

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.

December 15, 2013
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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)