Read Recently -- December -- Who, exactly, are you going to call?
Ghost of a Chance by Simon R. Green
What is probably the start of a new series by Green (at least, the cover refers to it as "A Ghost Finders Novel") and, so far, a good one. Basic set-up: the Carnacki Institute is a Royal Institute of Ghost-busters, based out of Buckingham Palace itself (in addition to the head of the Institute, only the ruling Monarch knows about the Institute. Also in common with the head of the Institute, said ruling Monarch can kill any member of the Institute, should he or she feel that there is need. Given the precendent of George III, this strikes me as a dangerous thing to allow, but hey: they're not my agents). Their purpose is to confront ghosts (which come in a variety of types due to the many parapsychological theories that have accumulated over the last century) and other intrusions into our dimension and save human lives, where possible. They often end up over their heads, but it's basically do or die, and hey: they knew the job was dangerous when they took it.
This book (and presumably any books to follow, though the set-up would allow Green to use a rotating cast, if he so chose) features the team of Josiah Charles (JC) Chance, team-leader and standard Green-ian ethical bastard hero, Melody Chambers, "Science-geek" (I put that in quotes because she doesn't really seem to be any more "scientific" (and I put that in quotes because their investigative methods are perfectly scientific, they just wouldn't meet the standard mass-media definition of science, which seems to involve lab coats and big words) than the rest of the team, she just likes gadgets) and equipment manager, and "Happy Jack" Palmer, who with a name like that you know is a totally "gloomy bugger", to use Green's own words. Happy is the team's psychic, specifically a telepath, and he takes a lot of drugs to keep the voices in his head quiet (difference is, his voices are other people) and to keep from seeing the world as it really is. Of course, JC won't let him take drugs while he's working, which is when he needs them the most.
In typical Green fashion, the book starts with our heroes confronting a haunting--in this case, a haunted parking lot (though, this being Britain, they call it a supermarket car park)--that has nothing to do with the main plot, beyond showing how badass our heroes are and how they often have to wing it. We know, then, that we can expect them to get in over their heads and have to make it up as they go along. Then, for all that they're supposed to have down-time after a mission, they are recalled to headquarters, which could mean an emergency or it could mean they are going to get dressed-down for their personal lives (Melody, in particular, being the sexy geek, has, shall we say, a busy social calendar). It is, predicatbly, the former.
It seems that Oxford Circus Tube Station, on the London Underground (subway), is now haunted. Ghost-trains taking people on one-way rides, et al. This is supposed to be impossible, as London has been protected from supernatural incursion since the Roman times, and over those two thousand years the protections have been piggy-backing on each other and overlapping and generally have become so powerful that nothing should be able to get through. This means that they are facing something impossibly powerful, and/or someone let it in. Either way, our heroes are the only team close enough to be sent in immediately, so they are sent in immediately.
Unbeknownst to them, the Crowley Project (which seeks only to accumulate power for itself) has sent in two agents of its own. Their mission is much simpler than our heroes', because they don't care about the haunting. They certainly don't care about saving lives. They're here to kill JC (and, if possible, the rest of the team).
As ever, Green starts a series on a high point, and this story is a lot of fun and, if not as scary as it could be, does manage some decent suspense and a few very creepy scenes, and some appealingly quirky characters. Recommended.
What is probably the start of a new series by Green (at least, the cover refers to it as "A Ghost Finders Novel") and, so far, a good one. Basic set-up: the Carnacki Institute is a Royal Institute of Ghost-busters, based out of Buckingham Palace itself (in addition to the head of the Institute, only the ruling Monarch knows about the Institute. Also in common with the head of the Institute, said ruling Monarch can kill any member of the Institute, should he or she feel that there is need. Given the precendent of George III, this strikes me as a dangerous thing to allow, but hey: they're not my agents). Their purpose is to confront ghosts (which come in a variety of types due to the many parapsychological theories that have accumulated over the last century) and other intrusions into our dimension and save human lives, where possible. They often end up over their heads, but it's basically do or die, and hey: they knew the job was dangerous when they took it.
This book (and presumably any books to follow, though the set-up would allow Green to use a rotating cast, if he so chose) features the team of Josiah Charles (JC) Chance, team-leader and standard Green-ian ethical bastard hero, Melody Chambers, "Science-geek" (I put that in quotes because she doesn't really seem to be any more "scientific" (and I put that in quotes because their investigative methods are perfectly scientific, they just wouldn't meet the standard mass-media definition of science, which seems to involve lab coats and big words) than the rest of the team, she just likes gadgets) and equipment manager, and "Happy Jack" Palmer, who with a name like that you know is a totally "gloomy bugger", to use Green's own words. Happy is the team's psychic, specifically a telepath, and he takes a lot of drugs to keep the voices in his head quiet (difference is, his voices are other people) and to keep from seeing the world as it really is. Of course, JC won't let him take drugs while he's working, which is when he needs them the most.
In typical Green fashion, the book starts with our heroes confronting a haunting--in this case, a haunted parking lot (though, this being Britain, they call it a supermarket car park)--that has nothing to do with the main plot, beyond showing how badass our heroes are and how they often have to wing it. We know, then, that we can expect them to get in over their heads and have to make it up as they go along. Then, for all that they're supposed to have down-time after a mission, they are recalled to headquarters, which could mean an emergency or it could mean they are going to get dressed-down for their personal lives (Melody, in particular, being the sexy geek, has, shall we say, a busy social calendar). It is, predicatbly, the former.
It seems that Oxford Circus Tube Station, on the London Underground (subway), is now haunted. Ghost-trains taking people on one-way rides, et al. This is supposed to be impossible, as London has been protected from supernatural incursion since the Roman times, and over those two thousand years the protections have been piggy-backing on each other and overlapping and generally have become so powerful that nothing should be able to get through. This means that they are facing something impossibly powerful, and/or someone let it in. Either way, our heroes are the only team close enough to be sent in immediately, so they are sent in immediately.
Unbeknownst to them, the Crowley Project (which seeks only to accumulate power for itself) has sent in two agents of its own. Their mission is much simpler than our heroes', because they don't care about the haunting. They certainly don't care about saving lives. They're here to kill JC (and, if possible, the rest of the team).
As ever, Green starts a series on a high point, and this story is a lot of fun and, if not as scary as it could be, does manage some decent suspense and a few very creepy scenes, and some appealingly quirky characters. Recommended.