Book 24, 2019

[chez_jae]

Ghost of a Chance by Kate Marsh

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I brought my work book home last night and finished it. It was Ghost of a Chance by Kate Marsh (aka Katie MacAlister). Don't know why the author was using a pseudonym, when she was writing in her usual genre, which is paranormal lite.

Karma Marx is half-human, half-polter (poltergeist), and her specialty is exorcising homes of spirits. Rather than banish them, however, Karma takes them home with her where she has to hide them from her sleazy husband, Spider. All Karma wants from Spider is a divorce, and he promises to grant her one, if she'll do one final house cleansing for him.

In the meantime, Karma is assigned a moody foster teen to take in. She doesn't feel up to providing a home for Pixie, but the Akashic League (which polices the Otherworld), has her over a barrel. Pixie tags along when Karma goes to the home that Spider has purchased by less than savory means. The home isn't just inhabited by spirits; its rightful owner is also in residence. Soon, there is a veritable cast of characters there: Karma, her father, Pixie, Spider, Meredith (Spider's equally sleazy business partner), Meredith's wife Savannah, Adam (the owner of the house), and several spirits, including some that "belong" to Karma. When Spider is murdered and almost everyone had a motive, Adam seals the house for a period of 24 hours so he can suss out who committed the crime.

The tired trope of having a murder take place in a situation where the suspects are trapped together has been overdone. This at least had the added paranormal element to it. Characterizations were done well. The story was in Karma's first-person pov, and she comes through as a noble, relatable character. Spider was so loathsome that I wanted to kill him, myself, while Pixie's teenage angsting and flouncing were annoyingly believable. The plot moved along at a good pace, and it was nigh impossible to determine who had killed Spider, since virtually everyone had good reason to want him dead. The only certainty the reader had was that Karma didn't do it.



- Most. Annoying, Ending. Ever. And, major spoiler alert, Karma did kill Spider. WTF? It was in self-defense, and he deserved to die, but WTF? If we're in the main character's head the entire time, it makes zero sense that we wouldn't have known this all along. The story could have still been interesting, as we wonder if Karma will confess or get found out, but no. The entire time, right up until the very end, she's helping Adam search for clues, taking notes as he's interviewing the others, and trying to find a motive. In the end, the blame for Spider's murder gets pinned on Meredith. However, Adam seems to have figured out that Karma really did it. He accepts her version of events, and they let Meredith get hauled away. Now, Meredith was responsible for an off-screen death, and he was a piece of shit, so we don't feel badly he took the rap, but I'm still WTF'ing here.
- There was such a big deal of the reason that Karma was bound to the Akashic League that it seemed it would play a more important part of the story...but it didn't.
- There was also a big deal made of the fact that Pixie wasn't born a polter; she was made into one. No real explanation of how this is possible was made, except for a short 'oh, this happened'. Again, it seemed it would have more bearing on the story than it did.
- Not enough explanation of Savannah's true self. She's non-human, herself, yet she created a device that can destroy spirits? WTF?
- I was dismayed that Sergei didn't return after being victimized by the device.
- I wanted to see more of the imps.
- Finally, this is billed as "Karma Marx No. 1", but it doesn't appear the author ever wrote any more in this verse. In spite of how aggravating the ending was, I would have liked to read more about Karma. It seemed she and Adam may have developed a "thing" between them. Now, we'll never know.

Favorite lines:
♦ "Whoever heard of homing imps?"
♦ "What on earth are you thinking? Crab salad after a denouement? Were you raised by sloths? Everyone knows the proper luncheon to be served after such an event is quiche."

I'd have given this a solid four stars, but that ending just ruined it for me.