I admire Matthew FitzSimmons’ talent for writing characters who exist on the margins. I loved the Gibson Vaughn series. I embraced the first book in this Series. Chance was a tougher read for me.

Would I have enjoyed this book more if the characters weren’t all so negative and self-absorbed? Probably. Thinking that there was a deeper strata in Chance’s personality, I read on believing that no one could be so narcissistic, so self-destructive - a hint of his humanity could have been exposed earlier in the story.

There is a lot to this story - all of FitzSimmons’ books are thought provoking and this one is no exception. However, it was much harder to cut through. The inhabitants of the pages were equally unlikable. Putting that aside I thought the issue of cloning got short shrift and much more attention was paid to whether a clone can be reinstated over and over. Who gets the right to the do-overs? Is the criterion being rich enough? - pay the fee and you can stockpile multiples and do it again and again. What about the moral issue? Can it ever be justified? Lots to think about which never really got out of the starting blocks because there was a story to be told about two brothers who were killed.

So thinking about this, I didn’t like the characters, didn’t much care for the premise, thought the story was superfluous to the bigger question but really respect the writing and the underlying issues that never find answers because I am not sure there are answers. Matthew FitzSimmons just is an extraordinary writer. Thank you Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for a copy. ( )