Chance

Constance, Book 2

By: Matthew FitzSimmons

Narrated by: Michael Crouch

Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

A clone plays a dangerous game of life, death, memory, and murder in a twisting thriller by Wall Street Journal bestselling author Matthew FitzSimmons.

Cloning is a luxury for the wealthy. For Chance Harker, it’s a way of getting on with his lives. Five years ago, when he was sixteen, he and his brother, Marley, were murdered in a kidnapping gone wrong. Chance was revived—and his grieving parents met his existence with anger, neglect, and aversion. The public, though? They can’t get enough of the death-defying stunts he has parlayed into a social media spectacle.

But after Chance’s latest “refresh,” he awakens to accusations that he’s killed Lee Conway, a stranger Chance has never met. Has one of his clones? With no memory of his previous selves, and working fast before he’s arrested, Chance digs into Conway’s background, the mysteries of his own life—and death—and the tragic abduction that tore his family apart.

All Chance has to do is stay ahead of the LAPD; his kidnappers, who are back on the hunt; and a growing mob of incensed protesters outraged that a rich clone appears to be getting away with murder.

©2023 Planetarium Station, Inc. (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Fitzsimmons's thought-provoking novel delves into the possible conflicts and ethical considerations arising from human cloning, for society and for individuals who have been cloned. Narrator Michael Crouch delivers the story with a scratchy, melancholy voice that is just right for Chance. Readers of gripping and provocative futuristic novels should enjoy. Share with fans of Scott Britz-Cunningham's Interface or Blake Crouch's Upgrade.”—Library Journal

“FitzSimmons hooks readers with the clone angle and then expertly mixes SF and mystery tropes till he’s implicated every party in sight in some sort of crime or coverup. A seriously playful novel of ideas.”—Kirkus Reviews

Nice follow-up for this new series

Iwas really looking forward to the next Gibson Vaughan book when I saw that Matthew FitzSimmons started a new series with Constance, and what a change the new series is. Really enjoyed Constance and Chance and hoping he keeps both series going.

I enjoyed this second installment in this series

Trigger warning: Suicide, Extreme Risk-taking

This is the second book in the Constance series. I was a bit worried about starting this book. I had it for a while before I finally listened to it. It has been a while since listening to book one. I remembered the gist of it, but didn’t remember the details. I was worried I would miss something from the first book. But that was not an issue at all. This book does take place chronologically after Constance. But this story follows an entirely new character, but again, the character has very close ties with Palingenesis, a cloning company for the rich and famous. The clones were originally designed for the military so that special forces could be brought back if they died in battle. But once it got out, people were against cloning of humans, the US government ended the contract. But that didn’t stop them.

So, this story starts with Chance Harker and his brother being kidnapped and eventually murdered. But their father was the head of marketing for Palingenesis, there were clones waiting for both children. However, there was an issue with lag, the time between the last “refresh” where your conscientious is downloaded, and when you die and are put back into a clone. The longer the lag, the more psychological effects. Chance was only a week or so. His brother was almost 90 days since his last refresh. Palingenesis wouldn’t allow you to get your clone if it had been more than 90 days since the last refresh. It was just too difficult on the human mind.

Needless to say, Chance was never the same mentally after his kidnapping, which he doesn’t remember. His brother was even worse and decided that he couldn’t live with the effects any more. Chance has become an internet star, he takes extremely high risk stunts, most of which he doesn’t survive. He goes to extremes to make sure he never has severe lag again. He has cameras everywhere and is rarely without video footage of himself. Even wearing a body camera most of the time. But he never stops trying to figure out what exactly happened during that very first lag when he was kidnapped.

And that is just the start and background on the story. There’s a lot that happens after all of that, but I don’t want to give spoilers. Feel free to read this book without having read the first book, Constance. Everything you need to know is provided in this book. However, I also loved Constance, so I would recommend getting it first.

Narration:
This is my first time listening to Michael Crouch. He didn’t narrate the first book, which makes sense, since the main character of the first book was female and had a female narrator. I do think that Michael did a great job with the narration of this series. I thought he chose great voices for each character. I would gladly listen to him again.

Good second book in the series

I really enjoyed this second book in the series. Narration was great and kept my attention. Great sequel to first book. Hope there will be a third in the series

Mind-Challenging!

A smart and thought-challenging sequel to ‘Constance.” The plot continues to get intricately woven, until resolution begins to unfold. Enjoyed it thoroughly, and highly recommend!

Lackluster follow-up

I loved Constance enough that I pre-ordered this as soon as it was available. Sadly the two-prongs of this tale lack the intrigue and depth of the first book. One side sort of fizzled, and the other just filled in gaps of what felt obvious mid-way through story. It was fine overall, but not something I would recommend very strongly.

Fantastic!

Even better than the first in the series. Listened to this in 1 day. Another great book from Matthew Fitzsimmons. Narration was perfect. Loved this book!

Great read

I enjoyed this mystery very much! Really entertaining from start to finish! One of the best I’ve read recently.

Take a chance, you won’t regret it.

I liked Constance and read it for irs novel premise. I thought it got bogged down in establishing details of the world it inhabited to the detriment of the story. No so Chance. The story is a hoot. I didn’t crack the mystery until shortly before the reveal and that was fun. The author gives a much better “feel” of the mind of a reanimated person. I found the prose jaunty and crackling. The trader was terrific and just as I avoid books with great authors but bad readers, I will now listen to books I dont care for if Mr. $$$$ is the reader. I didn’t give 5 stars to book because it’s obvioythe author is just warming up. I anticipate his next book will attain the Extraordinary 5stars. But until then, read this one. It’s better than the first and zips along at a jumpy pace. I won’t recap the story except to say a supporting character carries through from book one and may be our spirit guide through all the books, if only she can live to tell.

Hoping for a third (and fourth)!

I pre-ordered this sequel to Constance and was not disappointed. I enjoyed the suspense, the action without graphic description and excellent character development. I enjoyed Constance's story and Chance's story and hope there are more to come.

Interesting Enough

Great narrator and performance, with an interesting take on clones as well as some great insights on extreme wealth. The story line was a bit winding and unbelievable at times.