 First edition (US) | |
| Author | Richard Russo |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf (US) Allen & Unwin (UK) |
Publication date | 2019 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 320 |
| ISBN | 1-101-94774-8 |
Chances Are... is a mystery novel by American author Richard Russo. Initially published in 2019, it was his first standalone novel in a decade. [1] The title is taken from a 1950s hit single by Johnny Mathis. [2]
"Chances Are..." is a slow-building mystery novel based around the disappearance of a young woman in 1971. Set primarily in 2015, with flashbacks to the characters’ coming-of-age in the 1960s and 1970s, the story follows three college friends who, now in their mid-60s, decided to reunite on the island of Martha’s Vineyard; the same place where the woman whom they all loved disappeared.
In the set-up, three young men meet at a college campus in Connecticut in the late 1960s. Lincoln, Teddy, and Mickey eventually fall in love with the gorgeous Jacy Calloway, despite her engagement to the “privileged, prep-school” Vance character.
Forty-four years later, the friends' lives have diverged. Lincoln is now happily married and a successful real estate broker with six children. Teddy is an editor and publisher of a small university press who is prone to panic attacks and disorientating spells that leave him depressed. Mickey is a renowned musician well-known for his temper. Relayed in chapters that alternate between the perspectives of mostly Lincoln and Teddy, the narrative touches on the Vietnam draft, Lincoln’s complicated relationship with his dogmatic father and meek mother, and an accident that befalls Teddy. The three friends try to uncover what happened to Jacy after she went into a vineyard cabin with some friends in 1971, and the truth is eventually revealed.
In "Chances Are...", Russo blends his signature themes: father-and-son relationships, unrequited love, New England small-town living, and the hiccups of aging.