May Contain Spoilers
Review:
Once a week or so, I search through the Harlequin manga for the .99 titles. I purchased A Game of Chance because it was written by Linda Howard and it is part of the Mackenzie Family series. I was very disappointed with it; the adaptation from novel to comic did not work for me. I felt that the story was way too complicated for the allotted pages, and I never got a sense of who the characters were.
Chance Mackenzie is trying to track down evil terrorist Crispin Hauer, and after hacking into a government database, he located the birth certificate and adoption records for Hauer’s daughter, Sunny Miller. He cooks up an elaborate plan to get her on his private plane and crash into a remote, inaccessible mountain range in an effort to get to know her and get her to give up the goods on her father. He can’t fight the undeniable attraction he feels for her, and soon they are caught up in a steamy affair. It soon becomes clear to Chance that Sunny doesn’t know anything about her birth father, and she’s spent her enter life running from him and his men. Not one to fail at a mission, Chance decides to use Sunny as bait to bring down his target and put an end to Hauer’s terrorism.
That’s an awful lot of story to fit into 192 pages of a comic book. The story didn’t flow well for me, and the romance was far too rushed and unconvincing. Both protagonists’ casual disregard for using protection also grated on my last little nerve, especially after Chance boasted about the number of condoms he had.
Chance is the most unprofessional undercover agent ever, and getting the daughter of the international terrorist you are trying to catch pregnant isn’t really good form. I had a problem with his background story, too. If he was a feral kid living on the streets until he was 14, he must have had one heck of an awesome tutor to get him all caught on the schooling he missed out on so he could join the Navy, become a SEAL, and learn his super-duper computer hacking skills. I guess anyone can learn how to fly a plane, especially a SEAL, but crashing it into a mountain and not getting a dent on it, despite all of the rocks it scraped up during the crash landing – I just didn’t buy that. I wish I had his spy budget and could crash a plane in a remote area for a little downtime (I of course would make sure all of my Kindles were charged prior to takeoff.) And how convenient that Sunny carries an emergency kit complete with first aid kit, rations, water, blankets, and a….tent? NOPE. That just seems like an awful lot of stuff to drag around every day, even if your father is an evil terrorist trying to catch you, and was a wee bit too convenient.
I didn’t care for the art, either. Character proportions are awkward and the artistic style is more minimalistic than I care for. It’s functional, and that’s about it. Glad I only paid .99 for this.
Grade: D-
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Intelligence operative Chance Mackenzie has been looking for an elusive international terrorist, and finally comes across some information about the terrorist’s beloved daughter. Her name is Sunny. She is clearly in league with the terrorists. Chance fakes a “chance encounter,” gets Sunny on a private plane and crashes it in a canyon. It was all part of his plan to get her alone and trick her into revealing her father’s location. But her bright, sparkling eyes and golden hair are so pure and angelic… Chance is confused by these new, intense feelings brought about by a passionate kiss.
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