Chance

Best known for his surfer noir classics Tapping the Source and Tijuana Straits, Nunn switches gears with this brilliant and cerebral psychological thriller. The quiet, ordered life of Dr. Eldon Chance, a recently divorced Bay Area forensic neuropsychiatrist, begins to unravel when he makes a series of ill-fated decisions. First, he gets involved with Jaclyn Blackstone, a beautiful, emotionally fragile patient who can’t seem to escape from her abusive, manipulating husband, who is an Oakland homicide detective. Chance crosses another line by hiring D, a massive, enigmatic man who hangs out at an antique shop, to recreate a missing piece for a set of furniture he plans to sell as original. Chance soon finds himself in the unlikely role of student to D’s teacher in the realities of street justice. When Jaclyn’s husband begins targeting Chance, the good doctor is forced to depend on his new mentor to survive. By the surprising conclusion, we learn that all the main players have hidden histories of their own. Agent: Lynn Nesbit, Janklow & Nesbit Associates. (Feb.)