Chances (novel) blackout, a real event that Collins describes in some detail affects all the major characters either directly or indirectly. Gino's story begins in 1921 but backtracks to narrate details of when Gino's parent's, Paulo and Mira Santangelo emigrated to New York City from Italy in 1909 when Gino was three. From an early age, Gino takes to a life of crime, stealing a car at the age of fifteen and ending up in a juvenile home. Chances (novel) Chances is a 1981 novel by Jackie Collins and the first in her "Santangelo" novels series. The novel has three focal points,
The Lady in the Lake what has actually happened. The drowned lady in the lake shares the same looks and moral character as her murderer. The true distinction between them, of victim and perpetrator, only becomes clear at the conclusion of the novel. The ambiguity is further advanced by the fact that each time the murderess is introduced into the action, she is masquerading under a different name. Mildred Haviland had disappeared after the killing of Dr Almore’s wife and then married Bill Chess, using the name Muriel; quitting that role, she impersonates Crystal Kingsley at the hotel in San Bernadino; and she throws Marlowe