Chain of Chance

"The fact that I was using a dead man's shirts and luggage didn't faze me in the slightest, and if it was a little hard going at first, then it was only because these things belonged to a stranger, not because their owner was dead".Written in the style of a detective novel, The Chain of Chance is classic Lem: a combination of action, hard science, and philosophical investigation. An ex-astronaut is hired to look into the death of a wealthy businessman, one of several men to meet a gruesome end after visiting Naples. The authorities suspect a pattern, but neither detectives nor a sophisticated computer enlisted for the investigation can crack the case.On a trail leading from Naples to Rome to Paris, the ex-astronaut barely escapes numerous seemingly random threats on his life. Having set himself up as a potential victim, he realizes that he may now be the target of a deadly conspiracy -- and that the conspiracy is not the work of a criminal mind but a manifestation of the laws of nature. The population has numerically exceeded its critical mass; certain patterns have begun to emerge from the chaotic workings of society. As the ex-astronaut unravels the puzzle, he begins to see that some of those patterns can be fatal.A singular mystery novel, The Chain of Chance proposes an original scientific hypothesis in the form of a story layered with menace and driven at breakneck speed. It is among Lem's most accessible and popular books.