A tale of friends who knew each other from years ago; friends who have been bound together by the only one of them who made the effort to keep in touch - Tom. The only problem is that Tom is now dead. 'Second Chance' revolves around how each of these old friends react to the tragedy of Tom's death, renew old friendships and re-examine the purpose of their own lives. The story is centred on Holly and her re-evaluation of her marriage and reunion with Tom's family and in particular Tom's brother.

What is unsatisfactory about 'Second Chance' is the 'pat' nature of the characters as a whole. We have a movie star, a couple who are happy except they cannot have kids, a couple with kids who are not happy and another happily single. The overall feeling left is that the characters more closely resembled the cast of 'Gilligan's Island' than a set of friends you would come across in reality.

Despite the foregoing, all of the characters are believable as individuals and, overall, Jane Green manages to create a story with a not wholly unexpected twist at the end which is sure to appeal to female readers in particular.