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Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
One look at Lt. Charles Acland's disfigured face and anyone can see that the Iraqi bomb that blew up two of his men has left him profoundly changed—but have his traumatic brain injuries altered the young British army officer's personality enough to make him a murderer? That's the narrative fuse Edgar-winner Walters (The Devil's Feather) lights to ignite this sizzling psychological thriller. She skillfully interweaves strands of Acland's story, including notes from the military psychiatrist treating him, with the hunt for a serial killer who's claimed at least three victims in South London. Then another man is beaten within an inch of his life not long after Acland's move into the neighborhood. When the lieutenant gets into a near-fatal bar fight with a Pakistani stockbroker, Acland's unlikely savior is a 250-pound lesbian weight lifter and doctor named Jackson. Surprisingly, Jackson is also one of the few convincing characters in this plot-propelled tale, a flaw readers may be willing to ignore—until they slam into a contrived denouement well below Walters's usual standard. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
"Suspense-filled . . . This multi-layered story by England's best-selling female crime writer blends current events, the politics of sexual relationships and the development of personal identity into a psychologically compelling novel."
-"USA Today
""A Walters novel is like no other. She bases her books on facts gathered from real life [and] then embosses with her own painstaking research and fertile imagination . . . The revelations are astounding."
-"Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"
"A sizzling psychological thriller."
-"Publishers Weekly
""Solid plotting, superb characterization, and fascinating information on traumatic brain injuries make this compelling thriller a sure winner . . . Walters' latest suspense tale mixes the creepiness of [an] old noir movie with a contemporary, ripped-from-the-headlines exploration of the aftereffects of traumatic brain injury on soldiers."
-"Booklist "(starred)
Praise from the UK & Canada:
"What marks Minette Walters out from the rest is not just the complex yet utterly convincing psychological profiles she draws of her characters, but the fact that she really gets into the heads of some disturbing people . . . No wonder she is the country's bestselling female crime writer. But even this label does not do justice to the scope and breadth of her gripping, terrifying novels. "The Chameleon's Shadow" is another classic."
-"The Mirror"
"Minette Walters is one of crime fiction's finest creators of character. That ability is on full show in this novel of trust and fear . . . All the characters are beautifully built, and Acland is a brilliant creation . . . If you like a character-driven crime novel with greatpsychological depth, you'll love "The Chameleon's Shadow,""
-"Globe and Mail "(Toronto)
"An accomplished psychological thriller . . . "The Chameleon's Shadow "is as frightening and as compulsively readable as Walters's previous novels, with as ingenious a plot."
-"Times Literary Supplement
""Minette Walters holds a unique place in crime fiction today. That's because she does so much more than produce tense crime thrillers . . . This is another page-turner and another novel which will deservedly take its place on the bestseller list."
-"Sunday Express"
"Minette Walters is an adventurous novelist . . . In "The Chameleon's Shadow," [she] leads us to the answer with her usual disturbing ability to look into damaged minds."
-"The Times "(London)
"A disturbing and fascinating thriller . . . Walters's characters ring true whether she's dealing with a career-obsessed young army officer, a teenage thief or a dirty old man edging towards senility."
-"The Spectator
-"USA Today
""A Walters novel is like no other. She bases her books on facts gathered from real life [and] then embosses with her own painstaking research and fertile imagination . . . The revelations are astounding."
-"Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"
"A sizzling psychological thriller."
-"Publishers Weekly
""Solid plotting, superb characterization, and fascinating information on traumatic brain injuries make this compelling thriller a sure winner . . . Walters' latest suspense tale mixes the creepiness of [an] old noir movie with a contemporary, ripped-from-the-headlines exploration of the aftereffects of traumatic brain injury on soldiers."
-"Booklist "(starred)
Praise from the UK & Canada:
"What marks Minette Walters out from the rest is not just the complex yet utterly convincing psychological profiles she draws of her characters, but the fact that she really gets into the heads of some disturbing people . . . No wonder she is the country's bestselling female crime writer. But even this label does not do justice to the scope and breadth of her gripping, terrifying novels. "The Chameleon's Shadow" is another classic."
-"The Mirror"
"Minette Walters is one of crime fiction's finest creators of character. That ability is on full show in this novel of trust and fear . . . All the characters are beautifully built, and Acland is a brilliant creation . . . If you like a character-driven crime novel with greatpsychological depth, you'll love "The Chameleon's Shadow,""
-"Globe and Mail "(Toronto)
"An accomplished psychological thriller . . . "The Chameleon's Shadow "is as frightening and as compulsively readable as Walters's previous novels, with as ingenious a plot."
-"Times Literary Supplement
""Minette Walters holds a unique place in crime fiction today. That's because she does so much more than produce tense crime thrillers . . . This is another page-turner and another novel which will deservedly take its place on the bestseller list."
-"Sunday Express"
"Minette Walters is an adventurous novelist . . . In "The Chameleon's Shadow," [she] leads us to the answer with her usual disturbing ability to look into damaged minds."
-"The Times "(London)
"A disturbing and fascinating thriller . . . Walters's characters ring true whether she's dealing with a career-obsessed young army officer, a teenage thief or a dirty old man edging towards senility."
-"The Spectator
"
"From the Hardcover edition."
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
War and The Disturbed Mind,
By Ian Gordon Malcomson (Victoria, BC) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME) (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: The Chameleon's Shadow (Paperback)
Walters, in her latest novel, has ventured into a new subject matter: psychological crime thriller. As usual, she creates a difficult and gruesome set of circumstances from which to spring her story. This time, however, it is a British soldier, Charles Acland, sustaining a terrible head wound while fighting in Iraq that launches this singularly complex journey into a world where he vainly struggles to recover his past. Along the way, he is going to meet people who will both help and hinder his search for why he's the way is: angry, suspicious, paranoid, and aggressive. His guardian angel will turn out to be the most unlikely individual - a husky, butchy female doctor posing as a weightlifter - who seems to possess the canny ability to both appeal to his gruff exterior and his less obvious, underlying gentleness. She and a female psychiatrist, Daisy, befriend Acland with the intent of taking him through the pressing and threatening issues in his life, while, at the same time, shielding him from a society and its criminal justice system that wants to write him of as a social monster and misfit. Don't be surprised to learn at the end that Walters has taken you on a journey full of non-sequitors meant to challenge one's grip on reality. Charles is definitely a chameleon character who has to sort out who he truly is, even if it means learning that he isn't that tough macho figure he always thought he was. What Charles discovers about himself is that he is not quite prepared to take on the truth about his vulnerable and addled life when it confronts him in full force. I like a Minette Walter's thriller because it is usually well orchestrated enough that I, the reader, has no problem following the labyrinth of her thinking.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Ending not as good as what came before,
By
This review is from: The Chameleon's Shadow (Hardcover)
Minette Walters newest psychological suspense novel focuses on the effects of war, not on those who inhabit the country of warfare, but rather on those who fight the wars, and the horrendous injuries they sustain that affect every aspect of their lives, both physically and psychologically. The protagonist is British lieutenant Charles Acland, 26 years old, home from Iraq with devastating head injuries, including loss of sight in one eye and total disfigurement of that side of his face, tinnitus, and migraine headaches. Even worse are the resultant personality changes: suspicion of those around him almost to the point of paranoia; outbursts of uncontrolled anger [red mist is a recurring phrase]; distrust of nearly everyone, especially women; inability to tolerate being touched whether all this is the result of post-traumatic guilt over the death of two of the men under him in the same attack or what is termed the prolonged destruction of a personality, or something else entirely, is unclear. The effects of traumatic brain injury and subsequent antisocial behavior are explored.When several men in the London area are attacked and beaten to death over a period of several months, and it appears that it is the work of one man, Acland falls under suspicion. It is unclear to the police, and the reader, whether or not he is in fact the attacker. He unwillingly turns for aid to a woman whose lesbian partner runs a bar in which he has started a fight, a doctor called merely Jackson. A fascinating creation, she is variously described as being the size of a whale and over six feetthis wide and looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger, but she earns Aclands grudging respect and becomes his savior, his psychiatrist [though that is not her area of medical specialization] and, ultimately, his friend.. The title derives from (1) Acland being described as, chameleon-like, projecting different images of himself to different people, and (2) the Jungian definition of a shadow as the dark aspect of personality formed by those fears and unpleasant emotions which, being rejected by the self or persona of which an individual is conscious, exist in the personal unconscious. The view is a disturbing one. I must admit that I couldnt help but feel that the resolution was somehow less compelling than that which had preceded it. Nonetheless, Ms. Walters has again written a gripping and suspenseful novel.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointed,
By
This review is from: The Chameleon's Shadow (Paperback)
"The Chameleion's Shadow" was a big disappointment. I love everything Minette Walters has written before this, and so I was eager to read this book. Minette seems to have lost her ability to invent characters with whom the reader can sympathize. Her characters are unique, just not likeable or fleshed out. This book consists of very inventive conversations among the characters, arguing, much like lawyers in court, alternate theories about why and how crimes were committed. The convoluted theories are just boring and tedious and while I wanted to know the ending, I couldn't wait for it.
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