The Chameleon's Shadow

At first I wasn't going to continue after the first couple of chapters. Mr. Eye-Patch is a first-grade asshole and he stays that way for the entire book. I couldn't figure out why anyone would be at all tolerant of him, never mind actually like him and want to help. But that's Walter's talent - she draws you in despite hating her leading man. I don't care if he's had some kind of brain injury; that's no reason to excuse his violent eruptions. Unless you're a mind reader you won't know he's going to blow and pretty much kill you, but it was obvious there was something else going on. I liked how the events tied together and some of the side characters were ok, but mostly it's a barrel of jerks.

Unlike many authors of crime fiction writing today,Minette Walters has never gone down the easy road of the 'crime series'. With every book,she has constructed a unique type of thriller inhabited with it's own cast of characters.
Not all of these have been to my particular taste I must admit,but this one certainly is.
We are told of Lieutenant Charles Ackland,who is serving in the army in Iraq,and who shortly after the book starts,is flown back to England,after being ambushed with his patrol,and in this ambush is terribly disfigured,both physically and mentally.
The story follows him as he battles with his problems,which include both withdrawal from the world and extreme rage.
At the same time we follow a succession of brutal murders,and show more the investigations of the police to find the killer.
It is with the complex character of Charles Ackland and also with that of Jackson,a 250 pound female,who tries to help him,that the book really comes alive. Jackson,who is not only a lesbian weightlifter,but also a doctor,is a most charismatic character,and one that I hope will be used again. However I suppose with Walter's track record,she will continue to break new ground yet again with her next offering. show less

The story begins with an ambush in Iraq leaving sole survivor Lieutenant Charles Acland with half his face gone. Post-recovery aggression, with some graphic information from his ex, brings him to the attention of the police who are investigating multiple murders. He seems to have no interest in helping himself but a weightlifting lesbian doctor offers help. With excellent characters and plot, it's a page turner right to the end.

After a road bomb attack in Iraq, Charles Acland wakes up in hospital with serious head injuries that have left him with amnesia and facial disfigurement. He also seems to have had a change in personality. Rather than being happy and personable, he has become angry and violent, particularly towards women. It is soon revealed that his ex-fiancée, Jen, dumped him the day he flew off to Iraq. Now, she wants him back. But Acland won’t have anything to do with her, and won’t reveal to his shrink exactly why the relationship went wrong in the first place. Acland refuses to have corrective surgery and discharges himself from hospital.

When he picks a fight in a pub, the police start looking at him as a suspect in several unsolved murders. show more Elderly men are being beaten to death and the only connection is their military backgrounds and homosexual leanings. The police are stuck, so Acland’s intolerance and short fuse make him a likely candidate. Acland struggles to come to terms with his new life at the same time he tries to prove his innocence. Despite his moodiness, Acland has friends. Jackson, a female weight lifter and GP, is one of the owners of the pub that he has had the fight in. She and her partner, Daisy, take him on as a boarder.

Acland is the stereotypical damaged hero – so damaged that you wonder whether Walters has finally decided to let the most obvious person actually be the murderer. Especially when it becomes apparent that he was actually in London without an alibi when each of the murders occurred.

Minette Walter’s has looked at damaged minds before – and she does it well. Never a formulistic writer, she uses a favourite technique in this book. She links the story with a background series of letters, newspaper clippings, Police and Medical reports. I find this technique to be very effective in providing vital information, or red herrings. I did have two little gripes. Firstly, I did suspect who the murderer was, and was proven correct at the end. Secondly, the constant reference to Jen looking like Uma Thurman, I was so over it by the middle of the book. Despite these niggles, Walter’s grabbed my attention on page one and did not let me go until the end of the book. show less

A new book by Walters is a treat. This one focuses on Charles Acland, a British soldier badly injured in Iraq. Back in Britain, he suffers from severe migraines and personality changes due to his head injury. He refuses plastic surgery for the badly scarred side of his face, nor does he want a false eye to replace the one he lost, preferring to wear a patch. He's suspicious of doctors and becomes agressive, especially toward women. Moving to London, he just wants to be left alone, but after getting into a violent altercation at a pub, he comes to the attention of police investigating the murders of three older, gay or bixsexual men, and a vicious attack on a fourth. When they discover Acland and the fourth victim crossed paths, he show more becomes their number one suspect. The only people who seem interested in helping him are a psychologist friend of his shrink at the hospital where he'd recovered, and the no-nonsense lesbian doctor who owns the pub with her partner.

The odd respect and almost friendship that develops between Acland and Dr. Jackson becomes the key for Acland to prove his innocence, something he seems almost reluctant to do. This time, the psychology is more central to the story than the mystery, but Walters keeps the story moving briskly and by the end, I'd come to care a great deal for the physically and emotionally wounded Acland. show less

It took a while for me to sense where this was going, and even then I wasn't sure.

Lieutenant Charles Acland suffers severe injuries from the detonation of a bomb in Iraq, while traveling with two other men under his command. The two died. After spending much time wrapped in bandages he is far from ready to talk when he is conscious enough to do so. He does harbor a great deal of anger, however. Much of it against himself but also much against civilization, institutions, anyone.

A psychiatrist comes to his bedside to talk to him, and gradually gets Charles to talk a little and even to trust him a little. After Charles is discharged, this psychiatrist tries to keep track of him and to help in his adjustment to the world.

Charles is quite a show more loner. He has no use for his mother in particular, and not much for his father, who wants him to take over the farm. He distances himself from others. Yet by an odd set of circumstances he finds himself cared for by an unusual doctor who shares ownership of a pub with her lover.

Meanwhile, out in the world there have been some mysterious deaths. Murders. Clearly the murderer is a very angry person, something like Charles. Could it be Charles?

Charles lets himself develop some trust in the tough, weight-lifting doctor who shares the pub, but it's a tenuous trust. He reveals a little of his life to her over time, once he realizes he will get no pity from the woman (nor does he want any). He continues to face challenges and so do his champions. He's a hard man to support at times.

I found the complexity of his character interesting and compelling, as well as the characters of those who entered his life (or most of them, anyway). Well-developed characters make the novel for me. show less

British author Minette Walters is such an engaging writer: I found this almost impossible to put down. Unlike most crime fiction writers, Walters rarely repeats a character across books.

This one is about Charles Acland, an Iraqi war vet flown home with major head injuries. He has amnesia, a problem with extreme rage tending to violence, and a hatred of women. So is it possible that he actually committed a string of murders without actually remembering it? Could be. Even he doesn't know.

The story unfolds mostly from Acland's own point of view, with a few news articles, medical reports and emails thrown in - this is something of a trademark of Walters' style. It's gripping, a page-turner, and I certainly didn't guess the ending.