Ronrig Dundee
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I found this book contained everything a good thriller needs and like most of the reviewers could not put the book down. The only reason I give it four stars is the language of the lieutenant was mature beyond his age. Having served in the Army, young lieutenants tended to be immature due to having a sheltered life due to private school, university etc. Also the Army hasn't issued 'kit bags' for well over 30 years. The author should have done more research for her main character.
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The Risks of Love!
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Lieutenant Charles Acland has returned from Iraq with severe head and face injuries and a predilection for sudden rages particularly against women. Three men are killed in London and Acland seems implicated. Walter's compelling exploration of estrangement and psychological chaos owes much to the presence of one of her best characters ever, Jackson, the weight lifting locum G.P. who moonlights as a bouncer at her girlfriend's pub and befriends Acland when he precipates an unnecessary brawl. A monumental `saviour' of near mythic competence, Jackson ironically begins to question Acland's social isolation and sexual anxiety. `He squinted up at her. From the floor she looked like a mountain of white muscle, with calves, thighs, shoulders and neck bulging out of her biker boots..' Salvation can arrive in many forms!
Add to this an ex-girl friend who believes she is Uma Thurman, a secretive tramp, deceitful rent boy and a strangely submissive parent; this is a book that entertains without insult or injury!
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Disappointing and unbelieveable
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I've enjoyed the author's earlier books, but was disappointed by this one. I found the first third of the book got tedious with the endless descriptions of the injured soldier's bad temper and violent behaviour without much story to carry the book along. I kept feeling that many of the characters were ludicrous, not least the body-building GP. My faith in the author's accuracy over detail was dented by her putting "MD Psych" on the psychiatrist's headed notepaper as his professional qualification, maybe a minor point, but that's not a British qualification in psychiatry. Altogether, very disappointing.
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Disappointing
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Disapppointing. OK I am not a big fan of Walters'style of including some kind of memos, newspaper cuttings, reports into her fiction, designed in a different typo and setting etc. I always found it disturbing and more a distraction from the novel than an addition to it. Anyway, this book is in itself disappointing and thrilling in one go. Sounds strange but that's how it felt to me during reading this story around Lt. Acland, terribly wounded Iraq war soldier returning to the UK after having seen two of his men die in a bombing. He is a very unsympathetic character and the acquaintances he makes on the way during this story are imho too overdrawn too larger than life and through that design almost discriminating some special groups of people. The guilty person comes of course out in the end and I will not disclose here who it is but why this person has done the murders is not made clear, the end is written in a rush after the book drips on for ages. Still, an interesting read, but do not expect too much from it, especially if you have read the early Minette Walters books that were far more better.
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fabulous
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I seem to be in the minority who think this was a fabulous book. This may have something to do with the fact that I am not a die hard fan of Ms Walters and have only read about 3/4 of her books. If you are you may want to read the reviews by her more ardent followers for a comparison to her older stuff.
From the books I have read I can say she keeps to the same style of writing by which she uses the periodic inclusion of newspaper cuttings or official documents etc to tell the story. It is a method Ms Walters has mastered and doesn't take anything away from the narrative.
The Chameleons Shadow is addictive and gripping as you're always wondering if the protagonist really is a killer or not. There is depth of character as each one has their own problems, backgrounds and personalities which are well conveyed. I'd strongly recommend reading this book to anyone who likes a good thriller.
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