The Chameleon's Shadow

When Lieutenant Charles Acland is flown home from Iraq with serious head injuries, he faces not only permanent disfigurement but also an apparent change to his personality. Crippled by migraines, he becomes increasingly isolated and withdrawn and starts to display sporadic bouts of aggression ...particularly against women ...Rejecting medical advice, Acland discharges himself from hospital and cuts all ties with his former life and moves to London. Alone and unmonitored, he sinks into a private world of guilt and paranoia ...until a customer annoys him in a Bermondsey pub. He attracts the attention of police who are investigating three murders in the area that appear to have been motivated by extreme rage. Under suspicion, Acland is forced to confront the real issues behind his isolation. How much control does he have over the dark side of his personality? Do his migraines contribute to his rages? Has he always been the duplicitous chameleon that his ex-fianc e claims? And why if he hates women does he look to a woman for help? Walters writes murky psychological thrillers ...a world away from cucumber sandwiches and discreet bodies Part title......Page 1 Title page......Page 3 Southwark Echo, Friday 29 September 2006......Page 9 Eight weeks later......Page 11 One......Page 17 Two......Page 29 Three......Page 47 Four......Page 57 Five......Page 70 Six......Page 88 Eight weeks later......Page 103 Seven......Page 105 Eight......Page 122 Nine......Page 132 Ten......Page 144 Eleven......Page 155 Twelve......Page 169 Thirteen......Page 178 Fourteen......Page 189 Fifteen......Page 204 Sixteen......Page 224 Seventeen......Page 236 Eighteen......Page 246 Nineteen......Page 259 Twenty......Page 269 Twenty-one......Page 281 Twenty-two......Page 291 Twenty-three......Page 302 Twenty-four......Page 315 Twenty-five......Page 324 Twenty-six......Page 335 Twenty-seven......Page 348 Twenty-eight......Page 358 Twenty-nine......Page 366 Thirty......Page 370 Thirty-one......Page 387 When Lieutenant Charles Acland is flown home from Iraq with serious head injuries, he faces not only permanent disfigurement but also an apparent change to his previously outgoing personality. Crippled by migraines, and suspicious of his psychiatrist, he begins to display sporadic bouts of aggression, particularly against women, especially his ex-fiancee who seems unable to accept that the relationship is over. After his injuries prevent his return to the army, he cuts all ties with his former life and moves to London. Alone and unmonitored, he sinks into a private world of guilt and paranoid distrust ... until a customer annoys him in a Bermondsey pub ..