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CHAMELEON
by Mark Burnell
Harper Collins, March 2002
400 pages
$24.95
ISBN: 0060194669


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Chameleon: a person given to often expedient or facile change in ideas or character. The word applies perfectly to Stephanie Patrick. Only a few years earlier, she had been living life as a professional assassin by the name of ³Petra Reuter². In the intervening years, she¹s transformed her lifestyle and lives in a peaceful haven in France. She has an attentive paysan by the name of Laurent with whom she dallies, and an income sufficient to keep her comfortable for years to come. That comfort is threatened, however, when she is approached by the man she used to work for, Alexander, who represents Magenta House, a kind of syndicate promulgating various international deals and subterfuges.

Stephanie has no desire to become Petra again, to return to becoming a person who is a cold-blooded, ruthless killer. She struggles against this throughout the book, at varying times being Petra, an expedient way to do what is necessary. Alexander has several plans for her. First, she is to find the person who murdered one of their operatives. Secondly, she is to find a Russian by the name of ³Koba², a chameleon in his own right. And thirdly, she is to purchase a biological weapon.

Normally, any of these assignments would be fairly easy for her to accomplish. What she doesn¹t bank on is falling in love with a man by the name of ³Kostya² Komarov, a Russian who has as many secrets as Stephanie does. They are 2 people who have survived only because they have only trusted themselves. Will they be able to move from the world of intrigue that they inhabit and into a lasting relationship?

Although I was fascinated with the metamorphosis of the Stephanie/Petra character, I found myself less mesmerized with the events that transpired in the book. Slowly paced and overly complex in its plotting, it was difficult and confusing to keep track of all the multitudinous threads in the book. I wished that Burnell had concentrated on Stephanie¹s assignments. Instead, every person that she interacted with also had various activities that they were involved in. I essentially lost track of the plot and was totally confused by that and the sheer number of characters.

Another element that made reading the book difficult was that Burnell switches between third and first person point of view constantly throughout the narrative. I didn¹t really see the rationale behind using this device. I think the book would have been more effective told from a first or third person point of view, but not both.

One area where Burnell excelled was in the action sequences. He communicated a vivid sense of danger and excitement in these scenes. Burnell also does a nice job of portraying the various European and Russian settings where the book takes place. The conclusion of the book sets up a terrible dilemma for Stephanie, and there is no indication of how it will turn out until the last moment. I would have enjoyed this book far more if the plot had been streamlined and the focus been on how Stephanie, operating at times as Petra, accomplished what she needed for herself and for the organization.

Reviewed by Maddy Van Hertbruggen, November 2002

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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