Customer Reviews

Chameleon

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This book contains the plot line common in many of Kienzle's books: the murderer has something against the clergy. The story was unique in that the killer goes after prostitutes. One would not expect that in a Catholic novel, but it's a great suspenseful story.

The problem with this book is one is either Catholic or not.

If one is, you know all these very very long arguments.

If one isn't,he could care less. Kienzle hides his motives

for updating the Church

under the guise of a mystery.

Don't worry, no real spoilers.

It's a fine line that mystery writers need to take. You want "mystery" -- meaning you don't want the reader to see where everything is heading too soon. So, the story takes various twists and turns. Red herrings are thrown in.

On the other hand, you don't want to be forced to have the killer be so much of a surprise that even very attentive readers could not have even had the person on the radar.

Finally, the resolution also needs to make some sense.

Examples from the movies. The Sixth Sense. The ending was a total surprise to some of us. But, after seeing it, your mind rewinds through what you viewed previously and it becomes a very satisfying experience. It ... makes ... sense. Foreseen or not. Another movie: The Usual Suspects. Not until the investigator understands what just happened to him do we understand. And, again, it ultimately makes sense.

Even the DaVinci Code and its predecessor Angels and Demons made a fair degree of sense. To an extent, the bad guy was on the radar but not clearly so. Still, the resolution was satisfying.

Then comes a novel like Chameleon. Rich in its details about the setting (Detroit area), the Catholic Church, and many of the characters. The bad guy isn't totally off the radar, so that's good -- and it wasn't that sure who-dun-it until the final pages. So that's good. But, ultimately, the crime, the motivation, etc., just didn't make enough sense. That's not satisfying, it's merely frustrating.

I liked the book in part because while there were a few lead suspects, you have some doubt about them being the true bad guy, but not enough to discount the possibility. And, you begin to see some other potential bad guys out there. It is not totally out of the blue, as in some Agatha Christie or Ellery Queen mysteries. But, really, it is so much more satisfying when the crime and criminal truly make sense. It didn't happen in Chameleon.