The Man with Two Shadows

by Robin Maugham

A shattering novel about a man's sexual double life. "My name is Peter Grant. And my life has become a strange and sordid nightmare..." Maugham's novel is not only a study of that strange and frightening phenomenon of the mind known as dissociation of personality, but is also an enthralling story of adventure, love and intrigue in North Africa. The hero's appalling disability, as a result of a head wound during the war (WWII), adds immeasurably to the danger of his already hazardous work with MI-5. An engrossing tale of a man's developing fear of himself as he becomes more and more entangled in a web of mystery and violence which starts in Cairo, spreads to Tangier and London, and reaches its final climax in a remote cottage in Sussex.

Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

Reviews

[Aiabata Seiya · Rating 5 out of 5]

1.PENGUIN READERS level 3
2. 90 min
3. scared strange man rich dead offer marriage
4. Do you like strange story?
Yes, I do.
5 this book is composed of five parts. All of story was really scary and interesting.
This book isn’t horror but mystery. It took me for a long time to solve some problem, but it was very good book. That’s why I gave this book five stars.

[CQM · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maugham packs a lot into his short novel about a travel writer/spy.
While it is a spy novel and thriller, it is also a psychological study. We catch glimpses of our protagonists' childhood and war service, both of which contribute to his split personality.
I'm a little bit in awe of how Maugham, with apparent ease, fits so much into 124 pages.

[ingrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book a bit confusing but it was still a good thriller/adventure story. It took me a while to figure out the narrator had a"dissociative personality disorder" which was the explanation for two "different" people doing counter-productive things. The narrator is a journalist/sometimes spy. He had a serious head injury in WW2.