Of Sharks and Chameleons 
 [Warning: There's some minor spoilers ahead, but I steer clear of the big revelations.] 
 Haldeman has always impressed me with his mature, hardboiled SF writing, usually careful to keep the conceptual wanderings well in sight of their scientific base-camp. This is a story of two ancient alien visitors, both of whom have learned to pass as human. They're very different creatures, however; the 'changeling', obviously, changes itself -- adapting physically, psychologically, and perceptually to best suit the environment it inhabits -- while the 'chameleon' blends in, hiding in plain sight, without changing itself in any essential way, and seeks out the environments that suit it best. This difference defines the way they see mankind, and provides an interesting guess at how an outside observer might interpret the greatest hits and horrors of the twentieth century. 
 As a group of scientists try to crack a massive metallic egg of alien origin, for fucking eons resting peacefully at the bottom of the ocean with its crab and starfish neighbors, the reader goes back in time. Haldeman follows the shape-shifting 'changeling' alien as it leaves the waters after 10 000 years as a shark, a transition that doesn't go smoothly. It impulsively adopts the form of 'Jimmy', an unfortunate young man out for a late run, who welcomes the still shark-minded visitor to life on dry land and dies horribly. This brand new Jimmy freaks everyone out with his strangeness, and despite possessing a highly adaptive intelligence, bad things happen on the road to understanding the complex emotions and social subtleties. 
 Wait, the chameleon's the bad guy? Never... 
 When WWII breaks out, Jimmy switches to simpler subject matter, donning a uniform to join the Bataan death march. Impervious to harm, the 'Changeling' initially experiences a Thanksgiving dinner and the 'execution' of it's human form with the same emotionless curiosity, taking each new event as raw data for processing. But it's mimicry advances with time, and it develops something like an extraterrestrial corollary to feelings. The 'Chameleon' alien, meanwhile, much more skilled at blending in, thanks to a very long career in atrocity going back centuries, has found a place for itself in the Third Reich, finding a like mind in Joseph Mengele. 
 Wait, the shark's the good guy? Never... The shark doing the camouflaging and hoovering is an Angel shark, eating a Horned shark. Sharks are assholes. 
 As their parallel trajectories through modern history bring them to the near-future that is the story's present day, they converge on the experiments in Fiji. The alien egg, composed of an unknown element with a density near that of Neutronium* (theoretically), continues to mystify and refuses to yield any answers. With both aliens on the island and one of them inextricably linked to the object, answers are near at hand... 
 The story takes some decidedly strange turns, but remains a fascinating exploration of our very worst characteristics, benefiting from Haldeman's talent for vicious fictional violence. It's also a fast read, as all of his books are, but 'compulsively readable' definitely doesn't mean light entertainment. The narrative arc involving the changeling, as it evolves from a terrifying monstrosity to something almost human, makes for a fascinating and unusual perspective. I've been a fan of Haldeman's work since discovering 'The Forever War'** and its sequels, a story that is amongst the best SF of the 20th Century. Even though I've seen it pop up on 'best of' lists, in general, it seems like his novels don't get the attention they deserve. Unlike much of SF, his solid, pragmatic future-view has aged well, and I could see his influence in recent hard-boiled spec-fic like 'The Expanse' series. This probably isn't one of Haldeman's best novels, but I still highly recommend it. 
 *P.S.: "Neutronium (sometimes shortened to neutrium[1]) is a proposed name for a substance composed purely of neutrons. The word was coined by scientist Andreas von Antropoff in 1926 (before the discovery of the neutron) for the conjectured "element of atomic number zero" that he placed at the head of the periodic table.[2][3] However, the meaning of the term has changed over time, and from the last half of the 20th century onward it has been also used legitimately to refer to extremely dense substances resembling the neutron-degenerate matter theorized to exist in the cores of neutron stars; henceforth "degenerate neutronium" will refer to this. Science fiction and popular literature frequently use the term "neutronium" to refer to a highly dense phase of matter composed primarily of neutrons." 
 Since degenerated neutronium is so fucking dense a tablespoon of it outweighs Mt. Everest, I'm guessing that incense contains no neutronium. Also, it's impossible to get to a neutron star, and impossible to isolate. Also, neutronium is composed entirely of neutrons, packed immensely close without the protons and electrons balancing the strong nuclear force and keeping sub-atomic particles at relatively vast distances... so what the fuck are those electrons doing there? Truth in advertising, motherfucker. :-P 
 **P.S.: I was surprised to learn of Haldeman's popularity as a writer of BD (Euro-comics). In 1988, 'The Forever War' was adapted into BD form with Belgian artist Marvano, and became a huge success. Haldeman and Marvano collaborated on adapting the rest of the novels in the series, and have since gone on to other stories like 'Dallas Bar'. 
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