Touch of Guilt
Vale is a fugitive without a face—an entity condemned to survive by leaping from body to body with a single touch. Once a promising biologist in Oxford, Vale’s life is violently severed when a random act of violence triggers an inexplicable transformation: his consciousness is torn from his dying body and thrust into that of his attacker. From that moment, Vale is forced to navigate a fractured existence, inhabiting strangers’ lives and carrying their memories, desires, and secrets as his own.
Haunted by the loss of identity and pursued by relentless hunters who know what he is, Vale drifts through the streets of Zurich and Manchester, always one step ahead, always an outsider. Each new host brings fresh dangers and moral dilemmas—families who sense something is wrong, memories that threaten to overwhelm, and the constant fear of discovery. As Vale searches for meaning in his cursed ability and glimpses of his former self, he is forced to confront what it truly means to be human: is he a mistake, a weapon, or something else entirely?
Set against a backdrop of cold cities and hidden lives, this literary thriller explores themes of identity, alienation, and the price of survival. With a voice both intimate and detached, the narrative delves into the psychology of a protagonist who is always present, yet never truly at home—caught between lives, hunted by his past, and searching for a place to belong