Is he your neighbour? Is he your colleague? Does he have a file on you? I think of myself as a collector. Let him tell you his story. He is a city-centre shopworker who cultivates a facade of blandness to hide a secret life. For him, surveillance is an artform at which he can excel. Peeping Tom. Pervert. Stalker. That is not me. An urban chameleon, a Tom Ripley for the new millenium, an insanely gifted technofreak – Simon R. Biggam has created a sociopath for our time. These Are Only Words is a chilling dissection of identity and alienation from a bold new talent in contemporary fiction.