Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Dark, Dangerous... Disappointing, 23 Mar 2009
First of all, let me recommend you read Mo Hayder's previous novel `Ritual' before tackling this one. It's not essential but you may find some of the plot references in `Skin' very confusing if you don't.
The events in `Skin' take place literally a few days after `Ritual'. There are three main plot strands: i) Someone appears to be killing women and disguising their deaths as suicide. He's also fond of skinning animals and obsessed by skin in general; ii) the identity of the woman run over and killed in `Ritual' by Thom, brother of police diver Phoebe `Flea' Marley is revealed. There's a major investigation into her disappearance and `Flea' is faced with a dilemma; iii) DI Jack Caffery is still searching for his `Tokoloshe Man', again from `Ritual', and the practices of `muti' or African black magic re-surface.
As you will have noticed two of the above plotlines are direct continuations from the previous book, so you'll appreciate now why I suggest you read it first! Of the three strands, by far the most unsatisfactory is the first, which I found to be totally unconvincing. Luckily, Mo handles the other two with much more skill.
Both DI Jack Caffery and `Flea' Marley are well drawn, complex characters with dark shadows in their past, which frequently occlude their waking hours. This is perhaps why there's an affinity between them.
Two or three of the diving scenes in the book in particular are almost unbearably tense and you find yourself holding your breath as you read them. There are unresolved issues at the book's close and, without giving anything away, these are clearly going to be explored further in the next book.
`Skin' is tense, brooding, dark and ambitious... but, for me, ultimately not 100% satisfying: I feel it's less than the sum of its parts and doesn't quite gel as a whole. However, there is still much to enjoy and some readers will, I'm sure, think it's tremendous. Others may hate it - it's THAT kind of book!
With her first two novels `Birdman' and `The Treatment', Mo proved she could deliver the goods big time, so I'll be sticking with her for a couple more reads at least.
p.s: `Ritual' was described as the first book in `The Walking Man' series. In that book, The Walking Man himself only appeared in a few pages and was entirely peripheral to the plot. He appears again in `Skin' - twice - but again, for a few pages only. But this book is NOT described as the second volume in `The Walking Man' series. Confused? I am!
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
SKIN, 28 Mar 2009
This book is a follow on to Ritual, it does have some dark disturbing parts and there are definitely tension filled moments, but overall i was quite bored reading it and even skipped some pages as i just couldnt be bothered to read them as parts of the book, made me feel i was re-reading Ritual again.
The main plot lines centre around Jack Caffery still looking for the Tokoloshe, whilst investigating some apparent suicides, that he thinks are murders.He also meets up with the Walking Man again - who really is just a minor character in the book.
Meanwhile, Flea Marley, ace diver, who with years of experience of pulling decomposing bodies out of rivers, lakes, drains and fields etc. fails to notice for 3 days that she has been driving around in her car, with a decomposing body in the boot!!? The body is of a woman, her brother Thom killed in a hit and run accident, the night he borrowed Fleas car and went out to the pub, returning home drunk. I found the storyline where Flea helps him with this situation totally unconvincing.
There is also a madman on the loose, obsessed with skinning animals andwhoes ultimate aim and deepest desire is to skin a human being.
Overall the book is well written and does have its moments, but i dont think its Mos finest work and i dont think i will bother buying the follow on (which i'm sure is in the offing). I was so looking forward to this book and wanted it to be great, sadly it isnt.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Take it or leave it..., 12 Jun 2009
I have always enjoyed Mo Hayder's books and was really pleased when I heard that her next one had been published. As many reviewers have said, you do need to read Ritual before you embark on this one; otherwise you may be completely lost. Basically, a decomposed body of a woman is found near the Bristol railway line with all signs pointing to suicide but DI J. Caffery thinks differently. Jack and police diver Flea Marley are on the hunt for a serial killer and Flea wonders if she and Jack can be an item but it never gets that far. The story isn't bad but it is such a far cry from Birdman and The Treatment, I wanted to finish this quickly and move on.
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