Beneath the Skin
by Nicci French | Mystery & Thrillers | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0140281061 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 0140281061 Global Overview for this book
Registered by AngelChild of Maidstone, Kent United Kingdom on 2/3/2005
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
2 journalers for this copy...
This book came in a multi pack, but i already have it on my TBR pile.
Zoe, a pretty blonde schoolteacher. Jenny, a former hand model turned model wife and mother. Nadia, an irrepressible free spirit who entertains at children's parties. Three women living in different parts of London, grappling with different problems, sheltering different dreams--their lives and narratives linked only by the singular madness of a sadistic stalker. As they move slowly through the sweltering heat of summer, someone is sending these women letters that let each know she is being watched, studied and loved from afar--even unto death.
Beneath the Skin is a spooky, highly effective psychological thriller. Initially, the women refuse, as do the police, to take the threats seriously--they are happy, they are inviolable; surely these letters are the work of a harmless crank. But the novel watches Zoe, Nadia and Jenny move from blithely insouciant denial, to frustration, to creeping terror, and finally to the stark realisation that neither they nor anyone else will prevent this killer from destroying them. French skilfully evokes the insidiousness with which the letters invade the women's lives, straining and shattering relationships, pushing each toward fearful insanity. Perhaps the novel's greatest appeal lies in its mordant irony: not only do the stalker's threats push and fester "beneath the skin", but they also draw out the flaws and terrors that are already there. French sketches the women's weaknesses and fears with merciless accuracy, stripping them naked long before the killer arrives to finish what his letters have begun.
The author's talent for psychological portraiture is, in fact, so great as to undermine, however slightly, the novel itself. We become so aware of the women, of their responses, of their needs, that the actual murders arrive as an almost superfluous intrusion. We respect the demands of the genre--a thriller needs thrills, after all--but wistfully regret the loss of the victims, even as we guiltily acknowledge our own voyeuristic culpability in their disintegration.
Zoe, a pretty blonde schoolteacher. Jenny, a former hand model turned model wife and mother. Nadia, an irrepressible free spirit who entertains at children's parties. Three women living in different parts of London, grappling with different problems, sheltering different dreams--their lives and narratives linked only by the singular madness of a sadistic stalker. As they move slowly through the sweltering heat of summer, someone is sending these women letters that let each know she is being watched, studied and loved from afar--even unto death.
Beneath the Skin is a spooky, highly effective psychological thriller. Initially, the women refuse, as do the police, to take the threats seriously--they are happy, they are inviolable; surely these letters are the work of a harmless crank. But the novel watches Zoe, Nadia and Jenny move from blithely insouciant denial, to frustration, to creeping terror, and finally to the stark realisation that neither they nor anyone else will prevent this killer from destroying them. French skilfully evokes the insidiousness with which the letters invade the women's lives, straining and shattering relationships, pushing each toward fearful insanity. Perhaps the novel's greatest appeal lies in its mordant irony: not only do the stalker's threats push and fester "beneath the skin", but they also draw out the flaws and terrors that are already there. French sketches the women's weaknesses and fears with merciless accuracy, stripping them naked long before the killer arrives to finish what his letters have begun.
The author's talent for psychological portraiture is, in fact, so great as to undermine, however slightly, the novel itself. We become so aware of the women, of their responses, of their needs, that the actual murders arrive as an almost superfluous intrusion. We respect the demands of the genre--a thriller needs thrills, after all--but wistfully regret the loss of the victims, even as we guiltily acknowledge our own voyeuristic culpability in their disintegration.
Journal Entry 3 by AngelChild at -- Somewhere In London 🤷♀️ in -- Somewhere in London 🤷♀️ , Greater London United Kingdom on Sunday, April 10, 2005
Released 19 yrs ago (4/18/2005 UTC) at -- Somewhere In London 🤷♀️ in -- Somewhere in London 🤷♀️ , Greater London United Kingdom
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES:
I will be releasing this book somewhere in South East London as part of the Book Aid Mass Release. Sorry i can't give more info on where, but to be honest i'd prefer it to be found by a non-BCer :o)
"Visit www.bookaid.org to find out how you can open up the world
through books."
I will be releasing this book somewhere in South East London as part of the Book Aid Mass Release. Sorry i can't give more info on where, but to be honest i'd prefer it to be found by a non-BCer :o)
"Visit www.bookaid.org to find out how you can open up the world
through books."
