(Reviewed by JD Jung)
“…I was already imagining her insides —I am not one to stop at the body naked. My imagination ran behind the flesh, into the pulp. I imagined her glistening innards, her yellow and purple heart, the cool pink exit of her colon.”
Alex Melville: 32 years old, freelance translator, serial killer.
His family moved from the U.S. to Europe when he was a child. When his mother died about a year ago from cancer, he moved to Catania, Sicily to take care of his father who is suffering from dementia. He’s also close with his drug-addicted sister, Sonia, whose on-again/off-again boyfriend runs a drug ring.
In spite of all of this, he is still able to keep up with his morbid addiction of cutting up women; “Peeling the skin back….Let the blemishes, the internal organs breathe…”
However when Sonia goes missing, he finds it difficult to balance all of this while still satisfying his perversions.
The Skin Room takes us from Sicily to Marseilles to Paris to Luxembourg, following a deranged man desperately searching for his sister while running from thugs and police. When obsession and revenge converge he achieves true gratification…or maybe not.
One element that makes this novel unique and captivating is that the entire story is told from Alex’s perspective in the form of a confession. The only downside of only hearing his point-of-view is that there are some events and character profiles that I wish were explored further. It doesn’t take away from the story though, as this fast-pace thriller keeps you guessing from one page to the next. Right when I thought I had it all figured out, the story would turn in another direction.
Obviously there are gruesome aspects to the story. However it is not overdone to the point that it becomes difficult to read. I credit the author for this balance and restraint.
At just under 300 pages, The Skin Room is a quick read that will keep you engrossed to the very end.
