In Her Skin

by Kim Savage

[Sam@WLABB]

Rating: 3.5 Stars

I knew from the synopsis, that this was going to be a darker, grittier read, but wow! This was quite a twisted tale of a con that didn't got exactly go according to plan.

•Pro: Savage's writing in her last book was quite beautiful, but the style she employed here was very different, and perfectly fit this story being told from Jo's point of view. She was not refined or polished, and the writing reflected that, which I thought did a fantastic job of painting a complete picture of this young woman.

•Pro: Savage made an interesting choice of having Jo speak directly to Temple throughout the narration. It was different and really captured Jo's almost obsessive fascination with her.

•Pro: The book is divided into three parts - Vivi, Temple, Jo. I liked the way Savage set the focus in those parts, and it was a good way to partition the story.

•Con: This is just me, but I like breaks when I read. The Vivi section took up the majority of the book, and it did so as one continuous chunk. Though this was not something that bothered me, I have read enough reviews to know there are readers, who do not like the "telling versus showing" style. We spend a lot of time in Jo's head, but I feel it was a good choice because of the nature of this story.

•Pro: Jo was so damaged and broken, and Savage magnificently painted this picture. It helped me have some sympathy towards her BUT

•Con: There were like zero likable characters in this book. The plot was strong enough to keep me interested, but as a character driven reader, I sort of need a likable characters in a book to make it next level for me. There was one character I sort of liked, Wolf, but he had very little page time.

•Pro: The strongest thing about this book was the story. The whole concept of Jo slipping into the missing girl's skin and assuming her life had me captivated. Even the way it all started. How she picked her mark, did the research, and planned it all out. It was morbidly fascinating.

•Pro: I was surprised by the path this story took. The power struggle was interesting, and as the truth was slowly revealed, I found myself shaking my head in bewilderment.

Overall: A dark and twisted tale of a broken girl, who in a bid for survival, slowly loses pieces of herself.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.