Customer Reviews

The Skins of Dead Men

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A schoolteacher called TC (a Tough Cookie) rescues a young boy who is being being kidnapped by a Kurdish nationalist group. She gets him out of Mexico and across southwestern US to try to reunite him with his grandparents. She meets up with a good, resourceful guy who had been the victim of severe burns and who had received skin grafts (thus the reference to the skins of dead men.) Appealing characters and exciting plot turns.

Several of Ing's books have female focus characters who are young, attractive, strong and with a hint of androgyny. TC is another iteration. He often pairs these women with male characters are older, technologicly adept men of good character and a strong independent nature: an interesting mix, pairing two self reliant, stubborn and strong willed people.

I enjoyed the book.

Tucson school teacher Teresa T.C. Conteras needs to get away from it all as the tragic death of her own son continues to haunt her mind. T.C. knows she cannot gain solace from her wastrel spouse, especially since their marriage has ended. To escape, she travels to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for a needed vacation.

Instead of resting in the sun, T.C. becomes involved in a kidnapping attempt of seven-year old Al Townsend. She manages to thwart the abductors. The kidnappers turn out to be facilitators hired by Al's father, who lives in Mahabad, Iran. T.C. soon flees with the child as professionals, armed with diplomatic immunity and high tech weaponry, give chase. She turns to the only person she trusts, Ross Downing. However, he is the very person scarred in a failed rescue plan when the son of T.C. died. The pair plans to unite the lad with his family, not knowing that he might just be the catalyst they need to save their own tormented souls.

THE SKINS OF DEAD MEN is an action-packed, non-stop thriller that takes readers on a wild ride through Mexico and the Southwest part of this country. Though no shockers or spookers occur, the story line is crisp and well written. However, what makes Dean Ing's latest adventure so good is the depth of all of the characters. Both North Americans and Middle Easterners seem genuine in what first appears as an unreal scenario that due to Mr. Ing's talent comes across as a highly plausible situation.

Harriet Klausner

Dean Ing returns to the style he does so well: a young, beautiful, independent woman, almost masculine in her strength; a strong-willed man of good character who wins her affections, and a young boy in peril.

The book races through Mexico and the U.S. Southwest as TC attempts to elude a gang of murderers and would-be kidnappers. The long and thrilling chase reminds me of The Pelican Brief, and I only hope this books finds as many readers.

The back of this paperback book makes this sound much better than it really is and the title doesn't even make sense until mid-point through the book not too mention that it's barely a piece of the novel -- just adds annoying ESP. I only gave it a 2 instead of a one because I think someone like Michael Palmer or one of the other medical mystery writers could spin out an interesting story related to the title.

The writing style was also very choppy. Won't read this author again.

Dean's passion for life comes through in power packed books

Mostly this is an average action/conspiracy/chase book like a thousand others. The villains could be drug cartelistas, renegade CIA men, it doesn't matter. Naturally they love torture and know everything you buy on your Visa card instantly. The gutsy heroine and her former-agent friend naturally out-fight, out-tech, and out-netsurf the professionals and have an obligatory bonding sex scene. Nothing wrong with it if it doesn't scream FORMULA! every paragraph. The heroine is supposedly Chicana but she could have been Polish or Irish or Zulu, since her role is to be five feet of bitter determination, no more, no less, and her culture/background has no effect on her actions or the story.

Oh, there is also a fantasy/paranormal plot device which is very annoying, since (a) it's sillier than most; (b) it plays a tiny role in the plot, and could have been easily dispensed with; (c) the author, however, is quite taken with it and thinks it's the centerpiece of the book. He's mistaken. Look: supposed you got a book called "Jurassic Park", and found that on page 300 out of 400 pages of conspiracy/chase, they run through Jurassic Park and a dinosaur kills a bad guy. Then, on the last page, a protagonist says, "We never could have done it without TYRANNOSAURUS REX." It's like that. Trust me.

I gave it two stars since if you had nothing else to read on the train, you might read this instead of staring out the window. I've read some, or parts of some, similar thrillers of which I could not say that.

Ludicrous plot, poor characterizations, wooden dialog, hilarious technical clangers (would you believe that putting a Glock on a microwave is dangerous, because rounds might cook off? Or that you retrieve your email from your web site?) A god-awful book. Hard to see where these good reviews originate.