Customer Reviews

In This Skin

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

 

 

While this isn't quite as good as his amazing Stranger, In This Skin kept me glued to the couch, lounging around and being lazy all day as I read. (Like that's anything new but hey, saying this book is good gives me a believable excuse)

The plot is complex, unsettling, covered with a mysterious, dreamy-like atmosphere. Wiggling around in this foggy soup are characters that stand out, with credible motives for their actions, realistic goals, and I cared about each. The 'creatures' were shivery and unique.

As for the pace, In This Skin started out with swift, hard kicks, never letting up, ending with a final bang that could be
felt through the entire length of my spine. Clarks writing style is not weighed down by unneeded 'pretty phrases' - instead he's focus, determined, and powerful.

The only real flaw I can see is that sometimes the characters are a bit dumb, but hey, not much is perfect. This one tantalized my mind and kept my blood roaring through my ears - what more could a horror reader ask for?

Nearly a century old, the Luxor Dance Hall, located in a suburb outside Chicago, has proven a Mecca for young people for several generations. Some visited to see the latest Vaudeville attraction, others danced to swing music played by the premier big bands, still others attended performances by the likes of the Talking Heads and the Ramones. Now dilapidated, it still holds an attraction for some. One such individual, Benedict West, returns again and again to seek clues to the mysterious disappearance of his lover, Mariah, who, like countless others, were last seen at the Luxor. Others, like the bullied Ellery Hann and the pregnant Robyn Vincent, are instinctively drawn there. When the trio comes together to delve more deeply into the secrets of the old dance hall, they find themselves pitted against unearthly forces they can barely comprehend.

In This Skin works well enough overall, but it's not prime Clark-despite some genuinely creepy moments, it suffers in comparison to earlier efforts like Vamphyrric, which is guaranteed to make the hair the back of your neck stand up. Part of the problem is that Clark is not working in his customary milieu, having set the novel in modern day mid-west America, instead of his native England. As a result, the main characters will seem just a bit "off" to American readers. Another problem (for me, at least) is the novel's uncanny, hopefully unintentional parallels to the 1955 movie "Rebel Without a Cause," what with disaffected youth coming to form a family unit after spending time in a deserted building. Half expecting Jim Backus to emerge from the shadows, dressed in an apron, somewhat diminished the tension Clark labored so mightily to build.

In This Skin is the most refreshingly different horror novel I have had the pleasure of reading for a long time. The plot is new, fresh, and unique. Clark obviously reached deep inside his imagination to come up with this book.

The Luxor is an abandoned dance hall that doubles as a portal into another universe. What travels through that portal is monstrous and deadly. I can't give you anymore than that without ruining the story, so let's just talk about the book's merits.

It's been a long time since I have given a book 5 stars, but this novel deserves it. Yes, there are moments where unbelievable, never-happen-in-a-million-years events take place, but isn't that what fictional horror is all about? The characters in this book remain true to themselves from page one on to the last page, which is rare. There is no last minute change of heart, or the bad guys come around to see the light, or any of that nonsense. All the characters in this story have a job to do and they each complete their task memorably.

This is a hard to put down thrill ride. It is worth every penny spent to buy it and every minute spent reading it......enjoy.

WOW!!! IN THIS SKIN is the first of Simon Clark's novels that I have read (I know I know its his most recent but I am now ordering all his older novels) Really well written, filled with likable protaganists and nasty antagonists, creatures that are original and creepy. Clark makes you care about his characters and as the story unfolds you find yourself hoping that evrything will turn out ok... Clark keeps the story moving along and wallops you with a few surprises along the way. A really enjoyable, fun and creepy read. I will never look at a Crow the same way again ;) Try it... you'll like it!!!

Clark's first four books were really good. Then on his fifth he faltered. His last book Stranger was a stumble. In This Skin is just plain bad writing and I am SO DAMN TIRED of authors who make the characters in their books do things that NO ONE would do. Like being chased by some creature right out of your worst nightmare that obviously wants to attack you, then when you see your boyfriend right after that you don't mention it???? She just went on like it was just a normal day, and she stays living in that derelict building (no electricity/lights), with only flashlights to see by (no windows, it's an old dance/concert hall), that is in the middle of an abandoned industrial area of town? A building where she had seen this creature before!!!???
Right there I stopped reading. It absolutely turns me cold to a book when a writer does that to his readers. What does Clark think, we're stupid and don't care what he makes the characters do, or NOT do? We do care (maybe I am projecting intelligence to too many readers??) and I am REALLY tired of writers who don't care enough about their craft or their readers to maintain integrity in their writings. So now, from here on out I will be VERY wary about buying another of his books.

On the cover there is a quote from Bentley Little where he states that "Simon Clark has what it takes to be another Stephen King"...HA!!!!....obviously Mr. Little has NEVER read any Stephen King, because NO ONE has the ability to tell a story like King. The quality and style of King's writing is beyond the ability of ANY other author, even Dean Koontz, as great an author as he is. Clark can't even be the writer he used to be!!!!

If you don't mind the characters acting in an absolutely unrealistic manner then by all means waste your money, but my suggestion is to read a book by an author who cares about crafting a story that makes the reader care about the characters, not one who makes you want to avoid them.

I was drawn in to reading Simon Clark's "In This Skin" by Bentley Little's cover blurb comparing him to Stephen King. I'm one of those readers who can't abandon a book once I begin it, but after finishing this book I did something I NEVER do: I threw it right in the motel garbage can.

Clark seems to have latched onto the idea of repetition of previous events in such a way as to remind those of us who may have drowsed off during earlier reading (quite possible)--latched on ad nauseum. We get it, Simon, I kept finding myself muttering as I trudged through this sludgy novel.

Also distracting was the apparent fact that Clark, as a British writer, wrote this novel in clearly British idiom, and, through the help of some weak editing, attempted to pepper the Americanized version with the occasional "Chicago" or "Steak and Shake" and think that made this novel accessible to American readers.

I did enjoy the character of the gun-wielding bully (I don't recall his name since I threw away the book). He was an interesting plot device, a fly in the ointment that brought about a rather predictable closure for the novel.

I agree with another review herein that Simon Clark's "In This Skin" is poor writing marketed as the second coming of Stephen King. As a writer myself, it pains me to offer a negative review, but I couldn't help but shake my head in frustration as I turned each page of this plodding book.

When I read books, I usually just go by the title and what the author is known for. In Simon Clark's case, he is a horror author so I will read anything by him without caring what it is about until I'm actually pages in. In This Skin was a dreadful reading experience. I read the plot description after finishing and who ever wrote that little summary did a great job of selling this book. It sounds good, but I didn't enjoy any of it at all. As I usually say in my short reviews, the description is there for you to read and you don't need me re-wording it. I just say what I thought of the book as a whole and this one was a dud. I'm glad I'm not a slow reader. I didn't waste more than a couple of days on this.

I bought this book on clearance for $1.00 and I think I over paid. This book reads like a child's essay that had to meet a certain number of words and so many pages. There is an excessive amount of repeating what was just said. Chapters are only 1-2 pages long if that. The story has no flow and over all was quite a challenge to get through because it failed to keep me interested. For the record I did finish the book, but usually I never get rid of any book due to the fact that I might want to re-read it again in the future. Let me say with ultimate conviction that this book will be going to goodwill. Don't waste your money. Some of the other reviews say this author's other books are better, but right now I'm gunshy due to the old saying, "Fool me once shame on you....Fool me twice shame on me."

Simon Clark's new book, In This Skin, reads like someones nightmare. From the very first chapter, the story starts off dreamlike, with an unsettling feeling in both the character and reader's mind. Clark carefully and slowly builds the mystery between the characters, raising the stakes as the terror begins to mount. This Clark's most mature book to date - and possibly his best, focusing on what we don't know instead of shoving mindless, predictable graphic violence at the reader (although I do love a good gory scene, now and again). This has a solid beginning, middle, and end - with all the stuffings that a good horror novel should contain - believable characters in an original story that threatens their lives. In addition, Clark's mythology of the lurking dangers are fascinating and hint to flavors in his other novel, Darker (another fine read). Stranger and Darkness Demands are also recommended by Clark.

The synopsis on the back of In This Skin doesn't do it justice. The writing is as tight as the plot, and Clark brings several far different characters together in a tale of intertwining problems with a resolution that surprised and fulfilled.

A teenaged couple, a young man crippled with a terrible stutter, and a man losing himself in a search for a vanished love all converge on a closed down dancehall - the Luxor. Horror and destiny await within.