Review: The Skin Room

Author: Morgan Fleetwood
Started reading: August 10th 2019
Finished the book: August 10th 2019
Pages: 300
Genres: Thriller, Horror
Published: June 29th 2017
Source: Physical copy from publisher
Goodreads score: Not enough ratings
My score:

Synopsis

The Skin Room is an unnerving suspense thriller narrated by Alex Melville – multi-lingual translator and multiple murderer. The blood-stained document that comprises the narrative of the novel is his claustrophobic, unreliable account of the murder of Valentina, and the incarceration and death of his drug-addicted sister, Sonia. This is no ordinary confession, however. In a unique and distinctive style, Alex gradually reveals his secret: this story has only one reader, the police inspector he holds responsible for his beloved sister’s death, and that while he writes in the flickering candlelight, he has one last grotesque secret to share that is his ultimate revenge.

My thoughts

First of all, I just have to speak up... I don't understand why people would SPOIL the end of the book in their review on Goodreads. Please, people, just use the spoiler tag. This really took away some of the pleasure in reading this book, since I already knew how it would end. I just like scrolling through some reviews to get an idea of the opinions of other reviewers. When there is a spoiler tag, I will not read it...

Back to the book: Dark, twisty and definitely horror, because this book was one of the most gory things I've read! The story takes place in familiar places and that was what made it fun to read.

Pros

• Domino Day: This was SO MUCH FUN to read about! One of my favorite shows on Dutch television when I was younger was Domino Day. I've NEVER seen that in a book before. It was so cool to read about it in this book and I immediately had a connection with the book.
• Easy to read: I finished the book within a day. I remember reading it in the car on the way back from my vacation. It was easy to get through and that always makes for a good experience, since you can just totally emerge in the story.
• Setting: I like where this book takes place. It's around Europe and some of the places felt familiar to me. This was another way in which I connected with the book, it made it easier to picture for me.
• Dark and twisted: This book is not for the faint of heart. It's no happy tale and it evolves around a lot of negative feelings and emotions. The book is pretty gory as well, maybe a bit too much for me, but I liked the change in genre for myself.

Cons

• Story/blurb: The book summary spoils most of the good plot twists. I think the book would be much more fun to read if the blurb wouldn't give away so much about the book. Other than that, the story was kinda all over the place for me.
• Last 10 pages: The last 10 pages were SO BLOODY. It's the most gory thing I've ever read and I really was struggling to keep reading...

Overall

A dark and twisted book with some very gory and detailed parts. Definitely worth reading if you like that genre. It takes place around Europe and that made it fun to read, since I could picture the book easily.

The book is written to devour within a day, so if you like gory horror, I'd pick it up!

Thanks for reading!

I'd love to talk books; please let me know what you think about this book/review