UNDER MY SKIN by Lisa Unger (Park Row, October 2018) Hardcover, 364 pages. ISBN #0778308405 / 9789778308409 Edgar Award Nominee for Best Paperback Original
New York Times bestselling author and master of suspense Lisa Unger comes an addictive psychological thriller about a woman on the hunt for her husband's killer
What if the nightmares are actually memories?
It's been a year since Poppy's husband, Jack, was brutally murdered during his morning run through Manhattan's Riverside Park. In the immediate aftermath, Poppy spiraled into an oblivion of grief, disappearing for several days only to turn up ragged and confused wearing a tight red dress she didn't recognize.
What happened to Poppy during those lost days? And more importantly, what happened to Jack? The case was never solved, and Poppy has finally begun to move on. But those lost days have never stopped haunting her. Poppy starts having nightmares and blackouts--there are periods of time she can't remember, and she's unable to tell the difference between what is real and what she's imagining.
When she begins to sense that someone is following her, Poppy is plunged into a game of cat and mouse, determined to unravel the mystery around her husband's death. But can she handle the truth about what really happened?
My Three-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .
This was my first time reading a Lisa Unger novel. I'm impressed enough with her writing style to take another shot at reading Unger, but I'm not entirely satisfied with UNDER MY SKIN.
The fact that it takes me twelve days to finish a "thriller" says a lot about this work. I thought that it dragged and was repetitive and did not hold my attention for any longer reading sessions until very near the end of the novel. Still, it's a well-developed psychological thriller with characters that are fully defined and understandable even if it's difficult to relate to them. I understand the grief that follows the sudden death of a loved one, but not necessarily the rapid descent into alcohol, meds, and amnesia that endures for more than one year. Plus, your friends should be supportive and not contributors to that state of confusion. However, it's a real crux point in this novel and essential to the plot.
Main character Poppy is a distinctly unreliable narrator and that's an author's method that I'm not especially fond of. SPOILER AHEAD:
There are plenty of potential murder suspects to keep readers engaged throughout this, but Unger doesn't plant any clues to help get at the real culprit until deep into the novel. Plus, the way that Poppy finally learns the truth is deliberately "planted". END SPOILER. Some of the story developments left me feeling a little "cheated".
Not to completely discourage anyone from reading this, UNDER MY SKIN has a lot to say about dealing with loss, grief, family connections, tolerance of abusive relationships, and career versus family concerns - - all tactfully done. Unger makes her points without slamming it home.
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