Skin

          What would you do if you were in an oppressive cult that would beat you if you touched an outsider? I’ll tell you what Wendy Davidson did… She escaped. It’s been seven years since she broke free from the bonds of domination and she’s trying to make a new life. When the thriller/horror called Skin opens, this is where we find her. She’s headed east across the country to meet her mother, the rain is pouring and she just wants to reach the next town so she can bed down for the night. But there’s more to Summerville than meets the eye.

            Colt Jackson is a member of the Summerville Police Department, answering a 911 call about a gunman on the loose in the middle of town. Carey Schultz is trying to get his sister Nicole to the Summerville Hospital to get her snake bite treated. And Jerry Pinkus? Well, Jerry Pinkus hasn’t come into the story…yet. A triple-tornado is about to touchdown in Summerville and everyone is trying to get to safety. Through a series of fortunately unfortunate events, Colt, Wendy, Carey, and Nicole find themselves in a house above the city, trying to outlast the storm. But, in the morning, when they come outside, they find that something disastrous has happened… the town, all of it, is gone. The only thing that can be seen for miles is desert, plain desert. Well, that and the house and adjoining library. A fallen electric line stops them from going towards where the town was and there isn’t much point going anywhere else. Suddenly, the library door flings open and out runs a twenty-something year-old gamer, one called Jerry Pinkus. Jerry is missing his right index finger at the second knuckle. So, now they are a group of five strangers, stranded in the middle of nowhere, when, to add to the mix, the gunman shows up. Turns out he’s a sadistic killer bent on ridding the world of ugliness. Soon, they are faced with the decision of killing one in their number or all dying. Neither choice is picked. Next thing they know, the town is back. The story begins to quicken as the town continues to vanish, and then reappear as if on a whim. And, to make matters worse, the killer knows who they are… like really knows. The quintet begins to balk and accuse one another of being the killer, wondering how this psycho, this Sterling Red can know so much about all of them, when none of them know him. Or do they?

            Skin, written by Ted Dekker, is a page turner for sure, and, although there many unexpected turns, the craziest plot twist is saved for the very end… the very, very end. I would recommend this book to the older crowd as it deals with a sadistic killer. The point is, beauty is not skin deep, and everyone is ugly. Ugly with sin… but there is a cure for ugliness.