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whatlexysaid's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
sams84's review against another edition
5.0
This is a really good engrossing thriller that is both fast paced and brooding as Abbie Devereaux deals with not only being kidnapped, threatened with death and having to escape but also with not being believed, losing her memory and having to uncover not only her own disappearance but also that of her new friend and flatmate and the other women named by her kidnapper. In doing so, she rediscovers a strength and sense of conviction she didn't know she had and a talent for investigation that puts the police to shame. I particularly like this story as not only was it very much focused on Abbie but it showed her to be a strong victim that fought back against the greatest odds rather than just curling up in a little ball and wasting away. I do love a story with a strong female at its centre.
mrsbooknerd's review against another edition
1.0
One star sounds harsh because I did read it all and I wanted to know the ending, but I did not enjoy the journey.
I though Abbie was an absolute fool. That isn't the word I want to call her but I figure I'll get kicked off GR if I use anything stronger.
She was kidnapped and was threatened with death then she spent the rest of the book walking from one dangerous situation into another. She was flakey and rude and illogical.
"I got kidnapped and nearly died and I have amnesia and no house or money, can I stay with you? Your baby woke me up, you're so selfish I cannot possibly stay here!"
She got money and then spent the whole lot of haircuts, new clothes and taxis. She gave it away to people of the street and kept just buying wine...
I'm not sure if I am expressing it clearly enough but I hated Abbie. She ruined the book.
The plot was actually great. It was paced fairly well and was different to the usual plot. I genuinely wanted to know what had happened and who had done it. I was suspicious of everyone, even if Abbie did just go off with every Terry, Dick and Ben in the book without a care.
Usually I don't like plots where no one believes the 'hero' but this one worked because there was no evidence and Abbie was the most unreliable of narrators. So even I was skeptical.
I also found the writing style a bit annoying. It was super listy (real word) instead of one or two examples it would go on and on and on until I was thinking, for goodness sake I get the picture, get on with it!
In short. I liked the idea but not necessarily the end product.
I though Abbie was an absolute fool. That isn't the word I want to call her but I figure I'll get kicked off GR if I use anything stronger.
She was kidnapped and was threatened with death then she spent the rest of the book walking from one dangerous situation into another. She was flakey and rude and illogical.
"I got kidnapped and nearly died and I have amnesia and no house or money, can I stay with you? Your baby woke me up, you're so selfish I cannot possibly stay here!"
She got money and then spent the whole lot of haircuts, new clothes and taxis. She gave it away to people of the street and kept just buying wine...
I'm not sure if I am expressing it clearly enough but I hated Abbie. She ruined the book.
The plot was actually great. It was paced fairly well and was different to the usual plot. I genuinely wanted to know what had happened and who had done it. I was suspicious of everyone, even if Abbie did just go off with every Terry, Dick and Ben in the book without a care.
Usually I don't like plots where no one believes the 'hero' but this one worked because there was no evidence and Abbie was the most unreliable of narrators. So even I was skeptical.
I also found the writing style a bit annoying. It was super listy (real word) instead of one or two examples it would go on and on and on until I was thinking, for goodness sake I get the picture, get on with it!
In short. I liked the idea but not necessarily the end product.
sianw1992's review against another edition
3.0
Land of the Living Nicci French
The first chapters of this book had me hooked. I had no idea what was going on and craved to find out how the girl had come to be in this position. However the first chapters were probably the best. Although it was intruiging as each piece unfolded, I found some parts of it completely unrealistic. Her friends and family didn't believe that she'd gone through this ordeal and neither did the authorities! It was a little bit too unrealistic for me, hence the three stars, but was otherwise a good read that makes you keep turning the pages.
The first chapters of this book had me hooked. I had no idea what was going on and craved to find out how the girl had come to be in this position. However the first chapters were probably the best. Although it was intruiging as each piece unfolded, I found some parts of it completely unrealistic. Her friends and family didn't believe that she'd gone through this ordeal and neither did the authorities! It was a little bit too unrealistic for me, hence the three stars, but was otherwise a good read that makes you keep turning the pages.
sunrune234's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
julianpople's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
gizley0420's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Physical abuse, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Minor: Rape, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
dovesfalling's review against another edition
4.0
What made (makes) this book so beautiful to me is twofold.
1. The casual elegance of the writing. Nicci French (for the purpose of just plain not feeling like typing out two names, I will ignore that this is a pseudonym and just pretend it's one author) is brilliant at sketching characters that feel like real people and for using spare, simple and yet beautiful prose. I really love her style and always have. It's especially evident in her earlier works and now in the Frieda Klein series.
2. The relationship between the three women, invisible, like a thread - but so strong that not even death shakes it. I thought this was a haunting river through the novel.
Beneath the Skin is not my favourite of French's novels (that award goes to Land of the Living, but it is one of her best, in my opinion.
Zoe, Jenny and Nadia are three women with a horrible connection. Each have been targeted by a killer - he sends them notes telling them what he's going to do to them. The tale begins with Zoe, a tiny, blonde schoolteacher with a suffocating flat she can't get rid of, an army of friends and a spot of fame after stopping a thief with a gigantic watermelon.
Zoe is
The second act of the novel begins with Jenny, a rich and very polished woman having her house completely gutted and remodeled, sending her normally very organized life into chaos. When the killer begins sending her obscene notes, she doesn't think very much of it. Until the police arrive. Jenny
Finally, the third act is Nadia. Nadia was my favourite character in the book - I think because she's so normal and doesn't take any BS and she works as a Clown. I mean, how cool. Nadia becomes involved and begins to look suspiciously at every person in her life - she knows the killer is close, but who? And why?
Beneath the Skin eloquently and skillfully explores the very nature of fear and how alone a person can feel in the midst of such chaos. It's not really about WHO the murderer is (this is evident by the middle of the book) it's the relationships, the sourness of disappointment, the suffocation of environment and the heartbreaking ache of grief.
1. The casual elegance of the writing. Nicci French (for the purpose of just plain not feeling like typing out two names, I will ignore that this is a pseudonym and just pretend it's one author) is brilliant at sketching characters that feel like real people and for using spare, simple and yet beautiful prose. I really love her style and always have. It's especially evident in her earlier works and now in the Frieda Klein series.
2. The relationship between the three women, invisible, like a thread - but so strong that not even death shakes it. I thought this was a haunting river through the novel.
Beneath the Skin is not my favourite of French's novels (that award goes to Land of the Living, but it is one of her best, in my opinion.
Zoe, Jenny and Nadia are three women with a horrible connection. Each have been targeted by a killer - he sends them notes telling them what he's going to do to them. The tale begins with Zoe, a tiny, blonde schoolteacher with a suffocating flat she can't get rid of, an army of friends and a spot of fame after stopping a thief with a gigantic watermelon.
Zoe is
Spoiler
eventually murdered in the first act of the book - a twist I didn't see coming initially. It's unbelievably sad, because Zoe seems like such a nice person - and this is confirmed later on when Nadia meets her friend and she reminisces about how happy Zoe was right before her murder, and how she looked "like a little kid" in her GAP Kids t-shirt and skirt. I think the moment that Zoe is strangled is the moment the innocence is gone from the book. It's the moment the authors show you that anything is possible.The second act of the novel begins with Jenny, a rich and very polished woman having her house completely gutted and remodeled, sending her normally very organized life into chaos. When the killer begins sending her obscene notes, she doesn't think very much of it. Until the police arrive. Jenny
Spoiler
is also murdered, and in a much crueler and more sadistic way than Zoe. French is skilled at only alluding to horror, but it's evident that Jenny is raped with an iron bar and garrotted. It's an ending made even worse because of Jenny's focus on perfection and her need to always seem presentable. In the moment of death and terror, she loses herself and it's extremely upsetting to me. It's interesting how grief-stricken I felt for Jenny - she wasn't exactly a lovely person, but you can see how she came to be that way, with an absent (cheating) husband and the pressure each day to be perfect. When you find out later on that her husband has moved in with his girlfriend and taken their son with him (who desperately misses his Mum) it's devastating.Finally, the third act is Nadia. Nadia was my favourite character in the book - I think because she's so normal and doesn't take any BS and she works as a Clown. I mean, how cool. Nadia becomes involved
Spoiler
with the Chief Detective on the case, before she realizes there have been two women before herBeneath the Skin eloquently and skillfully explores the very nature of fear and how alone a person can feel in the midst of such chaos. It's not really about WHO the murderer is (this is evident by the middle of the book) it's the relationships, the sourness of disappointment, the suffocation of environment and the heartbreaking ache of grief.
dovesfalling's review against another edition
5.0
One of my favourite thrillers, hands down.
Abbie wakes in the dark, hooded and bound. She's not sure where she is, what has happened to her. All she knows is that her head is banging, her breath is sour, her eyes are covered. Slowly, as time marches on, she realizes she's being held captive by a madman. He stuffs a gag in her throat, tells her he'll bleed her "like an animal" if she protests. He secures her to a wall with a wire noose, feeds her, clothes her, helps her to the bathroom. As Abbie realizes, he is her "God" and he can do whatever he wants with her. In the darkness, he whispers of other women he has killed, lists their names for Abbie. She dreams of going back to the "land of the living" but knows... she is dead.
Through ingenuity and luck, Abbie escapes. Only to find that no one believes her. The police think she's crazy. Her friends aren't sure. She's lost her memory and comes back to the world to find that in the week prior to her disappearance, she quit her job, spent large sums of money, had a short romance with someone who was not her abusive boyfriend, Terry, and started a new beginning.
In an effort to understand what led to the darkness she woke in, Abbie begins to re-trace her steps, following the ghost of herself in an eerie game of Grandmother's Footsteps. It's easy to believe that it could happen again. She could wake, hooded and bound.
French's writing is fantastic and Abbie is hugely relatable - one of their better female characters. Normally, as was the case with "The Safe House", I find their women characters irritating and cringe-worthy. Abbie is fascinating in her normality, and wonderfully strong without being unrealistic. French's genius is in the small details - the tiny things about life -- the wine Abbie drinks, the baths she takes, the meals she eats, the way her memories unfold like a flower. French never forgets about real life -- and it's refreshing.
As Abbie retraces her steps, she falls back into the same patterns, and begins an intense romance with Ben Brody, searches for her lost roommate, Jo Hooper. Of course, the beginning meets the end meets the beginning, and Abbie slowly finds out what befell her, what befell Jo, and finds *herself*, even if she never does regain her memory.
A seductive, startling, lovely book. I re-read it often and Abbie feels like an old friend. As her quest becomes more urgent, I follow her with bated breath. And I remember, the green leaf, the butterfly, the silver tree, the still water. Life. I remember.
Abbie wakes in the dark, hooded and bound. She's not sure where she is, what has happened to her. All she knows is that her head is banging, her breath is sour, her eyes are covered. Slowly, as time marches on, she realizes she's being held captive by a madman. He stuffs a gag in her throat, tells her he'll bleed her "like an animal" if she protests. He secures her to a wall with a wire noose, feeds her, clothes her, helps her to the bathroom. As Abbie realizes, he is her "God" and he can do whatever he wants with her. In the darkness, he whispers of other women he has killed, lists their names for Abbie. She dreams of going back to the "land of the living" but knows... she is dead.
Through ingenuity and luck, Abbie escapes. Only to find that no one believes her. The police think she's crazy. Her friends aren't sure. She's lost her memory and comes back to the world to find that in the week prior to her disappearance, she quit her job, spent large sums of money, had a short romance with someone who was not her abusive boyfriend, Terry, and started a new beginning.
In an effort to understand what led to the darkness she woke in, Abbie begins to re-trace her steps, following the ghost of herself in an eerie game of Grandmother's Footsteps. It's easy to believe that it could happen again. She could wake, hooded and bound.
French's writing is fantastic and Abbie is hugely relatable - one of their better female characters. Normally, as was the case with "The Safe House", I find their women characters irritating and cringe-worthy. Abbie is fascinating in her normality, and wonderfully strong without being unrealistic. French's genius is in the small details - the tiny things about life -- the wine Abbie drinks, the baths she takes, the meals she eats, the way her memories unfold like a flower. French never forgets about real life -- and it's refreshing.
As Abbie retraces her steps, she falls back into the same patterns, and begins an intense romance with Ben Brody, searches for her lost roommate, Jo Hooper. Of course, the beginning meets the end meets the beginning, and Abbie slowly finds out what befell her, what befell Jo, and finds *herself*, even if she never does regain her memory.
A seductive, startling, lovely book. I re-read it often and Abbie feels like an old friend. As her quest becomes more urgent, I follow her with bated breath. And I remember, the green leaf, the butterfly, the silver tree, the still water. Life. I remember.
bblue's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0