Skin Deep

Compared to the description, the story went a way I didn't expect. I thought most of the action would be in the present, but it actually was in her past. Delia is a piece of work. I don't think she was deliberately malicious, just very selfish and backed into corners she couldn't get out of. I wonder if the people who are forcing women in the US to bear children they potentially don't want understand what they're doing, not just to the adult, but to the eventual child. Unwanted and unloved and at least resented, that's some kind of life isn't it? Delia is an extreme example, but it stands - if she hadn't been forced to keep her son, so much tragedy would have been avoided. She probably would have made similar bad decisions and let her show more self-interest guide her, but possibly the wake would have been smaller.

In between chapters from Delia's POV we have the island tales that her father supposedly told her. They mirror or foreshadow what happens in her life, but not too pointedly. More pointed are the bits from the people around her - Harry, Peter, Hannah etc. The most telling is Tom's at the end. Delia thought her father loved and cherished her, but couldn't see that it was the island he loved and cherished. She was merely a walking womb. Without more children the rest of the people would be forcibly evacuated to the mainland, something he just couldn't abide. Between that and his hidden homosexuality and relationship with Tom, her father went off the deep end and tragedy ensued. Maybe that wasn't Delia's direct fault, but she played up the division in the family. I thought that she'd throw herself into the sea or be tipped off Tom's boat, but the ending fit just the same and was more poetic. show less

Is beauty only skin deep? In this case, yes!

This book is completely not what I expected and I mean that in the best possible way. It totally surprised me. The blurb doesn't even skim the surface of what this book is about. Where I was expecting some sort of psychological thriller, this is actually the story of the life of a woman who may or may not have been bad from birth, or maybe she was just a product of her upbringing. Either way, Delia O'Flaherty is one unpleasant, but utterly compelling, protagonist.

The book opens in the South of France where Cordelia, as she is now known, has a dead person in her flat. From there we go back to a childhood on a small Irish island where her father adored her at the expense of all others. She then show more tells her story to us in a most matter of fact way, despite some of the cruel and twisted things that she does.

I admit that when I started reading Skin Deep I wasn't at all sure it was going to be a book for me. The oddness of Delia's childhood, combined with the interspersion of folk tales, didn't seem like quite my thing and, as I said previously, not what I expected. But then this young girl's story drew me in, reeling me in bit by bit until I was utterly captivated by it. I couldn't help but be gripped by the way she lurched from life to life, wreaking havoc and reinventing herself along the way.

Delia has to be one of the most destructive, most uncaring, most inherently devious and twisted characters in a book that I have read. And yet, part of me still felt sorry for her at times, wanted her to have a better life, wanted to witness her redemption. This is testament to Nugent's writing that she was able to leave me with such divided feelings about this character.

I read Skin Deep with a kind of horrified awe. Delia has to be one of the most fascinating characters I have ever come across and this is certainly a character driven book. But the storyline is also inspired, clever, twisted and deliciously dark. It would make an amazing TV adaptation as I think it was very visual and the settings evocative, from the wilds of the barely inhabited island to the opulence of the French Riviera.

In short, read this book. It will delight and thrill you, sicken and shock you. It's fabulous! show less

An absolute cracker of a book.

This is definitely my favourite of Liz Nugent's books. After reading Lying in Wait I was a little worried that her books were too dark for me but I was blown away by how much I enjoyed Skin Deep.

Cordelia/Delia is a unique, crazy and sometimes evil character but I liked her nonetheless.....I don't know if that makes me crazy too or maybe Liz Nugent is just a literary genius who can inspire sympathy and empathy for a truly awful, train wreck of a character. At times I felt like giving Cordelia a good kick whilst simultaneously hoping and wishing my hardest that she wouldn't ruin the next bit of good luck to come her way.

There is a great range of side characters, some of whom were as equally crazy as show more Cordelia but maybe just not quite as destructive. I did feel sorry for Harry but by the end of the book I was more disappointed in how weak he proved to be. I was equally surprised at Peter and how emotionally strong and loving he was. I liked him a lot.

This was a brilliant, brilliant book. One I'll be raving about to all and sundry for a long to come. show less

A dark and gripping psychological thriller following the trials and tribulations of a narcissistic sociopath from a small island just off the coast of Ireland, to London and then to the south coast of France. This is really quite the page turner! It’s almost like a fable, a sinister one at that with a wicked fairy as the main character.

Liz Nugent has created a brilliantly complex and off the wall character in Delia Russell. You really love to hate her and she makes you cringe more and more as you progress through her story. I really wouldn’t want to meet her on a dark night! It’s a fast paced and compelling tale, which had me on the edge of my seat at times, with plenty of twists and turns. The ending is just fantastic and show more unexpected! I loved all the folk tales which are scattered throughout the main narrative. They add a sense of the macabre.

A fascinating, imaginatively written and well plotted story which hooked me in from start to finish. Highly recommended. show less

Cordelia has lived in the South of France for many years, passing herself off as an English socialite, but time is taking a toll on her beauty and she is descending into poverty and desperation. When a figure from her past reappears Cordelia acts rashly and her life catches up with her. Delia O'Flaherty was born on a small sparsely inhabited island off the west coast of Ireland, an island rumoured to be the site of madness, her father called her the Queen of the Island and Delia grew up spoilt and self-obsessed. Her life was ruled by her looks until fate caught up and Delia O'Flaherty became Cordelia.

I loved everything about this book except the last few chapters. Delia is a monstrous character and the reader is kept wondering whether show more she is the results of inherited madness or her upbringing. The descriptions of the tragedies that follow Delia around are handled exceptionally well, no lurid details, just a consideration of the aftermath. Nugent has developed her writing hugely since her first novel and I am pleased to see that however there is still the tendency to go overboard with plot twists and that mars the final section of the book. Having said that the ending is brilliant as Delia returns to the island and her fate is sealed. show less

“This is what the king does for someone he wishes to honor!” Esther, Chapter 6 verse 11....in the case of Skin Deep, the verse would read: “This is what the Isle of Iniscran does for a menace whom society delights in meting out its justice?” Throughout SD, Liz Nugent describes the legends of justice as meted out on the Isle of Iniscran. I assume this is foreshadowing since I do not see any other purpose to the island lore as told throughout the book. Delia (aka Cordelia), apparently the only female child on the island, is raised on a pedestal and crowned queen of the island, at least as far as her father Martin is concerned. On an island whose population is doomed to extinction, the man has no use for his sons and no further use show more for his reviled wife. As my friend Dita writes, “This chick is just a walking, talking curse on the world and everyone she encounters.” (I’m not sure if she means Delia, Nugent, or both!). This book does not really have a lot to do with beauty as Delia somehow manages to land on her feet with or without her beauty. I was not crazy about this book, although I literally spent close to a year tearing my hair out, trying to get my hands of a copy of it. SD just wasn’t to my taste. Liz Nugent can and has done a lot better. 3½ stars rounded up to 4 because I’m in love with Liz Nugent (and I’ve never even seen her picture). show less

Startlingly vivid and Original. This is a tormented tale of obsession and murder that I found utterly compelling and beautifully written.

This is Liz Nugent's third Novel and she is certainly an author who deserves her place amoung the top thriller writer's as this is a throughly engrossing and well thought out psychological thriller and I enjoyed every moment spent in this chilling and athmospheric tale.

First of all the character of Delia is dislikable but memorable and the initial setting of the novel on the Island of Inishcrann is hauntingly vivid and gives a gothic style feel to this thriller, The folklore tales she casts from the Island's history are pure storytelling at its best and for me this added that eerie element to the novel show more that pushed this from a 4 star to a 5 star read for me.
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Cordelia Russell has been living on the French Rivera for twenty five years, passing herself off as an English socialite. But her luck and the kindness of strangers have run out.

I love the contrast setting of this novel in the classic French Riveria and the eerie Island of Inishcrann and its bleakness. A highly impressive 3rd novel from Liz Nugent with a gripping narrative of twisted love and murder that inhabits a landscape as bleak and eerie as Inishcrann and its folklore. This author has a vivid imagination and certainly not afraid to write dark and dislikable characters and I think Delia o Flaherty is one of her best yet.

I think readers who enjoy cleaver and dark psychological thrillers will really enjoy this one.

I also enjoyed [b:Unraveling Oliver|32920306|Unraveling Oliver|Liz Nugent|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1499878541s/32920306.jpg|27128785] [bc:Unraveling Oliver|32920306|Unraveling Oliver|Liz Nugent|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1499878541s/32920306.jpg|27128785] and [b:Lying in Wait|27405729|Lying in Wait|Liz Nugent|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1463433735s/27405729.jpg|47453040][bc:Lying in Wait|27405729|Lying in Wait|Liz Nugent|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1463433735s/27405729.jpg|47453040] by Liz Nugent.

My thanks to Penguin Ireland for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this novel in return for an honest review. show less