The Skin Gods

It amazes me how quickly some authors – Montanari included – shape up their story-telling ability between first and second-in-a-series novels. Not that there was anything overtly wrong with The Rosary Girls, but if I hadn’t already bought The Skin Gods, I might have quickly forgotten my urge to try another, and the author would have fallen by the wayside of my reading journey.

In the Skin Gods, broken but still-in-the-game Detective Kevin Byrne and his partner Jessica Balzano discover that the spliced-to-videotape murder of a young woman is just the beginning of a series of murders-by-film-homage. As Jessica follows ‘The Actor’s deliberately seeded clues and Byrne spends his enforced recuperation leave pursuing personal show more vendettas, the plot winds in seemingly random directions, the only straight line being from one murder to the next.

There’s something punchy, grass-roots gutsy about Montanari’s storytelling, so that even when he moves over old ground (forensic procedure, relationships between cops, the habits of the cops themselves) they feel like important parts of the storyline rather than a writer deliberately trying to inject authenticity, thus gaining authenticity and freshening well-trodden routes. It helps that the stories themselves are fresh, diverting and quite gruesome.

Two mild disappointments – [spoiler warning] for the second time, a principal character’s family is placed in danger and rescued last moment, and for the second time the motive is revenge for a cop’s actions. The details are different enough that I was still able to enjoy the story, but it did occur to me to wonder if Montanari’s plot wheel is stuck. And, finally, I still don’t know what to make of Byrne’s ‘prescient’ ability. It’s never used to solve the identity of the bad guy, but has bumped forward progress when time has been an issue, so is this deus ex machina, or a sort of sub-genre in play? It has not, so far, made me put down either story in disgust, so I guess I’ll keep going – I have the third book here, too, after all. show less

The concept of the book was interesting. I liked the idea of a psycho killer re-creating classic horror movie killings. This would have been a 5 star book, but I felt the author tried to take a plot-driven book and make it character-driven book. As a police procedural, it was fantastic, but too much time was wasted on trying to make me connect to the officers in the story. The plot really didn't call for that. I would definitely read another in the series though, so I guess I connected a little after all.

There comes a moment in every crime novel when everything falls into place and I know. Sometimes is happens sooner than at other times, but it is rare when a book takes me by complete surprise. I do not intentionally set out to solve the crime on my own, however, it is the direction my mind automatically takes as soon as I begin reading a crime fiction novel. Of course, there are occasions where the author introduces the killer or villain right off the bat and his or her identity is not a mystery. The motive and the chase then become the mystery. I will let you decide which category this particular book falls into.

Detective Kevin Byrne is recovering from a near fatal head injury and is not sure he wants to return to the force. However, show more when he learns that the killer who almost took his life is out pending an appeal, he figures the best place for him to be is back in the trenches of the Philadelphia Police Department’s homicide unit. His timing could not be more perfect.

Detective Byrne, his partner Detective Jessica Balzano, and FBI agent Terry Cahill are assigned to discover whether or not they have a new murder to investigate. A popular horror movie had been spliced and what appeared to be a real life murder scene inserted at a crucial point in the film. With little to go on, the two detectives have their work cut out for them. One murder leads to another, each proving to be more gruesome than the one before. The detectives are determined to find the common thread between the murders in order to stop the killer in his tracks. The investigation takes the police into the underbelly of pornography and the glitzy world of a Hollywood movie.

Like with The Rosary Girls, Robert Montanari has swept me off his feet with this thrilling novel full of suspense and intrigue. Jessica Balzano has grown up a lot since she first joined the homicide team and it shows in The Skin Gods. She is competent and strong and not afraid to kick ass when necessary. She is loyal to her partner and dedicated to her job. Her partner, Kevin Byrne, is a little worse for wear. He has been through a lot and it shows. He is a papa bear who will protect those who he loves at any cost, including risking his own good name and possibly his life.

The Skin Gods had me on the edge of my seat with my hand over my mouth right up until the end. I am looking forward to reading the author's next book, Merciless. show less

Rated 4.5 stars.

This was really good. I liked it better than the previous title "The Rosary Girls". The premise of the mystery is different (someone recreating killing scenes from famous movies) and I couldn't figure out the bad guy. The main characters are interesting and I can't wait to read more of them.

I've now moved on to the third book in this series, and while I really like the stories and the characters, the coincidences get to be a bit much to suspend belief for. But, this really speaks to how well the characters are fleshed out in the books. Pretty good police procedural type series.

This is just as good if not a smudge better than The Rosary Girls, and that was a darn good read!

This picks up right where The Rosary Girls leaved off. Bryne is in Recovery from being shot on the last book. He's trying to come to terms with everything that happened in Rosary Girls.

While all of this is going on, it seems that there's a killer lose, and he has a horrific agenda. He wants to recreate famous murders that happen on screen, but make them a reality. The first one he copies is Psycho, and the nightmare starts. He doesn't just recreate them, he...well.... you'll have to read The Skin Gods to find out, but I will say this. The killers plan is unique.

To make matters worse Bryne isn't working on this case full time, he still show more hasn't come back from being shot. He's getting better physically, but he's still limited on what he can do, so he's never really into the loop on what's happening. That's okay because the killer brings in Bryne in his own special way. He does something that sends horror, and chills right to the heart of Bryne. Again, if you want to find out what the killer has planned for Bryne, you need to read this. With all of this going on, Bryne has another mission he has to complete. It seems that someone he put way is out, and Bryne wants to put him away for good.

Montanari is a very unique writer. He has the ability to hold the reader through plot twists, sharp dialogue, realistic settings, and fantastic characters that you can't help to care about. I can promise you that you'll lose a lot of sleep because you'll want to find out what happens next, and will keep you up to all hours of the night.

The saga continues, and I'm glad I'm along for the ride. show less

Title: The Skin Gods
Author: Richard Montanari
Genre: Fiction-Suspense
# of pages: 395
Start date: 7/6
End date: 7/10
Borrowed/bought: borrowed from library
My rating of the book, F- [worst] to A [best]: B+

Description of the book: Philadelphia homicide detectives Jessica Balzano and Kevin Byrne are up against a inventive serial killer with cinema muders. Copycat murders modeled on Psycho, Fatal Attraction and other movies are terrorizing the city, as the slayer splices film of his bloody re-enactments into rental videos stolen from and then returned to video stores. Byrne, recovering from a near-fatal gunshot wound so it's up to Balzano, to take the lead in the investigation. Montanari's plot, which balances between the big-budget movie sets show more of a Philadelphia filmmaker made good and the porn industry. Several potential perpetrators rear their creepy heads, but the real killer comes out of left field—though readers very attentive to scattered clues won't be too taken aback by the gory denouement. Byrne's awkward relationship with his deaf teenage daughter, Colleen, after his divorce, and Balzano's concern for her precocious three-year-old daughter, Sophie, after she boots her philandering husband (and fellow cop) out of the house, add welcome humanity to a grisly, atmospheric thriller.
Review: Great followup-- the author also seems to have matured a little bit. show less