title: Skin
author:  Ted Dekker 
description: Derivative of such puzzle dramas as <I>Lost</I>, <I>The Usual Suspects</I>, <I>Fight Club</I> and <I>The Matrix</I>, this thriller by Dekker (<I>Thr3e</I>; <I>Blink</I>) reads more like a screenplay than a novel. Its third-person omniscient narrator includes mostly dialogue, blocking and description of scenery and little else. Early in the novel, five young adults are sucked into a serial killer's evil game. While experienced Dekker readers will see some of what is coming, a number of plot points are entirely unpredictable, due in large part to the constant barrage of red herrings the reader must endure before discovering the novel's final revelations. Unfortunately, the dialogue-dominated prose is hackneyed and juvenile; a reason is given for the childishness of some of the language, but this does not fully excuse the many clich&eacute;d passages of the book. These problems, however, are secondary to the novel's central flaw, which is that the ambitiously twisty plot does not make sense. The characters' backstories are implausible, and their actions and experiences in the present never quite add up. The novel is clearly intended to be a challenging exploration of the nature of beauty, morality and truth, but despite having put lots of words about these concepts in his confused characters' mouths, Dekker offers no new insights. <I>(Apr. 3)</I> <BR>Copyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  **_Skin_**
  
  
  
  
  
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  TED DEKkER
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  Copyright © 2007 by Ted Dekker
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a
  retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic,
  mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief
  quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written
  permission of the publisher.
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  Published in Nashville, Tennessee by Thomas Nelson, Inc. in association with
  Creative Trust, Inc., Literary Division, 5141 Virginia Way, Suite 320,
  Brentwood, TN 37027.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Thomas Nelson, Inc. titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business,
  fund-raising, or sales promotional use.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Publisher's Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places,
  and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or used
  fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people
  living or dead is