Skin

Starred review from November 16, 2009
Det. Insp. Jack Caffery of Bristol's Major Crime Investigation Unit looks into the case of Misty Kitson, a footballer's wife who vanished from rehab, in Hayder's chilling thriller, which picks up a few days after the grisly climax of 2008's Ritual
. Caffery is distracted by the apparent suicide of a young man who he's convinced shows signs of mutilation similar to the victims of muti
, the African black magic that figured in the previous book. Meanwhile, Sgt. Phoebe “Flea” Marley, a police diver, is busy exploring a series of flooded quarries in search of a missing woman, but her mind is elsewhere, too: the discovery that her brother, Thom, plays a vital role in Misty's much publicized disappearance. After two more alleged suicides, Caffery isn't sure if he's imagining a connection to muti
, or if the answer is closer to home but no less deadly. Hayder captures the claustrophobia of Flea's dives in unsettling detail and continues to build on her two damaged heroes.

December 15, 2009
Violated corpses and many other nasty things keep surfacing at smartly timed intervals in this high-octane thriller from Hayder (Ritual, 2008, etc.)

The popular British author reteams serial characters Jack Caffery, a Major Crimes Unit detective burdened with a personal history of loss that would turn the stomach of Hannibal Lecter, and police diver Phoebe"Flea" Marley, herself bedeviled by the known and suspected misdeeds of her wretched black-sheep brother. In the countryside around Bristol and nearby flood plains, a grisly series of suicides and/or murders exfoliates from two puzzling cases: the disappearance of a famous footballer's cocaine-addicted wife; and the killings, accompanied by horrific mutilations, apparently connected to a sinister Tanzanian immigrant and African black magic that makes unspeakable use of human tissue. Hayder's skillful juxtapositions keep the plots at full boil as they gradually intersect and separate again, and the narrative texture is enriched by vivid cameo appearances (a tough-talking female pathologist makes an especially lively one). Old friends and enemies from earlier books also drop in, notably the Walking Man, vengeful father of a murder victim, who contributes this cryptic advice to Caffery:"If you stop looking for death, death will stop sending its handmaidens to find you." A plethora of forensic detail—Hayder's grasp of which rivals P.D. James'—and a more-than-fair amount of contrivance make the narrative stutter and stall awkwardly at times. But the author knows her business and her readership, and Skin stretches itself out quite cleverly enough to provide several hours' worth of agreeably lurid entertainment. Hayder has created conscientious and valiant figures in Marley and Caffery, whose disturbing human failings have the paradoxical effect of making readers trust and root for them.

Nice work once again from one of the most dependable pros in the murder business.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

December 15, 2009
DI Jack Caffery and police diver Phoebe "Flea" Marley return in Hayder's second thriller in the "Walking Man" series (after "Ritual"). Caffery, a man plagued by a troubled professional past, and Marley, an insecure risk taker, team up to solve the mysterious suicides that occur in one neighborhood. Caffery begins to suspect something sinister and perhaps even supernatural may be at work. Meanwhile, a missing-persons case turns out to be connected to Marley's brother, forcing her to make difficult and dangerous decisions about how to handle the situation. Hayder's works are usually not for the weak-stomached, and this one is no exception. Readers who can tolerate graphic descriptions will be rewarded with a complex, well-written mystery involving characters on both sides of the law. VERDICT Taut, complex suspense with graphic material, this is especially recommended for those who enjoy Karin Slaughter and John Connolly. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 9/15/09.]Beth Lindsay, Washington State Univ. Lib., Pullman

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 15, 2010
Tired of all those lame vampire and goth horror books? Ready for something really scary? This is it. Easily todays best writer of visceral and elemental horror, Hayder handles her genre specialty in a way guaranteed to creep out even the strongest of heart. No Lovecraftian excesses here. Hayder writes about monsters that could be real, yanked from some dank recess of the id. This combo of police procedural and African mythology continues the story from her earlier novel Ritual (2008) and marks the fourth appearance of Detective Inspector Jack Caffery and forensic diver Flea Marley. The enigmatic monster dubbed the Tokoloshe is also back and intertwined into a murder mystery that may, or may not, involve the supernatural. What it definitely does involve is someone or something that likes skinespecially when its separated from its original owner. Thus far, Hayder has been too edgy to achieve widespread recognition, but this just could be the book that launches her beyond cult favorite to mainstream star.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)