NTTVBG: Skin Lane – Neil Bartlett

 

I wasn't too sure what to expect of Skin Lane mainly as the cover doesn't give much away. The picture of some sort of animal skin and a knife didn't really register with me and the back only contains the briefest summary of the story the book contains.

What I certainly didn't expect was to be so completely drawn into Mr F's life that I felt like I just couldn't put the book down. In a way I didn't like what I was reading, but I felt compelled to continue. The precision of Mr F's life was in itself both fascinating and completely alien to my own. At various points in the book I felt somewhat unsure as to where author Neil Bartlett was taking the reader next, and although I felt a tad scared at times I just had to go with it.

It's rare a book has such a strange hold over me, but even a week after finishing it I feel that I'm struggling to quite put into words exactly what it was about Skin Lane that fascinated me so much. Possibly that in itself is what makes it a fantastic read. I'm certainly very excited to head over to Savidge Reads and find out what everyone else made of it.