Mo Hayder – Skin

DI Jack Caffery is assigned to a missing persons case but his heart is not really in it. He has concerns over a recent death that looks like suicide but could have been murder disguised. Police diver Flea Marley is helping on the case but she has big problems of her own that are starting to interfere with her work.

I hadn’t realised before I started this book that it is set in and around Bristol which is where I live so many of the places mentioned in the book were familiar to me. I really liked that.

I hadn’t read any of Mo Hayder’s books before and as I seem to be doing quite a lot lately I have entered a series that has already begun without having read the preceding novels. Luckily that didn’t really matter though, whilst I think it would have added to my enjoyment of Skin to have read the previous book, Ritual, it was by no means essential. The book is set shortly after the occurrences in Ritual and does refer back to them several times but it was explained sufficiently to allow anyone that hadn’t read it to catch up.

Skin follows Jack Caffery and Flea Marley in two separate but interlined storylines. Caffery is still shaken from his previous case (the events of Ritual) and is investigating a missing person case and a suicide that he suspects was really murder. Flea Marley and her dive team are helping by searching locations for bodies but the main part of her storyline follows her personal issues.

I liked the story and the characters, I am especially interested to find out what happens to Flea in the next book as there are still things that could happen with that storyline. I’ll have to keep a look out for new releases from Ho Hayder as she might do some local book signings with any luck!