Investigating

Reviews

Ted Dekker is not an incredibly famous author, but he is still a well respected and entertaining author. Skin is a New York Times best seller, and has been very popular with fans. Ted Dekker is an author known for his twists. I have read other books of his, and I his stories never cease to amaze me. As one review says,

By the end of the book Dekker managed to surprise me yet again with a twist I didn't see coming. He also employs an excellent technique--revealing a small twist, to which you say, "I saw that coming," only to reveal an even bigger twist that catches you by surprise. It's misdirection at its best"

A review by a blogger:

This book delivered what I love about Ted Dekker's books: plenty of suspense. Toward the end of the book, I was so into it that my heart rate had risen fairly high, I was sweating, and I couldn't put the book down.

Dekker had some great twists that I never saw coming! :) Which is great, because I was afraid I had gotten to the point where I could somewhat guess where he was going. But these were totally unexpected. And, just when I thought it was all over and I could (somewhat) relax, he pulled the biggest twist of all! I'm still going back and reading to find the clues and try to figure this thing out! It's great! :)

I highly recommend this book to readers of speculative fiction, suspense, thrillers, etc. :D

Skin is also popular with fans. On Barnes and Noble, Skin has a four star rating (out of 89 reviews), but on Amazon it was given three and a half stars (with 89 reviews). One reviewer, who gave the book a two-star review had this to say about Skin,

I have read all of Ted Dekker's books and thought that his insight into the human condition is exceptional. I loved the way he was able take a story and weave an examination of how I relate to God. For example, the children eating the worm slime in Showdown as an allegory for our appetite for sin despite how it destroys our lives. Another example is the whole Circle Trilogy. His description in White when people have to inhale the water, i.e. give up their lives in order to live.

Lately, Dekker has rushed to put out books every couple of months and has lost his originality. He is stuck in a rut. His last three books have suspense and gore but lack the originality that led me to list him as one of my favorite authors.

Skin is a rehashed story of Showdown and Saint. Revealing the killer at the end left me flat with no impact.

The teaser at the end of the book revealing an upcoming 6 book series based on the Horde seems more like a threat than a promise.

I hope he changes his mind and takes a sabbatical to work on a new storyline. The sad part is that I am a Ted Dekker fan but wish he would get back to being a creative writer instead of continuing to try capitalizing on the success of Black, Red and White.

I agree with this reviewer on some points, but while I can see where they are coming from, I have to disagree with them on some other points. I completely and totally agree that Ted Dekker is absolutely exceptional at writing about the human condition. He weaves in wonderful glimpses of who we are as human beings; sinners who desperately need God to save us. I agree with everything the reviewer had to say on this. I do however disagree that he is stuck in or rut or becoming unoriginal. I can see where they might think this; some of his books pull on themes from others or even tie them in with others, and yes, in some ways they are similar. I don't think that he has lost his originality. Skin is still just about the most unique book that I have ever read, and I have read some of Dekker's other books. So, while I understand where this reviewer is coming from, I still highly recommend anyone and everyone to read this book.

About the Author-

Ted Dekker is a New York Times best-selling author of more than twenty novels. He was born to missionary parents who lived with the headhunter tribes of Indonesia. Dekker says that his unusual childhood forced him to use and cultivate his imagination, therefore laying the groundwork of his amazing stories. Ted's books have sold over five million copies worldwide and two of his books, Thr3e and House, have been made into movies. There are plans to turn more of his books into movies as well. Dekker is an author known for his amazing twists and turns, and is popular for his suspense thrillers.

I found a great interview with Ted Dekker on CBN. In this interview, he talks about growing up, why people label him controversial, and about his writing style. This interview really helped me understand why he writes the way he writes and it made me like him even more than I already did. If you are at all interested in this book or Ted Dekker as an author, I highly recommend that you watch the video.

Synthesizing

Skin is drastically different than any of of the other stories that we have read so far this term. The only way that I can think to describe it as is a cross between the mystery, sci-fi, and suspense genres. Even though it is so different than any of the stories that we have read, there a few that it is maybe somewhat similar to.

In some ways, Skin is similar to House in the Goblin Wood by John Dickinson Carr. Despite all of their differences, I say that these two are similar because they both make you wonder, "How is this even happening?" In House in the Goblin Wood you wonder the whole time how Vicky disappeared from the cabin. In Skin, you wonder how an entire town keeps disappearing and reappearing again. Both of these stories involve seemingly impossible circumstances, and you are left wondering until the very end how these circumstances are even happening. Skin is also somewhat similar to The Haunted Policeman by Dorothy Sayers. Both of these stories keep you wondering how they characters are seeing what they're seeing. In The Haunted Policeman you have to wonder how an entire house seemingly disappears, and in Skin you have to wonder how an entire town can disappear. Even though this book is different from almost all of the stories we have read, I would have to say that this story is most different from Deborah's Judgment. Honestly, they really have nothing in common.

This novel has a very prominent theme throughout the story. While on the surface, this story is simply about solving who the serial killer is, if you look a little deeper Skin is really about mankind's obsession with beauty. It's about how none of us are any better than anyone else, and how no matter how hard we try no one is really beautiful; we are all ugly in some way. We try to pretend like we are better, or more beautiful, than other people, but underneath the skin we are all ugly, no matter how good we are. The theme of skin is obvious in these quotes (all of which are found at the end of the story, once the characters have put together the "mystery"):

"That we're all born ugly. That we all have evil in our bones. That you can never judge a book by its cover or a person by their skin. And what's born ugly can't make itself beautiful." ... "That you're no better than he is . He, on the other hand, believes a lie, which is that he's better than you." ... "You have to embrace the truth. He is faster than you, but you can be faster. The truth is stronger than his lies." (page 387-388)

They'd poured out their hearts and bared their souls. In a terribly unnerving way it all mirrored the fall of Lucifer, Lucifer being the best at the game, the most beautiful, like ____ (I'm omitting the name so I don't give away the ending). Thing of it was, however demented he was in his obsession to bring them all down with him, he had proven one thing: They were really as ugly as [omitting to save ending]- this Horde whose disease was visible. ... they had proven themselves incapable to make what was ugly, beautiful. ...

All of this because beauty wasn't about the skin, either the skin of their flesh or skin of this world. For that matter, what they could see with their eyes-the desert, the town, the library, Nicole, even Timothy Healy- had turned out to be very different than the way they'd seen it. The mind was easily deceived by seemingly obvious perceptions.

Instead beauty was found beyond the surface. It was there, beyond the skin of this world, that a cure of ugliness could be found, she thought.
(page 391-392)

You see, throughout this entire story our serial killer, Red, tried to force our main characters to kill the ugliest among them. Throughout the entire story, you are given glimpses into Red's mind; glimpses that show you that he really feels like he is beautiful, and that ugliness must be destroyed. Ugliness must be purged from the world, and he was forcing our characters to rid the themselves of the ugliest among them. At the end of the story, they realize that ugliness isn't on the outside; it isn't on the skin. Ugliness is on the inside, and no matter how hard we try to convince our selves otherwise, we are all ugly. As I was reading the part about the truth being stronger than lies, I was reminded of John 8:32: "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." As a Christian author, I feel that Ted Dekker did this intentionally; he somehow managed to put Biblical principles and values into a murder mystery novel.

This theme really hit home for me. It's so easy to get caught up in the skin of this world, the skin of people. No matter how many times I am told to not judge a book by its cover, that's always the first thing I do. The same goes for myself as well. It is so easy to look in the mirror and convince yourself that you are beautiful, or that you are ugly. Just this morning, I literally stood in front on the mirror and thought, "Well, this is as good as it gets today." I try to be positive, but sometimes I just don't feel pretty. The theme in this book is a great reminder. I could be the most beautiful person on Earth, and still be ugly; I could be the ugliest person on Earth, and still be beautiful. The outside shouldn't be what matters; the inside is what makes us beautiful. It isn't the skin that makes us beautiful.

1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)
But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

The videos below are of three songs that I absolutely love. I went back and forth trying to decide whether to include them in this post or not, but in the end I chose to include them because they fit perfectly with the theme of this book. Beauty isn't simply skin deep; it is so much more.