The Skin of this World

I am on a Ted Dekker kick right now, and since my last 3 reviews were about this huge series that Dekker has written, I thought I would continue it once more with another one of those books. Skin is an exciting, stand alone that does not make a lot of since until the end. And when you read the last page, you will still probably say "What?"

Now you are thinking, "Why would I want to read a book that I would never understand?" Well here is why. First off, this book can be read alone. You do not have to read the Circle Trilogy or the Paradise Novels to understand what is going on in this book. You can crack open the first page and enjoy a good read. Now there are many connections that are more fleshed out in some of his other works, but again, you do not have to know that stuff to enjoy this book.

It starts off with a typical Ted Dekker scene of some random killer on the loose. Eventually several of the characters begin to cross paths, and they find themselves in the middle of this killer's game. He offers them several "tasks" or "challenges," and if they fail, he will go on another killing rampage. So they begin trying to figure out how they can prevent him from causing more mayhem and chaos, but every time they start interfering, the world begins changing before their very eyes. They are literally lost and confused until they make their way back to the building the killer had them all in. Now I am sure that all sounds weird to you, and you may not know what to think of it. But that is the best summary I can come up with without giving much of the plot away.

Dekker puts in his typical twist at the end of the book. And he does resolve much of the confusion and questions that arise throughout the novel. But in typical Dekker fashion, he blows you away with the last few pages. And I am serious when I say that you will be wanting more by the end of this book. This book is set up for what could be a sequel, although he has never hinted at such an attempt. And I do not know if there would be enough story to do another novel. But just trust me on this, you will not know what to do with the ending of this one.

I encourage you to read this as part of the larger series because there is so much more in Skin if you do. But at the same time, many people do not want to commit to reading several books. So if you are looking for a good stand alone novel from Ted Dekker, this one would probably please you. Either way, try out Skin.

Matt