I stayed up until the wee hours to finish this off and then couldn't get to sleep from the shock of the ending. Liz Nugent has done it again. By 'it' I mean lifting unlikeability in a character to its own art form. Like her other novels, there is careful plotting here as well as evocative settings and plenty of sentences and language that will stay with you. But to me, the real pleasure here lies in the characterisation. Delia O'Flaherty (or, whichever other of her names you prefer to use) is a masterpiece. For those whose lives she crashes through who, unlike us, do not get the benefit of her interior monologues, she is a truly despicable creature. How to reconcile her outward beauty with the cruelty and malice under that perfect skin?

Of course, in the crime canon, there is no real shortage of characters who do and say appalling things. But Ms Nugent's triumph is in creating characters who are beyond the pale and then sending the reader into an equally mad spiral of feeling sorry for them. Perhaps it's just that I want to believe that change is possible, but even as I was being hurtled past clues to the contrary piling up on all sides, I kept waiting for Delia to do the right thing.

When the novel opens, we see her leaving her flat in Nice to go on a night out. So far, so normal. And yet...she has left a corpse behind in her wake while she gives herself some space to clear her head and come up with a plan. Nothing Delia then does until dawn made me warm much to her, but as she crawled back to the scene of the crime she still didn't have a plan. From there, we cut back in time to see how it is she came to be all alone in Nice with a dead body on her hands. It's a journey that takes us from the remote island off the west coast of Ireland where she was born, to a small town in Mayo and eventually London. I won't spoil anything here but will just say that wherever Delia goes, trouble soon finds her. To be fair, not all of it is of her own making - which is why we are able to empathise with her as well as looking on in horror.

There are several narrative devices in play here and I particularly enjoyed the short sections where we discover some of the island legends Delia's father told her as a child. They function as internal parables and I found them a clever way of building suspense.

By the end of the novel, we are back in Nice and the fateful night of no return. Delia has burned all of her bridges and finally gone too far. But has she really? Or has she done anything that anyone in a state of complete panic in that situation might have done? The ending came as a shock and, if anything, left me feeling not just sorry for her, but angry at the injustice meted out by a character I had initially taken to be kind. As I closed the book I thought, there you have it. Trust no one, especially in a modern Irish gothic novel.

Then, as I turned out the light an image of Delia making a spectacle of herself as the dancing queen on that night out in Nice came to me. When I first read it, I had no idea what had gone on in her flat a few hours earlier. But by the end, we discover what Delia thought had happened. That's when the last bit of empathy I might have been able to hold out for her finally burned away. Given the situation she believed herself to be in when she stepped onto that dancefloor I could still have forgiven her quite a lot. Yes, it was yet another failure to take responsibility for her actions in a lifetime where this was the guiding principle. I could have rationalised the panic of trying to get rid of a body - however doomed this always turns out to be - or an ill-conceived plan to just get out of Dodge. But what I can't forgive is that dancing. Call me a judgemental old cow if you must.

I am grateful to the publisher for allowing me to see a pre-publication version of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

I am a big fan of Liz Nugent. Both her debut and sophomore novel kept me awake until the early hours. I was so drawn into her stories, her characters, that I couldn't sleep without knowing how things played out with them. So, naturally, I was delighted to be sent an advanced copy of her third novel, Skin Deep from Penguin Ireland.

Nugent is a stunningly talented writer. Her thrilling, gripping plots and utterly despicable characters tend to transfix, so my expectations were high. Thankfully I was not disappointed. When this book opens, Cordelia Russell is stumbling around a rotting corpse in her Côte d'Azur flat. She is hungover from the night before, having attended a lavish party thrown by some of the coast's wealthiest inhabitants. With her funds rapidly dwindling, she ventures out into the afternoon sun to try and find someone to trick into giving her money. Already we dislike her. We are offered no explanation about the corpse in her flat, but over the course of the book are drawn back into the story of her life, to delve into her history and figure out just who exactly Cordelia is.

Our protagonist, real name Delia O'Flaherty, was born on the small and remote island of Inishcrann. The eldest child and only daughter of Martin O'Flaherty, an island native, and an American tourist who fell in love, Delia was idolised by her father. Regarded by him as the future queen of Inishcrann, Delia is self-possessed and self-obsessed from a young age. Her beauty is mesmerizing, something which she is constantly reminded of. Her three younger brothers are ignored by O'Flaherty, as he parades his daughter around the island, obsessed with her future role in continuing the legacy of his family and helping with the further population of the island. Although she is still a child, Delia is aware of power her beauty holds and stirs trouble among the community of islanders. It isn't long before her actions lead to a devastating event that will change Inishcrann forever and see her forced to leave the island for mainland Ireland.

The story then moves from the small village of Cregannagh to an orphanage in Galway, to the home of a couple in Westport, Co Mayo, where Delia spends her childhood and teenage years. As she grows up, she continues to manipulate people, to use her beauty and sexuality to get what she wants, and to utterly destroy them. She is, it seems, devoid of human emotion, always leaving a trail of shattered lives in her wake. Eventually, after a dramatic turn of events, she moves to London, where her behavior becomes even more shocking. Spending her later years in the French Riviera, Delia (now Cordelia) is no more likable, and her actions are no more warranted. Before we know it, we are back where we started, standing over that decomposing, stinking corpse, wondering whether this woman was born bad or, through her life, made that way.

As well as being a superb thriller - and a sheer contender for the ever-popular "grip-lit" genre of women's writing- Skin Deep is ultimately a story of nature vs. nurture; of family, history and fate. It is a truly compelling and intelligent novel about a beautiful and terrifying femme fatale. Delia's, or Cordelia's, story is masterfully structured and suspenseful, the plot perfectly intricate. The tension Nugent builds in this dark and chilling tale is unbearable at times and I couldn't wait to discover our protagonist's fate. Nugent's talent clearly lies in her ability to bring to life detestable, abnormally self-possessed human beings, and expertly portray the inner workings of their twisted minds. This is psychological suspense at its absolute best and you, too, will devour it.

Skin Deep is a seductive, sinister and satisfying read that will leave you breathless. Five very well deserved stars.

Thank you so much to Penguin Ireland and the author for the opportunity to read this book ahead of its release. It was a pleasure. Skin Deep is due for release in April.

Ohhh Delia O’Flaherty, you are a devilishly, despicable, devious, dreadfully wicked character and I loved every single moment! Liz Nugent’s third book, Skin Deep is a definite hit and deserves high praise. Following on from Unravelling Oliver and Lying in Wait, I was apprehensive that a third book may not live up to the first two fantastic books…..but I was totally wrong. Skin Deep is equally as excellent as the two previous novels.

The story follows Delia O’Flaherty from a young age as she leaves her Irish island home to Westport, London, Côte d'Azur and Monaco. It is a dark tale full of twists and turns. Just as we think Delia simply cannot become any more deceitful and scheming………she can and does! I loved the stories of the old islanders interspersed throughout the book and the unexpected dark ending just wrapped this all up perfectly!

This is a very well written page turner with an excellent story and many surprises along the way. Skin Deep is going to be a hit in 2018 for sure. All of the stars for this one!

My thanks to Penguin Ireland and NetGalley.

Skin Deep is genuinely amazing. A truly memorable psychological character study.

It is a difficult one to review if I’m honest – the basis of the tale is simply the story of one woman and those whose lives she enters and leaves, but it’s impact on you is subtle, immeasurable and difficult to describe. Beauty may indeed only be “Skin Deep” but what lies beneath the surface is fascinating, absorbing and taken apart by the author in amazingly clever and intelligent ways.

The writing is beautiful, full of thought provoking prose and is also descriptively stunning – the settings are alive, Cordelia herself provides the light and dark and the story unwinds in a hugely addictive fashion, taking us from small islands to vibrant cities as she lives a life less than ordinary.

The whole novel is completely and utterly brilliant but the final resolution is stunning. Days later I’m still worrying away at it, my mind goes back there at odd moments, not only to the ending but to the entirety of the story. It is dark yes, it is a twisty tale indeed, in character and event, but is entirely believable and utterly authentic.

Liz Nugent wastes not one word – every part of Skin Deep is plotted to perfection, designed for emotional impact and hits the mark every single time. I will never forget Cordelia or those whose lives she affects, her story is ingrained on my soul. Without doubt this is the author’s best novel to date.

Hauntingly beautiful, achingly sad.

Highly HIGHLY recommended.

Cordelia Russell is certainly the mistress of reinvention. She has used her creative skills many times before with a degree of success. In her present incarnation she is a poshly spoken, aging English woman who is down on her luck. She lives in the Côte d’Azur in an airless, run down flat. It is truly horrible and a massive step down from her luxurious home that she had in her heyday. She is hungry and desperate. How her life has changed from the times she was beautiful, popular and running with the in crowd, partying hard, out of her mind on champagne and worse, living with her family in partyland posh London. Tonight she’s on a mission to run into old friends to cadge drinks and food, hoping it will lead to a revival of her good fortune. She waits alone, but previous good friends change direction when they see her waiting, even pretending they have not heard her calls. But her luck is in soon after when she meets a rich American in the strangest of circumstances. He invites her to a party not far away, where there is both free food and drink and also lots of rich, young partygoers. Surely she will hit lucky this time.
But soon Cordelia must face the realities of her empty life. She has to accept the responsibilities she has shirked all of her life. She makes the momentous decision to go back to Ireland and more specifically to the island where she grew up. She needs to find out the identity of a visitor to her flat. It’s time to stand tall, and set things right because there is literally no escape for her. She has been forced into taking her decision, haunted by ghosts of her past. She must face the consequences of her actions, although not willingly.
‘Skin Deep’ by Liz Nugent is Cordelia’s story, from her birth to the present day. It follows her pathway through life; her triumphs and tragedies, her highs and lows. She is not a likeable character by far. Although she denies it, she is a narcissist: self serving, selfish, uncaring, manipulative and fickle. She is a loner because she is unable to feel empathy, love or loyalty. She has no friends. She is a user but never a giver. She is not the only character I didn’t like in this dark psychological thriller either. This story is a study in depravation, determination and deception. The images created by this talented author are bleak and depressing. I found the first three quarters of this novel quite challenging because I had a constant feeling of unease and tension, but the last quarter was breathtaking, especially with the massive and unexpected twist at the very end.
I would like to thank NetGalley and publisher Penguin Ireland for my copy of this novel, sent to me in return for an honest review. I enjoyed reading it but it is not my favourite novel written by this author. It’s a 7/10 from me