I have chills even thinking about this book! It is truly a work of art. This novel is an extraordinary character study of an incredibly flawed yet completely compelling protagonist. At times, it was deeply moving. At other times, profoundly dark. There were many parts of this book that were simultaneously uncomfortable to read yet compelling. That ending! I am struggling to put into words just how fascinating this book is. Not for the faint of heart but absolutely incredible.

This is a book that certainly gets under your skin! Such a person as Delia is hard to imagine in real life, but the world is made up of all sorts. Quite the journey through the twists and turns of family life and how the selfishness of one person can affect so many. A page turner at the end if not a little fanciful.

The book was not what I expected, but I really enjoyed it.

It started with a body in a room and then took you back into time to find out more about the woman who committed the murder. Cordelia Russell grows up on a barren, remote island off Ireland, raised by the islanders and her parents. Cordelia is feted by her father and when she feels his attention wane ensures that he thinks badly enough of her mother to change the family situation forever.

Abandoned on the mainland Cordelia is tasked with establishing a life for herself and falls in love with Harry a local boy. From there it's a dark story with emotional and at times difficult relationships. The story twists and turns and I enjoyed the interspersed chapters from the other characters points of view, that was really refreshing.

I can't say more without giving the plot away but it's a packed plot, with sub plots galore. Would recommend

Delia is not a character you can sympathise with. She is brought up on a small island off the north west coast of Ireland. She is adored by her father and she sees herself as the future queen of the island.
Tragedy overcomes the island and her family. She ends up on the mainland and struggles with her relationships. She falls pregnant at 18 and everything in her future hangs on the decision of having an abortion.
She lives a lonely life, she thinks she is independent but always relies on others for help. She puts on a front of being someone from a better background to prosper through life but knew she was someone who has to survive to get what she wants

“You were tied to wrong, wedded to it.” Cordelia Russell to a T. I don’t think I’ve ever disliked a main character quite so much. Evil, but wow, utterly compelling, Cordelia had me spellbound from the very start, right to the end. Shock, horror, disgust, disbelief, dislike…these are the emotions that roar around your head as you read about the life of a beautiful, beautiful young girl, orphaned at a very young age. At no point…even over the forty-plus-year span of the story… is it possible to feel any love, sympathy or even empathy for this character, who learnt manipulation (with tragic consequences) at a very young age and more or less set the course of her life by it. At no point do you find yourself actually wanting to like her…which makes this book all the more compelling.

This is a chilling psychological thriller about a girl, then a teenager, then a woman…at whatever stage of her life, her impact on those around her, those who loved her (there were, undeservedly, a few) was devastating and tragic. It’s hard to imagine anyone as cold, unfeeling and selfish as Cordelia, but Nugent does the job absolutely brilliantly. She hooks you in immediately when she sets the scene of Cordelia standing by a blood-soaked body, after which it’s almost impossible to put the book down until the last word.

Nugent is not an author I’ve read before, but she’s earned a place in my list of authors to explore further…and soon!

This was an excellent, well-written and truly memorable story.

Once again, this incredibly talented author has created a character who is completely and utterly unlikeable. Cordelia Russell, or Delia as she was formerly known, is a monster, plain and simple; completely bad, evil and uncontrollable, but oh my God, I loved her.

Whilst Skin Deep is undoubtably Liz Nugent through and through, it's a little different to her previous novels. Those were dark, but this one is black as a starless night, with myths and folklore woven delicately through an utterly terrifying modern-day chiller.

The reader is introduced to Cordelia as she trawls the bars of the Cote d'Azur, looking for someone who will buy her a drink, or food. We know that there's a dead body in Cordelia's flat, but we don't know who it is, or why it is there. From here, the author takes us back to Cordelia's early life, when she was Delia, the apple of her father's eye, living on a remote Irish island.

I'm not going to go into detail about the plot, why on earth would I when Liz Nugent has done such an incredible job already? However, this is a dark and threatening coming of age story featuring a character who has a core of evil, and infects everyone around her.

The author creates such a magnificent sense of place, whether it's the isolated, insular community on the small island of Inishcrann, or the ultra glamour and decadence of the French Riveria; the reader is well and truly transported.

Skin Deep is captivating, but so bloody uncomfortable. This author's intricate plotting and tension building is second to none and those characters!

Completely and utterly brilliant. I literally couldn't put this down and consumed it within a day. Liz Nugent is at the very top of her game. Highly recommended from me.

My Review: Skin Deep is Liz Nugent’s third stand-alone psychological thriller and boy is it dark. In fact when thinking about what to write in my review every adjective begins with a D, so apologies but here are my thoughts.

Damn, this book is deliciously dark, disturbing and in parts depressing. With a really despicable and dislikeable protagonist Delia describing her damaged life, dreary childhood and how she ended up with a dead man in her apartment, this book kept me turning those pages, devouring each chapter.

It is always a risk to write a book with such a horrible main character in case the reader doesn’t connect or empathise, but Delia is such a fascinating and damaged individual that I was immediately hooked and intrigued by her story.

I absolutely loved all the other characters personal chapters which were interspersed throughout the book, giving another layer to this story. Another superb book by Liz Nugent.

Yet again Liz Nugent has managed to create another despicable character, . Delia actions are purely for her benefit. It begins when she is a child living on a remote Scottish island. She is doted on by her father., she also has a mother and 3 brothers. The story travels through Delias life and her actions. Deplorable, despicable at times desperate but always deceitful. An outstanding read that had my stomach churning with her selfishness and disregard for others.. Amazing how this author can portray these characters. This is yet another book I have loved by this author.

Dark, twisted, compelling. I loved it. Liz Nugent never fails to pull me into the lives of her characters.

This is a real pageturner, flicking back and forward in time. I couldn't guess what would happen.
The main protagonist is quite unlikeable but that doesn't stop the reader wanting to know what happened and happens to her. I enjoyed the book very much.

This book was never quite what I expected and was surprisingly good. The format was new to me, the end was at the beginning (starting with a murder) and finished with the same murder. The story is essentially a life story but with this murder hanging around in your waiting for it to all join up. Full of unusual twists and turns with very atmospheric locations and events. The story is also a bit of a history lesson as it spans around four decades which only goes to increasing the interest. Good book I have given 4 stars to so is worth a read.

Really enjoyed this book and since reading on NetGalley I have thus bought my own physical copy and plan to reread it again along with some other books by Liz Nugent

Skin Deep hooked me from the first few pages, I had to keep reading and finished this book in a day. I loved it.
From the start we find out the Delia/Cordelia has killed someone but we are kept in suspense until the very end.
Another great book by Liz Nugent.

Oh my goodness, what can I say about this awful monster posing as a woman! She has to be one of the most dreadful creatures to ever grace a book. Self centred doesn’t even come close. I was racing through this story with one hand almost covering my eyes and the other over my mouth (you can do that with a Kindle!) to see just how far she would go, how low she would stoop. Repelled by but drawn to her at the same time. I just loved this book, but not right away, then found it hard to put down - simply amazing. Beauty is indeed only skin deep!

I got this book from Net Galley & Penguin UK, Penguin Ireland in exchange for a fair review.
Brilliant. Loved this book and the story. Although the beginning didn’t look like a good start. A little bit too long, sort of introduction, about the ageing socialite life in France Riviera. And then jumping to the very beginning. Delia (Cordelia) life really starts on a small Irish island, when she is a teenager. After the death of her family, her life will never be the same. But Delia is also a very troubled girl with a dark soul, very cruel and selfish. Her choices made her detestable. No even once I felt sympathy for her when following her life in Ireland, London and France. The end is unexpected but I cannot stop thinking: deserved. Which from the point of any human being is so wrong.
The book is written beautifully. The character layered so well. Each description has its point. The whole plot very well thought of. I wouldn’t say it is a thriller but certainly, the story is disturbing and macabre.
The book is a great recommendation for anyone who wants to read something unusual. I have read it over a month ago and it still stays with me.

I received a free digital copy of this book from the publishers via NetGalley.

Wow, just wow! This is the first book I've ever read by Liz Nugent, and I wasn't disappointed. This is a psychological thriller with a difference. The novel opens with one of the most insane openings I have ever seen. The protagonist Delia, is in her apartment with a corpse, and before we can even find anything out, she just leaves and goes out to party. You are left with so many questions, but you don't get your answers until the end of the book because from here you jump to Delia's childhood. You then read her whole life story in this novel, before getting back to present day. The suspense building is just absolutely phenomenal.

You don't find yourself reading this with terror, not until much later on anyway. Instead you find yourself being sucked into Delia's back story. For the first few pages I found this frustrating, as I just wanted answers about the body, and why she was leaving it there to go out and party. I soon got engrossed in her life story though, and just couldn't stop reading. It is clear that the reader is meant to decide for themselves whether Delia is just an awful human being, or whether she is the biggest victim of all in this story. I personally feel it's a combination of both. Some of her choices in life had me scratching my head with frustration, because I just couldn't fathom how she could make the choices she made. This book also made me reflect on my own life choices, along with what I want from life, which helped me connect even more to the story, even if I did disagree with most things that Delia did. I found myself wishing things would get better for her at first, though with time I just developed a love hate relationship with her. I truly felt very sorry for anyone that she came into contact with, even though many of those people were equally foul!

I've never read anything quite like this before, and I'm now left feeling hungry for more. This was one of those books that I couldn't stop thinking about, even when I wasn't reading it. I highly recommend this book, though it does contain disturbing scenes, so beware.

I have never read Liz Nugent’s books but have heard them highly praised.

This story started off with Delia/Cordelia having to flee from her French flat leaving a rotting body behind. This certainly grabbed my attention but it was a long time until this part of the story is referred to again.

We then read about her childhood on a remote Irish Island with her parents and brothers. She is a beautiful looking child and is the apple of her father’s eye to the detriment of the rest of her siblings. Skin Deep, the title, refers to her beauty being skin deep as she is an vile, flawed and atrocious person inside. Circumstances lead to her being left as an orphan aged ten and having to move to the Mainland where she is adopted.

The story is interlaced with sections of folklore which added interest to the Irish element of the tale. It is a very dark and deep story which at times was slow. I would have given this book 3* but the story picked up in the last third of the book and led to a very clever ending.

Thanks Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this book.

The story is told through the eyes of Delia, a beautiful, manipulative, conceited woman.

Delia is the beloved daughter of an Irish island fisherman who was totally obsessed with her and lead Delia to believe that she was going to be Queen of Inishcrann (the little Irish island that they lived on). He practically ignored his wife and their sons which caused friction within the family. She had a tough childhood and ended up being separated from her family at a young age and was brought up by a loving couple called Moira and Alan who adored her as their own. The story follows her life from childhood to adulthood and shows how she was completely self-obsessed, had no feeling for other people and merely used them in order to survive. Everyone that seemed to come into contact fell in love or became obsessed with Delia in some way.

The book starts with a gripping first paragraph and holds your interest throughout the book. It starts with a middle aged socialite abandoning a dead body in her grubby flat on the Riviera. From then the book follow's Delia’s story from childhood, as a dark and twisted tale of obsession, manipulation and one woman’s self-obsessed path to self-destruction.

This is a really, really random book. Opening with Cordelia fleeing from a body, you soon forget that there's been a mysterious death as Nugent weaves a tale of a woman who has clearly suffered from some form of lack of compassion her entire life, potentially bordering on psychopathy.

Although Cordelia is a nasty piece of work and not someone you would want in your life, there's something deeply sympathetic about her that makes you want to know more about her history. It would be all too easy to blame her upbringing on why she became the person she did, but it's clear that even with the most loving of parents, Cordelia would never be like other women. Mistakes and misfortune combine to create a modern tragedy that is as moving as it is inevitable.

The following is my review as posted.

Liz Nugent has knocked it out of the ballpark with this one. It is a brilliant psychological character study that had me fully engrossed from the first page to the last. I thought Lying In Wait was a good book but this is something else.

We first meet Delia on a small island Iniscran off the coast of Ireland. A desolate island with very few inhabitants but stacked to the rafters with myths and legends. A beloved daughter with three brothers Delia is a somewhat spoilt child, especially by her father, she will go to great lengths to fulfil her own selfish needs. Tragedy strikes and Delia finds herself living elsewhere and what follows is a fascinating insight into the mind of a narcissist who shows no empathy for others at any level. Nugent is totally brilliant at describing Delia and everything around her. Whether it's place settings or characters the prose evokes a real sense of being almost in and amongst the pages. From the isolation of the Irish island to the glamour and heat of the french riviera I was totally gripped by every single word as we move through Delia's life and the horror she wreaks wherever she goes.

This is an astonishing read with an ending that played on my mind for some time afterwards. Frankly it's one I will probably never forget. Deserved though ...... am I allowed to say that? Read for yourselves and find out and hope that you never come across a character like Delia for real.

Amazing ..... just amazing.