Caroline England’s “Beneath the Skin”

Caroline England’s “Beneath the Skin” is like a daytime soap opera which you forcible deny that you like, but nevertheless turn it on religiously every day. After reading the first forty pages, I put it down and thought to myself do I really want to pick up this book  again? An hour later, I read another forty pages, put it down and thought to myself do I really want to read this book? An hour later, I once again, picked it up and read the entire book in one sitting.

Ms England cleverly connects four married couples to each other, either through school, work, dinner parties, or childhood friendships. The characters are literally laden with doubts, secrets, denials, and lies.

Ms. England’s writing is clear, and crisp, not overly descriptive, but just descriptive enough. Her ability to keep your attention and interest in so many characters is quite a feat, especially since the four couples are in a sense all main characters, with lesser characters thrown in… But even the lesser characters, the children, barmaid, mothers and fathers are fully developed and also quite interesting.

The writer is quite adept at creating suspense and there are a number of turns and twists in this book that are seriously unexpected but add so much to the story.

The one thing I would suggest to the author is the need to add more humor because even under the most intense situations humor plays a very important role.

In the end, this book seriously held my interest and I greatly enjoyed the writing, the plots, and especially the characters. I strongly recommend.