Note: We read this book before its release via theubergroup.org. It's out now at booksellers everywhere (links at bottom of review).
The coolest thing I noticed about the young-adult horror novel Such Lovely Skin was how technology is used to confuse the main character (Viv) and leave her more vulnerable, almost the opposite of its usual role as an equalizer and clarifier (blurb-level spoilers follow).
In brief, Viv is a teenager and an avid gamer with dreams of becoming a professional streamer. She's wired into social media and everything else she can stuff on a smartphone or computer, and lives somewhere with good cell coverage and modern infrastructure. In other words, she has all the technology required to protect herself and get help when she needs it.
Viv's also recently made a bad, life-and-death decision, however, and it turns out that evil can play, too. Early in the story, Viv unwittingly reveals her bad decision to a Bad Thing in a setting she has good reason to believe is safe, but definitely isn't. From that point forward, the Bad Thing has access to Viv's technology and knows how to use it. What's worse, the Bad Thing can pretend to be her and express itself in ways that turn Viv's friends and loved ones into enemies and victims.
In short order, Viv's in terrible danger, and the Bad Thing offers the only way out that Bad Things generally offer. What I found so interesting about how Such Lovely Skin treats this is how chillingly true-to-life everything felt, despite the story's supernatural elements. Like most of us in 2024, Viv's existence is a union of her physical and virtual lives, and by losing control of the latter, she comes close to real, in-every-sense death.
What's even more interesting to me is how Such Lovely Skin uses this to drive Viv's growth and redemption. Deprived of her online identity and a real world support network, she's forced to confront the baddest thing of all — her own guilt and self-hatred. This led to what I thought was a satisfying conclusion to a remarkably painful journey.
As a bonus, as soon as Viv realizes what she's facing, much of the action and dialogue shifts from the virtual to the real world, ramping up the tension in a way that I found gripping and thought-provoking.
The cover also rocks!
______________________________________________________________SUCH LOVELY SKIN
An evil video game
A lying Twitch streamer
A demon hungry for her secrets
After spending the summer wracked with guilt about causing the accident that killed her little sister, ambitious gamer and chronic liar Viv returns to Twitch streaming. She never told her parents the truth about the accident, but she hopes that maybe making it big in streaming and giving the money to them is penance enough for her mistakes.
The weekend before school starts, Viv finds the perfect horror game to make her Twitch comeback, and during an offline practice run, an NPC asks Viv for a secret. She decides to tell them the truth about her sister's death since a game could never share her secret―in doing so, she accidentally welcomes a demonic mimic into her life.
No one believes Viv when she tells them about her evil doppelganger. Viv has lied to get her best friend's sympathy and has spread rumors for attention, so why should anyone trust her now? The only person who believes her is Ash, a cute social outcast whom Viv once bullied. In trying to clear her name and kill the mimic, Viv discovers that her lies have hurt people who never deserved it, herself included.
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