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Skin and Other Stories
250 pages
A wickedly clever collection of macabre tales that peel back the polite veneer of society to reveal the monstrousness beneath.
What it feels like
Reading this collection feels like sitting across from a charming but deeply unsettling raconteur who delights in making you squirm. The stories move at a brisk, confident clip, drawing you into seemingly ordinary domestic scenes or mundane wagers before slowly tightening the screws of suspense. Dahl's prose is crisp and deceptively straightforward, acting as a velvet glove over an iron fist of dark comedy and creeping dread. The mood is consistently ironic and macabre, offering a grimly satisfying exploration of human greed, malice, and poetic justice. It is a perfect fit for readers who relish the wicked thrill of a perfectly executed twist ending and do not mind a healthy dose of cynicism with their fiction.
- Mood
- unsettling
- suspenseful
- ironic
- creeping dread
- Tone
- macabre
- wry
- cynical
- mischievous
- darkly comedic
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- darkness of human nature · poetic justice · deception and betrayal · absurdity of greed · hidden malice
- The writing
- Crisp, unadorned, and deceptively simple, lulling the reader into a false sense of security before delivering a sharp twist.
- The arc
- Moves from mundane setups into escalating tension, culminating in sharp, often shocking moments of grim satisfaction.
- Who it's for
- Readers who enjoy bite-sized, wickedly clever tales with a morbid sense of humor and a penchant for twist endings.
Content notes
- murder
- body horror
- betrayal
- dark humor
- violence
About the book
Who could imagine that a woman would kill her husband with a frozen leg of lamb--and then feed it to the police investigating the murder? Or that a greedy group of art dealers would stop at nothing to separate a poor man form a valuable picture--that's tattooed on his back?
These thirteen tales will keep readers spellbound from the opening lines until the surprise-twist endings that are always immensely satisfying. Roald Dahl is one of the few authors ever to be so hugely successful as an author for both children and adults. He was a master of the adult short story, and his popular anthologies showcase his skill as a sleight-of-hand artist. The stories in this new collection have been specially selected as Ain introduction for teenagers to the adult writings of one of the greatest storytellers ever. --front flap
Description from Open Library.
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