Under the Skin

I had no idea what to expect when I picked up Michel Faber's Under the Skin. This was a book on the list that I randomly selected when picking out some new books. I expected a detective story or perhaps a psychological thriller based on the title and cover alone.

Under the Skin is a hybrid: thriller, science fiction, mystery, and an animal rights polemic all rolled into one. The novel introduces us to Isserly, a young female who drives the relatively deserted roads of the Scottish Highlands looking for male hitchhikers, specifically those who are robust or well-muscled. Through a series of encounters with these hitchhikers, and the aftermaths of their rides with Isserly, we are slowly exposed to the truth of her identity, motivation, and mission. I won't go any deeper into the plot than that so potential readers can pick up on events on their own. Much of the pleasure in this novel lies in the way the reader is slowly lead into the details of what is actually happening, with new layers added all the time.

This book is creepy. Over the course of reading it, I actually had a couple of mild nightmares based around the events in the book. There is something about Faber's prose that gets, well, under your skin and stays there. I highly recommend this one to anyone who enjoys science fiction, especially the pulpy novels of the sixties and seventies.

What really sets this one apart, however, is the effect it will have on most meat eaters. Our assumptions about identity, souls, and the relative hierarchy of life on this planet are challenged in a variety of ways. Prepare to squirm.