Cordelia Russell is a woman who drinks too much, perhaps because her life is, to put it mildly, complicated. Throw in the dead body in her apartment and the word ‘complicated’ no longer even begins to cover it.

How has Cordelia ended up here and how can she get out of this mess? These questions are at the heart of Liz Nugent’s latest novel Skin Deep. From the present, the novel rewinds as we learn about Cordelia’s childhood on a remote Irish island, the tragedy that befalls her family and its aftermath. But Cordelia feels the world owes her, well, everything and will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

Skin Deep is a devilishly good read about a woman who appears not to have a caring, or a likeable, bone in her body!

The initial premise of this new release from Liz Nugent certainly drew me in. Indeed, the first few pages were especially promising despite the realisation, very early on, that we were looking in at a truly disturbed and, perhaps, despicable individual. From there, however, as we are suddenly transported into the main characters' past history, it read like an 'Aga Saga' - albeit of the bleakest, darkest kind. There was, thereafter, nothing that was remotely appealing about this read. Bleak, bleak and bleaker. Some may well enjoy this.....but (sadly!?!) not for me.

The reader is drawn in from the start. The novel is full of twists and unlikeable characters. Very well written and plotted, the story keeps you guessing until the very end.
With thanks to Net Galley and the author for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Amazing book. The main character, Delia/Cordelia is totally amoral and lacking in even a smidgen of humanity. However, this makes for a compulsive read. Superb characterisation. I read this over one weekend and enjoyed it immensely. Interested in reading more by this author.

I’ve never read anything by Liz Nugent before and the premise to “Skin Deep” was brilliantly dark and intriguing, and I didn’t hesitate long before hitting “request” button. And this book started marvellously. It had me glued to the pages and the more I was reading the more I couldn’t believe what I’m seeing and with what a manipulative character we’re dealing with. Then the second part came and it was as if I’ve just started reading a different novel. Totally different in tone, felt too flat, somehow weird and I wasn’t sure what about.

It started with a murder, which is really not a spoiler, as it literally happens on the first pages. Then it quickly takes us back in the past and we get to know Delia’s background and history, and so I was guessing it’s taking us slowly to the act of the murder itself. But guys, it was mentioned again only on the last few pages. So the whole drama just simply disappeared, it didn’t feel in any way important and significant, it was something that happened and so what? It didn’t make me sad, or teary, it was then immediately explained who the victim is (though I’ve almost immediately guessed it) – as it wasn’t ever mentioned through the whole story, which is understandable, you just haven’t thought about it, so there was no tension and no questioning yourself who and why. It was really confusing and I’m still not sure what to do with it.

Liz Nugent has, of course, excelled here in the character’s portrayal and its development. She has created a manipulative and self – absorbed Delia that you just can’t warm to throughout the whole story, but I guess it was intended. I’ve never felt sympathy nor empathy to Delia and yes, I do understand where she was coming from, what with her dotting father all the time telling her she’s “The Queen” and that she’s gorgeous, and I mean when you hear it all the time as a child you’re prone to believe it, but then you grow up and heck, you start to think for yourself, right? And Delia O’Flaherty didn’t. Using and abusing people only because of the fact that you’re beautiful? Delia was like a reverse Midas – whatever she’s touched turned not into gold but into tragedy and drama. She was destructive and her actions were awful.
Delia was of course not the only character in the book but she has dominated the whole story. The other characters were more or less likeable but almost all of them fell quickly under her spell.

Altogether, “Skin Deep” was a bleak, disturbing read but I’m really glad I’ve read it. It was a read with a difference, and Liz Nugent’s writing style is vivid and addictive. This powerful read pushing the boundaries, evoked many dark emotions in me, as it itself was a dark, sinister tale.

Wow. All I can say is wow- I have just this moment finished this book and every emotion is flooding through my veins- sadness, horror, shock, sympathy and satisfaction. This is one of the best, most absorbing, most real books I have ever read. I was really excited to receive and advanced copy of this book having really enjoyed Liz Nugent's other books Unravelling Oliver and Lying in Wait. I can see just how much work has gone into this book but also how utterly talented Liz is at telling a story, making a character come to life and feel so real and believable. The book starts with a dead body and ends with a horrific and heartbreaking conclusion, which I won't spoil- but the beauty of this book is that, unlike other books from a similar genre, I never once was tempted to even think about guessing what would happen at the end. Delia/Cordelia is a sociopath, portrayed almost sympathetically and she is always very upfront about her failings. We see her both through her own eyes and through small snippets of information from others, making it seem more reliable and believable. It's a wonderful portrayal of a girl damaged by her own childhood and going through life doing anything to survive. We see her go from her tiny island of Inishcrann near Ireland, to London, Nice,Paris, Dublin, mostly alone but almost always using her beauty and her wits to survive. By the end I started to believe that she was actually born faulty. I am sorry if this review seems vague and disjointed, but I would urge anyone to read this book. I flew through this in a few days (you need to read every word). I very rarely give a book 5 stars but I will be hard-pressed to find a better read this year.

At the centre of this miserable read is a sociopathic, narcissistic narrator. Born into a dysfunctional family living on a tiny barren island somewhere off the Irish coast, Delia arrives on the mainland aged ten, an orphan already skilled in manipulative behaviour and hugely self-impressed. Adopted by well-meaning people she eventually becomes pregnant by cheating on her boyfriend with his brother. Once married she carries on down her self-destructive path, eventually causing life-changing burn injuries to both her little boy and herself. Divorced, she heads for France alone having abandoned her child, takes on poorly paid work and becomes embroiled in various loveless relationships.
By this point in the novel the reader doesn’t really care what happens to Delia – sometimes authors will fashion disreputable characters in such a way that they will charm, amuse or entertain. Not so here. Delia has nothing going for her. This is a real problem for the novel; I was very tempted just to give up reading several times as yet again we were presented with another episode in which the anti-heroine cheats/steals/is aggressive/feels sorry for herself. Occasionally we are treated to others’ views of the protagonist but they add nothing to the narrative as they only serve to reinforce what we have already deduced. This device felt very clunky indeed – almost as if the author had contemplated, ‘What can I do to make this a bit different?’ rather than thinking through its purpose carefully.
The novel ends bleakly and, given all that has happened, it would have been ill-judged to have introduced a more upbeat note. What do we learn from ‘Skin Deep’? Nothing other than the suggestion that nasty people get their just desserts – and of course they don’t always. The manner of the ending is also awkwardly fashioned. It’s not quite, ‘And then I woke up and it was all a dream…’ reminiscent of the worst kind of children’s stories but it’s not far off! Given that Liz Nugent’s earlier work has been highly praised, I was very disappointed with this latest offering.
My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK for an e-copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

Every Liz Nugent book has a passage where I actually gasp out-loud and have to re-read a few times.
This book is no different. It comes out of no-where to hit you like a sledgehammer.

Delia/Cordelia is the main character. Her sense of self importance and the "notions" she has of herself make her one of the most despicable people I have ever read about.

Her story takes you from a small island of the coast of Ireland struggling with a dwindling population to the Bright Lights of London and the French Riviera. Her actions either direct or indirectly have consequences on everyone she comes into contact with and yet she still seems to have this ability to believe she is not at fault for any of it.

The ending comes out of no-where and once again Liz Nugent delivers a dark exciting book that I couldn't put down.

I have read and enjoyed both of Liz's other books so was really excited to be approved for this one.

My goodness me! The book starts with a bang. A dead body and someone who didn't care about the victim. We don't know who has died but we do immediately realise that the narrator doesn't seem to care about him. In fact she showers, puts on her dancing togs and goes out to a party. Leaving him on the floor.

Delia O'Flaherty, a middle aged Irish woman living on her wits and maintenance payments in the South of France.

Delia, or Cordelia as she is sometimes known as, is the main character. And what a dislikable character she is. One thing I like about Liz Nugent's writing style is she is not afraid to put contemptible characters at the centre of the plot. The novel traces Delia O'FLaherty's journey from a remote Irish island, to the French Riveria. Its impossible to like Cordelia/Delia. She is perhaps the cruelest character I have read in a novel.

I felt really sorry for some of the people she hurts. Especially for the body at the start of the novel when we find out who it is.

Definitely recommend.

Wow. What a fantastically tense and tremendously gripping read from author Liz Nugent this turned out to be.

Addictive is one word that I'd use to describe this novel. Unputdownable. Thrilling. Shocking. Unbelievable.
I raced through the book, horrified at the turn of events but eager to see how it would all play out. Liz Nugent is incredibly talented, the characters were superbly crafted, this is a story that stayed with me days after completing. Haunting and compelling, Highly recommended.

An absolutely amazing book. Liz Nugent is a very talented writer and I couldn't put this book down. A must read. Highly recommended!

I have enjoyed Liz Nugent’s previous novels, “Unravelling Oliver,” and “Lying in Wait,” and so was looking forward to her new book. It begins with us being introduced to Cordelia (Delia), a middle aged woman living on the Côte d'Azur. Delia was famed for her beauty, but she is now ageing, she drinks too much and her life is complicated by the corpse currently dead in her apartment…

During this novel, we hear the story of Delia’s life; from her childhood on an isolated, remote Irish island, with her domineering father, Martin O’Flaherty, through her life and up to the point where we re-discover her, down and heel, virtually penniless and in an extremely difficult situation. We learn how she was idolised by her father, who worshipped her, while virtually ignoring his wife and sons. How she grew up to see herself as special and expected to be given everything that she wants – and, if this is not forthcoming, she will take it for herself, regardless of the consequences.

Delia is selfish, cruel, self centred and lacking empathy. In those terms, she is an extremely unsympathetic character. However, as the novel progresses and events unfold, you do have some grudging respect for her, as she constantly reinvents herself. The finale of the book is extremely shocking as we learn who the corpse lying on her floor is.

The centrepiece of this novel is, undoubtedly, the character of Delia. Malevolent, selfish, cruel, beautiful and deeply flawed. Nugent has created an excellent central character, who is unusual for being female and, in a way, both the victim and the villain of the story. This is a really well written, compelling psychological thriller, which is full of surprises. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

Skin Deep by Liz Nugent a thrilling four-star read. This is my first read by this author and I’m sure it won’t be the last, Cordelia Russell is a character that you will struggle to like as some people you just can’t get behind. But much like the story with its twists and turns galore her character will keep you on your toes. It is a psychological thriller but there is more to the story that we would normally get. The author has done a great job, with Delia you may not care about her character but you care about the story and what will happen in the end, the way the author has done the story in a great way by giving us the main plot in the beginning and then working the story back, it plays with what you know and what you think you know and is done in a very good manner.

Another cracker from one of my favourite authors Liz Nugent! I was delighted to receive this as an arc as I loved her first two books. Cordelia Russell is a faded socialite living in France who has to deal with a dead body lying in her hallway. From that beginning, we go back to her childhood as Delia O'Flaherty who was brought up in poverty on a remote Irish island. Tragedy follows Delia throughout her life and although she is a true sociopath, there are times I did feel some sympathy for her (only sometimes)!
There are some truly horrific characters in this book, and there is a strong sense of the macabre throughout. I loved the island setting too, it was so atmospheric and unsettling. I do love a good family type saga set in Ireland, although Delia is certainly not your typical Irish mammy! You are never quite sure where the story is going to go and there are quite a few surprises along the way. Just fantastic storytelling, the way a book should be written and I would encourage everyone to read all of Liz Nugent's books.

Full disclosure, I was not a fan of Liz Nugent's last two books. I thought they were poorly written and although they were very twisted tales I found them totally unbelievable and very few of the interactions felt authentic. I am so glad to report that this book is NONE of those things. To borrow the words from another reviewer this is a very atmospheric, very dark, macabre and twisted and totally believable psychological drama which is very well written and well plotted, it is a totally engaging page turner and everything feels authentic and the peppering of Irish myth and mythology through just adds to the atmosphere so Liz Nugent has really outdone herself here and if she continues writing books like this I will be pre-ordering! Thanks to Penguin UK and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. This book had me hooked from the first chapter. Very well written and thought out book. Great storyline. Very strong characters which all gelled together very well. Well worth a read. I will definitely recommend this book to anyone.

Cordelia Russell, once Delia O’Flaherty, is the narrator and undoubted anti-heroine of Skin Deep, which opens when she is in her early fifties, dealing – or rather not dealing – with an unnamed man’s body in her flat on the French Riviera. It’s clear that Delia is, at this point in her life, a complete mess. The story then moves back to follow Delia’s life leading up to that moment and finally discover the identity of the dead man.

Delia is a monstrous, despicable character (Liz Nugent seems to specialise in creating such characters). She was raised by her father to believe herself the destined queen of Inishcrann, the remote, poverty-stricken island of her childhood. Desperate to keep her father to herself, the young Delia tells a lie which will have devastating consequences, not least for herself.

As she moves through life – from Ireland to London to the South of France - Delia is responsible for some truly terrible events but never seems to experience a moment’s remorse and is entirely incapable of empathising with others, even those supposedly closest to her. She takes selfishness to exceptional levels but her beauty as a young woman inclines people in her favour. She’s quite probably a narcissist and a sociopath (certainly there’s some sort of personality disorder there), though not entirely without insight – as she says herself, “I knew that I wasn’t normal. I have never needed people, just the comforts they could offer me.”

The story is incredibly compelling and often very disturbing – you’re basically watching open-mouthed in horror as Delia causes more and more damage to the people around her, not out of malice but out of an unshakeable conviction that her own needs and wishes must come first. Along with Delia’s narrative are stories from the island of Inishcrann, told to her by her father, and personal accounts from the people whose lives Delia has affected.

An engrossing, often horrifying read with a fittingly horrible end.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

This is a difficult book to review as it is unlike any that I would usually read. It shows wonderfully that beauty is only skin deep and what’s underneath can be dark and full of malice and dangerous.
Delia O’Flaherty is odd, there’s something just not quite right about her but you struggle to put your finger on it. It’s not just that there’s a body in her flat there’s something else.
Set in the French Riverian and with flashbacks to her childhood on the Island of Iniscrann the book paints beautiful pictures of both places so that you can nearly feel the sun on your face and harsh winds on your back. The story follows Delia as she breaks the people around her and leaves a trail of destruction wherever she goes.
Fantastically written and one of those books that makes you feel uncomfortable while you’re reading it but you just can’t stop. Brilliant.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Penguin for a copy of this book to read and review

In a word, this book left me feeling... unsettled. Partly due to the sinister ending, but also the lead character, Delia Russell, (one of her names, she has a few aliases) is a hard woman to like. Saying that, we are not meant to like her. A mixture of an unusual childhood on a small, isolated island off the west coast of Ireland, her father's strange obsession with her and a tragic event that sees her end up in an orphanage means that she has distinct sociopathic tendencies and a ruthless survival instinct. She is focused on moving up in the world; she marries a rich man, trades her Irish accent in for (what she deems to be a more desirable) cut-glass English one and takes a liking to luxurious living in the South of France. This is where she ends up settling and where she ends up in possession of a dead body. Who this body is and what happened is revealed much later in the book, after we discover Delia's past. There's a line that neatly sums up both Delia's story and the sub-plots: 'Layer upon layer of mistrust was rising to the surface' - what Skin Deep does well is develop tension at an intriguing pace and hit perfectly on the small-town mentality that everyone has a secret they'd maybe rather remained hidden.

This book is told in the first person by Delia, but every so often we get the point of view of another character - her husband, her nanny - however, I found these segues a bit pointless, as they didn't add anything to story, just went over what we already knew. What I did like though, was how each major plot-shift was prefixed with an Irish myth relating back to Inishcrann (the small island Delia is originally from) and takes the form of a parable for the next chapter in Delia's life. This added an extra element to the read and works to set it apart from other thrillers.

So, yes, Skin Deep certainly had me turning the pages to find out what happens next, but I just couldn't get on board with Delia and in a character-led read like this, that was an issue for me. Rather than finding her fascinating, I just didn't like her. She was far too selfish and self-obsessed without having the spark of charm that lets characters get away with this kind of behaviour. Ultimately, I felt a bit sorry for her, she ended up with a vacuous existence, never investing emotionally in anybody or anything, so in return, I couldn't invest in her.

Thank you for granting me permission to read this book. I struggled with it, and at times it horrified me. Didn't enjoy this I am afraid