Lisa Unger's latest novel, Under My Skin, is a fantastic addition to anyone's suspense catalog. I am a huge fan of the author's style of writing. Something about it makes the reader feel like he or she is inside the story, creating just that much more suspense.

The story follows Poppy, widowed nearly a year ago when her husband is brutally murdered while on his morning run. Initially overwhelmed by her grief, she has a mental break and has lost those days from her memory. The story jumps back and forth in time as well as between dream and reality, often leaving the reader as confused as Poppy as to which was which. She has trouble deciding if the dreams are just dreams or she is finally recovering her memory, bit by bit.

The book takes us through Poppy’s journey of finding the truth about her husband’s murder and her memory loss. Poppy worries about her lack of grasp on reality at times and it becomes more and more difficult to know who can be trusted. Even her closest friends have a hard time understanding what she is doing and why. They worry she may be headed for another psychotic break. She is worried about that too. As the story concludes and the suspense builds, you will be hard pressed to put the book down.

As an aside, I loved the cameo appearances of people and places from her other stories. Silly, but somehow those appearances helped me through the more intense parts of the story.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Lou Jacobs's Reviews > Under My Skin
Under My Skin by Lisa Unger
Under My Skin
by Lisa Unger (Goodreads Author)

M 50x66
Lou Jacobs's review
Jul 19, 2018 · edit

really liked it

Poppy Lang's life is shattered ... her husband, the morning after an argument, goes out for his routine morning run and is brutally murdered. The police have absolutely no leads .. was it really a random occurrence or was there a more furtive motive. Supposedly Jack was admired and loved by all.
Two days after Jack's funeral, she finds herself in a fugue state leading to a breakdown and loss of memory of several weeks of her life. Poppy proves to be an unreliable narrator in this claustrophobic tale which builds up with unrelenting tension. In her attempt to make some sense of Jack's unsolved murder she finds herself in a downward spiral of pills, dreams, nightmares and hypnagogia . Reality becomes questionable.
Lisa Unger treats us to an unrelenting psychological suspense novel that does not let up until the unexpected denouement. Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin- Hanover Square Press for this intriguing tale.

Woah, woah, woah. This book takes you on a wild ride of not knowing is real and what isn't. The idea of losing someone you love to a senseless crime is one that would leave a large hole in anyone's life. As the reader, you really feel for Poppy and the fog that she is stuck in. You want to be with her every step of the way as she tries to figure out what happened to her husband and be prepared to be blown away by the ending!

I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
From the publisher ---

This is the first book by Lisa Unger I have read. I loved the promise of the storyline. However, I felt going back and forth in between sleep/dream world, memories and actually what was going on in the present to be very confusing. The book didn't seem to pick up until about 60/70% through the novel (towards the end). I still think the storyline/premise of the book is good; just for me fell short of the anticipation I had for the book.

There were a lot of editing details; seemed in my copy that any word that started with the letter *f* had spacing issues in the word.

I got this book as an ARC from Netgalley, so I think the formatting is a little off because it's not fully completed yet, that threw me off a bit because it was hard to tell what was a flashback, and what was actually happening. Other than that, I found this book riveting. Poppy lost her husband to a seemingly random crime he was out jogging one morning and she has a psychotic break in the days after, losing all memory in the process. She has flashes, but can't quite piece them together, no thanks to a well meaning friend who keeps giving her happy pills to keep her numb from the pain. She doesn't reveal this to the doctor she's seeing so she stays in a morass of pain and confusion for a full year until a helpful stranger who seems awfully familiar starts pulling her out of the bog. The story is twisty, turning, suspenseful and full of nail biting, gripping mystery with a little bit of well deserved romance. Thoroughly enjoyed this read!

I loved the premise of Under My Skin and was hoping for a book to lose myself in. It had all the makings for a good thriller - A young husbands unsolved murder, a widow's memory of events slowly returning, and the standard therapist, best friend, and a stubborn detective all thrown in. And yet, I just found the constant trying to keep track of where in time the story was at, way too confusing. The forgotten time would appear as if it were real time and real time kept disappearing into nightmares and daydreams. I was pulled out of the story to often just to get my bearings. Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy to review.

I enjoy all of Lisa Unger's books and this one did not disappoint. Very suspenseful and I read it in one day! A++

Under my Skin in my opinion will be all over socia, media in the fall. People will not be able to stop talking about how amazing this book was. Amazing

Poor Poppy!! She just knew things were not right in regards to her husband ‘s death but her inability to discover the truth was the focus of this book. Lots of flashbacks , hallucinations , pill popping , hooded men before this mystery is solved. Book is difficult to follow at times and just does not have a good flow to it.

My expectations were low on this book because I'd recently seen some negative reviews, but I picked it up anyway. I had a lot of free time so I was able to read this in 2-3 days. I actually enjoyed this book more than I thought I would but it wasn't as gripping and thrilling as some others. I did have a hard time following the timeline of some events - it wasn't always clear if it was the present, past, or a dream/hallucination. I think the author wanted to leave a little mystery in there - definitely for the dream/real portion, but I didn't think there needed to be mystery as to whether the events were past or present. I also really liked some REAL LIFE aspects of the story. Their marriage was an honest marriage. It wasn't perfect. There were flaws. When your spouse dies, you want to remember all the amazing moments and the pure love you shared. It's not always hearts and roses.

Poppy has been struggling since her husband Jack was murdered the previous year. She takes pills to help her sleep but her vivid dreams often leave her feeling anxious. Some of her dreams feel like they could be memories. She desperately wants to know what happened to her husband, despite pleas from her best friend Layla and the detective on the case to take a step back. Are her dreams are trying to tell her something? Is she becoming too obsessed with finding out what happened to Jack? The story is a little slow at times but when the pieces come together the payoff is worth it. Another solid book from Lisa Unger.

Family isn't always blood related. Sometimes we can pick our family. In this story Poppy has had her best friends back. Hey friend has had hers. Poppy is having strange dreams. She is having a hard time distinguishing fact from fiction. This all started when her husband was murdered while jogging. She lost several days. She doesn't know where she went or what she did. She just keeps having flashbacks, and they are terrifying! I enjoyed this book. Character development is sports on. I liked the characters. The storyline keeps you interested and flows smoothly. I definitely recommend this book!

Under My Skin is about a woman who has lost her husband in a horrific crime one early morning while he was jogging. The story goes back and forth between the real time and her dreams but she can’t figure out what was real, what was a dream. I found myself getting confused many times during this book but I wanted to find out if they found the killer(s). I enjoyed this book and will look for more books written by Lisa Unger. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

This one was kind of long and drawn out. Wasn't a i can't put down book, i had a hard time picking this one up. Was a pretty good read, 3.5 points from me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for a review. Poppy is mourning the loss of her husband who was murdered one morning on his run and whose killer is still unknown. As Poppy is dealing with her grief she starts to have nightmares or possibly even memories of the days right after her husband’s murder. As she struggles to move on weird things start to happen to Poppy and she works to figure out what is going on and who killed her husband. When reading this there were times that I felt confused on what was happening and it was hard to tell if what was happening was currently taking place, in the past, a dream, or even a memory. However, this was a fun and quick read and I look forward to reading the other books by this author.

When Poppy's husband is found beaten to death in the park, her life begins to fall apart. She can't seem to move on and when she disappears for a few days and turns up when no memory of what happened or where she had been, her dreams start to fill her waking hours making it hard to for her to distinguish fact from fiction. Determined to find out the answers to her questions she decides to investigate and hope that she can find something out to explain all her questions.
The story, although confusing at times, is a page turning quest to understand her situation. No one around her seems to be telling her the truth, which makes it hard to determine who to trust.

Thank you for the opportunity to preview Under my Skin by Lisa Unger. I am a big fan of Unger's novels. She does not write your typical female books - they are filled with suspense, romance, and drama.
Under My Skin is about a woman, Poppy, who has lost her husband to a murder that is unsolved. She is a wreck - she takes pills, she blacks out, she drinks too much, and she is in pain.
Poppy has a best friend to lean on - Layla. Layla is her childhood friend who is married to a successful man, Mac, and has two great kids. Layla looks after Poppy, maybe too much, but she loves her and tries to get Poppy to recover and move on with her life.
But Poppy starts to believe she is being followed by a man in a hoody, but no one believes her. Poppy has strange nightmares and they become quite real, but no one really believes her. Not even the policeman who is working the case.
Is Poppy just imagining what is going on or is there someone out there who wants to silence her - just like they did to her husband.
Good Book, lots of detail - more than I usually like.

Thanks to netgalley for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book in a day and a half. I couldn't put it down. It was one of the best books I have read this year. I have been sort of a Lisa Unger fan for years. I read Beautiful Lies when it came out and it is still probably one of my favorite books. Following that, there were some hits and misses and some books I skipped because they seemed to delve into supernatural territory. But, I am so glad I decided to read this one.

The quick synopsis is Poppy's husband was murdered a year ago. She is in a sleeping pill and alcohol haze and can't remember the events that occurred just following her husband's funeral. She drifts between dreams and flashbacks and reality not really knowing what is real and what isn't. I can see where some people found the flashbacks to be confusing, but I really didn't have a problem with them because even if we didn't know what was real, they progressed the story. Overall, I found this book to be very suspenseful. I really didn't have a clue what was behind Jack's murder and I the fact that I so badly wanted to finish the book and find out is a credit to the author for her ability to build the story and the suspense. The ending was one I didn't see coming and I felt satisfied with the conclusion, but now I am sad it is over, because I liked it so much.

Thank you so much for this ARC!

Firs, let me start by saying I am a HUGE Lisa Unger fan and usually I am obsessed with her books. I had very high expectations for Under My Skin. Unfortunately, I just don't think this is her best work.

Great story line and interesting characters but at times it was just confusing and difficult to get through. Normally I wouldn't put her books down, but this was tough. However! The last 30% of the book was great and totally worth the wait.

Still a forever Unger fan though!

Is she dreaming, is it a memory, or is it really happening? These questions are at the forefront of the reader's mind throughout the novel Under My Skin. Poppy is not the most sympathetic character as she mixes multiple medications and alcohol to get through the pain of the murder of her husband Jack - a murder she wonders if she could have prevented if she had forced herself to go on the early-morning run with him that morning even though she was sick. I will be honest and say that unreliable narrators are not my favorite and will sometimes make me put a book down and not pick it back up, but the pacing of the book was quick, and the pacing coupled with the varied twists did push me through to finish the novel in one evening.

There are a couple of brief shout-outs to The Hollows for Unger fans.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher Harlequin/Hanover Square Press in exchange for an honest review.