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Under My Skin
What if the nightmares are actually memories?
It's been a year since Poppy's husband, Jack, was brutally murdered during his morning run through Manhattan's Riverside Park. In the immediate aftermath, Poppy spiraled into an oblivion of grief, disappearing for several days only to turn up ragged and confused wearing a tight red dress she didn't recognize. What happened to Poppy during those lost days? And more importantly, what happened to Jack?
The case was never solved, and Poppy has finally begun to move on. But those lost days have never stopped haunting her. Poppy starts having nightmares and blackouts--there are periods of time she can't remember, and she's unable to tell the difference between what is real and what she's imagining. When she begins to sense that someone is following her, Poppy is plunged into a game of cat and mouse, determined to unravel the mystery around her husband's death. But can she handle the truth about what really happened?
It's been a year since Poppy's husband, Jack, was brutally murdered during his morning run through Manhattan's Riverside Park. In the immediate aftermath, Poppy spiraled into an oblivion of grief, disappearing for several days only to turn up ragged and confused wearing a tight red dress she didn't recognize. What happened to Poppy during those lost days? And more importantly, what happened to Jack?
The case was never solved, and Poppy has finally begun to move on. But those lost days have never stopped haunting her. Poppy starts having nightmares and blackouts--there are periods of time she can't remember, and she's unable to tell the difference between what is real and what she's imagining. When she begins to sense that someone is following her, Poppy is plunged into a game of cat and mouse, determined to unravel the mystery around her husband's death. But can she handle the truth about what really happened?
304 pages, ebook
First published September 24, 2018
1380 people are currently reading
18334 people want to read
About the author
Lisa Unger
51 books10.8k followersLisa Unger is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of twenty-three novels, including her upcoming release SERVED HIM RIGHT (March, 2026). With books published in thirty-three languages and millions of copies sold worldwide, she is regarded as a master of suspense.
Unger’s critically acclaimed novels have been featured on “Best Book” lists from the Today show, Good Morning America, Entertainment Weekly, People, Amazon, Goodreads, L.A. Times, The Boston Globe, Sun Sentinel, Tampa Bay Times, and many others. She has been nominated for, or won, numerous awards including the Strand Critics, Audie, Hammett, Macavity, ITW Thriller, and Goodreads Choice. In 2019, she received two Edgar Award nominations in the same year, an honor held by only a few authors including Agatha Christie. Her short fiction has been anthologized in The Best American Mystery and Suspense, and her non-fiction has appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, and Travel+Leisure. Lisa is the current co-President of the International Thriller Writers organization. She lives on the west coast of Florida with her family.
Unger’s critically acclaimed novels have been featured on “Best Book” lists from the Today show, Good Morning America, Entertainment Weekly, People, Amazon, Goodreads, L.A. Times, The Boston Globe, Sun Sentinel, Tampa Bay Times, and many others. She has been nominated for, or won, numerous awards including the Strand Critics, Audie, Hammett, Macavity, ITW Thriller, and Goodreads Choice. In 2019, she received two Edgar Award nominations in the same year, an honor held by only a few authors including Agatha Christie. Her short fiction has been anthologized in The Best American Mystery and Suspense, and her non-fiction has appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, and Travel+Leisure. Lisa is the current co-President of the International Thriller Writers organization. She lives on the west coast of Florida with her family.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,366 reviews
August 9, 2018
I'm a huge Lisa Unger fan, but this one just wasn't my favorite of her novels to date. I found myself a little confused in the first half; I had to go back to sections and double check what I had read which became tedious. It's quite possible I'm over the psychological thrillers that have a dream sequence plot, and that's on me. Not a bad read, but left me feeling underwhelmed in comparison to all the other novels by Unger that I've read. Full review to come closer to pub date.
*I received a review copy via the publisher.
*I received a review copy via the publisher.
November 30, 2019
There’s only so much you can read about a grieving woman, but this book just goes on, and on.
And on...
In a nutshell: Boring!
And on...
In a nutshell: Boring!
November 16, 2018
This book was one WILD and CRAZY RIDE!!!
This is the kind of book you need to finish in order two truly see the brilliance... The beginning of the book was like sifting through fog... nothing was clear, I was confused as to what exactly was going on... were these Poppy’s dreams? memories? delusions?? I was as confused if not more than Poppy and her drug and grief addled brain... but once the fog cleared I realized this was done by the author by design... fully immersing you in poppy’s tragic situation.... Poppy was one spectacular unreliable narrator....
Poppy’s husband Jack was murdered while jogging at the park one day... Poppy is devastated, she also feels guilty.... soon after Jack’s funeral Poppy goes missing for a few days, and comes back with no recollection of where she was or what she did.... with Jack’s murder never being solved and certain she is being followed, Poppy is completely on edge... will she ever recover her memory? Who killed her beloved husband and why? And who in the world is following her now?
Lisa Unger takes you on one twisted ride in this book.... The uncertainty and unraveling was quite dizzying... for a large portion of this book I wasn’t quite certain if I was coming or going... Papi definitely drags you through her complicated Mays of crazy.... A brilliant thriller that ends with a twist and a bang!
Absolutely recommend to fans of of a darker twistier psychological thriller...
*** many thanks to harlequin for my copy of this book ***
This is the kind of book you need to finish in order two truly see the brilliance... The beginning of the book was like sifting through fog... nothing was clear, I was confused as to what exactly was going on... were these Poppy’s dreams? memories? delusions?? I was as confused if not more than Poppy and her drug and grief addled brain... but once the fog cleared I realized this was done by the author by design... fully immersing you in poppy’s tragic situation.... Poppy was one spectacular unreliable narrator....
Poppy’s husband Jack was murdered while jogging at the park one day... Poppy is devastated, she also feels guilty.... soon after Jack’s funeral Poppy goes missing for a few days, and comes back with no recollection of where she was or what she did.... with Jack’s murder never being solved and certain she is being followed, Poppy is completely on edge... will she ever recover her memory? Who killed her beloved husband and why? And who in the world is following her now?
Lisa Unger takes you on one twisted ride in this book.... The uncertainty and unraveling was quite dizzying... for a large portion of this book I wasn’t quite certain if I was coming or going... Papi definitely drags you through her complicated Mays of crazy.... A brilliant thriller that ends with a twist and a bang!
Absolutely recommend to fans of of a darker twistier psychological thriller...
*** many thanks to harlequin for my copy of this book ***
October 14, 2018
Hypnagogia - the state between sleep and consciousness. Twilight. When you‘re dreaming...yet somewhat awake.
Poppy is a recent widow. Last year she lost her husband to a violent death. Her life since has been a series of breakdowns and desperate attempts at crawling back to a life she no longer recognizes.
The police have no clues why her husband Jack was targeted and killed. To make matters worse, she now has the feeling there’s a hooded figure following her. Is she also in danger? Or was Jack's death simply nothing more than a random mugging gone wrong?
Poppy’s reality is mixed with her chemically induced dreams. Is she sleeping or awake? What’s real and what’s not? And of course...who can she trust?
Lisa Unger has been one of my go-to authors for years. She never disappoints! And wow did she just deliver another little gem! I was as caught up in the dreams vs reality as much as Poppy was! Questioning everything and of course, everyone! It’s fast and furious! Word of advice: you’ll need to stay focused and pay attention or you’ll be left behind in one of the dream states!
The ending was perfect! I had certain parts figured out, while others came as a complete surprise! Nothing suddenly out of left field!
Already looking forward to the next Lisa Unger release!
A buddy read with Susanne!
Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin- Hanover Square Press and Lisa Unger for an ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.
Poppy is a recent widow. Last year she lost her husband to a violent death. Her life since has been a series of breakdowns and desperate attempts at crawling back to a life she no longer recognizes.
The police have no clues why her husband Jack was targeted and killed. To make matters worse, she now has the feeling there’s a hooded figure following her. Is she also in danger? Or was Jack's death simply nothing more than a random mugging gone wrong?
Poppy’s reality is mixed with her chemically induced dreams. Is she sleeping or awake? What’s real and what’s not? And of course...who can she trust?
Lisa Unger has been one of my go-to authors for years. She never disappoints! And wow did she just deliver another little gem! I was as caught up in the dreams vs reality as much as Poppy was! Questioning everything and of course, everyone! It’s fast and furious! Word of advice: you’ll need to stay focused and pay attention or you’ll be left behind in one of the dream states!
The ending was perfect! I had certain parts figured out, while others came as a complete surprise! Nothing suddenly out of left field!
Already looking forward to the next Lisa Unger release!
A buddy read with Susanne!
Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin- Hanover Square Press and Lisa Unger for an ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.
July 31, 2018
"I wonder if anyone notices that I am a ghost in my life."
Poppy's husband, Jack, was murdered one year ago during his morning run in the park. After his funeral, Poppy disappeared. Her best friend and Mother were concerned and even more worried when Poppy showed up wearing a red dress, confused and with no memory as to where she was during those missing three days. Hospitalized with a "nervous breakdown", Poppy recovers but still does not have any memory of those lost days.
"What is read and what isn't real?"
This book was all over the place. It has a dizzying effect. When I first began reading, I was confused and had a hard time keeping track of what was happening. I scratched my head, wondering how this book got positive reviews. Initially this book is a mess. Timelines jumped around, things I thought happened, didn't happen....and then I got it. Poppy is having a hard time with her reality. She doesn’t know what is real, what as a dream, a past memory. She is confused and having trouble making sense of what is happening in her life. How many of us know what it feels like to question your reality? Is what just happed real? Was it a hallucination? A False memory, a dream? Did I have that conversation last night, or six months ago? Did I have that conversation at all? Lisa Unger did an amazingly brilliant job of having the reader feel what the female protagonist is feeling - confusion.
Wow! Is all I can say! What I initially thought was a mess turned into something brilliant. AS Poppy searches for the truth, Unger will have the reader (and Poppy) questioning what is real and what isn’t. This isn’t a straight murder mystery/thriller but a wild ride in search of the truth through one woman’s reality.
Very well done and thought out. Unger pulled this one off so smoothly. I was just as lost and confused as Poppy. I wasn’t clear as to what was happening and questioned my theories the entire book. Very well played, Unger! Although I wasn’t quite sure what was real and what wasn’t, I could not put this book down. I was eager to learn the truth about Jack’s murder and Poppy’s missing days.
Thank you to Harlequin -Hanover Square Press and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookpost.com
Poppy's husband, Jack, was murdered one year ago during his morning run in the park. After his funeral, Poppy disappeared. Her best friend and Mother were concerned and even more worried when Poppy showed up wearing a red dress, confused and with no memory as to where she was during those missing three days. Hospitalized with a "nervous breakdown", Poppy recovers but still does not have any memory of those lost days.
"What is read and what isn't real?"
This book was all over the place. It has a dizzying effect. When I first began reading, I was confused and had a hard time keeping track of what was happening. I scratched my head, wondering how this book got positive reviews. Initially this book is a mess. Timelines jumped around, things I thought happened, didn't happen....and then I got it. Poppy is having a hard time with her reality. She doesn’t know what is real, what as a dream, a past memory. She is confused and having trouble making sense of what is happening in her life. How many of us know what it feels like to question your reality? Is what just happed real? Was it a hallucination? A False memory, a dream? Did I have that conversation last night, or six months ago? Did I have that conversation at all? Lisa Unger did an amazingly brilliant job of having the reader feel what the female protagonist is feeling - confusion.
Wow! Is all I can say! What I initially thought was a mess turned into something brilliant. AS Poppy searches for the truth, Unger will have the reader (and Poppy) questioning what is real and what isn’t. This isn’t a straight murder mystery/thriller but a wild ride in search of the truth through one woman’s reality.
Very well done and thought out. Unger pulled this one off so smoothly. I was just as lost and confused as Poppy. I wasn’t clear as to what was happening and questioned my theories the entire book. Very well played, Unger! Although I wasn’t quite sure what was real and what wasn’t, I could not put this book down. I was eager to learn the truth about Jack’s murder and Poppy’s missing days.
Thank you to Harlequin -Hanover Square Press and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookpost.com
September 13, 2018
I have enjoyed a few of Lisa Unger's novels and I was really looking forward to this one. This one is about Poppy, who is searching for her husband's killer.
It has been a year since her husband was murdered while on his morning jog, and Poppy is struggling to make sense of it. She is determined to get answers. As she dreams/has nightmares she can't seem to reconcile if they are actually "memories" of events that could be helpful in solving his murder. She is also downing sleeping pills that blur her sense of what is real.
I thought Poppy was quite an unreliable narrator and her life was a jigsaw puzzle that she couldn't seem to put together. There is some suspense and a few mysterious characters that kept me guessing and wondering what was real. I enjoyed the writing, but the story line became a bit tiresome for me.
This was a quick read for me with enough suspense to keep me turning pages to find out what exactly was "real".
Thanks to Harlequin and NG for the Arc. Publishes Oct. 2, 2018
September 7, 2018
4 Stars.
A Crazy Compelling Psychological Thriller!
Poppy lost her husband Jack a year ago now - when he was murdered in what the police say was a random event, though they don’t have any answers as to what happened to him. Poppy, can’t let go of what she lost that fateful night and unfortunately she can’t remember a thing about what happened immediately thereafter, as she disappeared for a few days and everything is still a blur.
Now her dreams consume her, she sees images and doesn’t know if they are real or imagined. Of course, it could be all of the pills she’s popping and the alcohol she’s consuming. Then there’s the fact that she’s being followed by a hooded man, and then there’s Jack, who she starts seeing everywhere.
Poppy is terrified, yet determined to figure out what happened to her husband before something bad ends up happening to her too. Can Poppy take control and tame the demons around her? Time will tell, as it always does.
“Under My Skin” by Lisa Unger is one heck of a page turner. Twisty, turny and all around crazy, it was unputdownable!
This was a buddy read with Kaceey. We sure had a wild time trying to figure this one out!
Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin - Hanover Square Press - Park Row and Lisa Unger for a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Published on NetGalley, Goodreads and Twitter on 9.7.18.
A Crazy Compelling Psychological Thriller!
Poppy lost her husband Jack a year ago now - when he was murdered in what the police say was a random event, though they don’t have any answers as to what happened to him. Poppy, can’t let go of what she lost that fateful night and unfortunately she can’t remember a thing about what happened immediately thereafter, as she disappeared for a few days and everything is still a blur.
Now her dreams consume her, she sees images and doesn’t know if they are real or imagined. Of course, it could be all of the pills she’s popping and the alcohol she’s consuming. Then there’s the fact that she’s being followed by a hooded man, and then there’s Jack, who she starts seeing everywhere.
Poppy is terrified, yet determined to figure out what happened to her husband before something bad ends up happening to her too. Can Poppy take control and tame the demons around her? Time will tell, as it always does.
“Under My Skin” by Lisa Unger is one heck of a page turner. Twisty, turny and all around crazy, it was unputdownable!
This was a buddy read with Kaceey. We sure had a wild time trying to figure this one out!
Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin - Hanover Square Press - Park Row and Lisa Unger for a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Published on NetGalley, Goodreads and Twitter on 9.7.18.
September 18, 2018
It has been explained thoroughly. All options have been explored and dismissed. The outcome is inevitable. Yet when this anticipated death arrives, we are stunned and shaken.
If prior warning of deaths arrival stuns us, imagine the effect of a sudden violent murder can be to the loving wife of the victim.
Poppy Lang, the heroine of Under My Skin, waved goodby to her husband, Jack, as he sets off on an early morning jog through Riverside Park. Hours later Detective Grayson is asking her questions but all Poppy can do is try to understand: Jack is dead. Jack was savagely beaten to death on his run. Her Mother is there. Her friend Layla provides support. There is a funeral. It is all too much and not enough. Poppy disappears. Four days later she wakes up in a hospital with no memory of these days.
Now a year later, Poppy is struggling with her life. Dr. Nash, her psychiatrist, listens, asks pointed questions, and provides prescription meds. Layla is warm and loving. Her home is always open to Poppy as is her supply of pills. But Polly is sinking. Her dreams are violent and disturbing. Someone is following her or is it her delusions?
A break! As Poppy struggles her dreams become more vivid as some images appear and reappear. What does this mean? Are they real or is Poppy unstable?
Slowly pieces begin to come together. Fleeting images become grounded, clues are uncovered and secrets come to life. Finding Jacks killer and restoring Poppy's mental stability is a painful and dangerous journey.
Lisa Unger, the author of this engrossing read, skillfully weaves twists that range from subtile to gut wrenching into a story of love, friendship, death and healing
I received an advance copy of this book from Netgalley. #Netgalley #UnderMySkin
If prior warning of deaths arrival stuns us, imagine the effect of a sudden violent murder can be to the loving wife of the victim.
Poppy Lang, the heroine of Under My Skin, waved goodby to her husband, Jack, as he sets off on an early morning jog through Riverside Park. Hours later Detective Grayson is asking her questions but all Poppy can do is try to understand: Jack is dead. Jack was savagely beaten to death on his run. Her Mother is there. Her friend Layla provides support. There is a funeral. It is all too much and not enough. Poppy disappears. Four days later she wakes up in a hospital with no memory of these days.
Now a year later, Poppy is struggling with her life. Dr. Nash, her psychiatrist, listens, asks pointed questions, and provides prescription meds. Layla is warm and loving. Her home is always open to Poppy as is her supply of pills. But Polly is sinking. Her dreams are violent and disturbing. Someone is following her or is it her delusions?
A break! As Poppy struggles her dreams become more vivid as some images appear and reappear. What does this mean? Are they real or is Poppy unstable?
Slowly pieces begin to come together. Fleeting images become grounded, clues are uncovered and secrets come to life. Finding Jacks killer and restoring Poppy's mental stability is a painful and dangerous journey.
Lisa Unger, the author of this engrossing read, skillfully weaves twists that range from subtile to gut wrenching into a story of love, friendship, death and healing
I received an advance copy of this book from Netgalley. #Netgalley #UnderMySkin
October 3, 2018
Lisa Unger has written sixteen novels and it's a travesty that I have only read three of them. Because OMFG this was really good! It literally competed with waiting for the Quebec election results. Not an easy task since I love my politics. Also, whom ever is responsible for selecting book covers for Unger needs a nice vacation or a raise because suspense books shouldn't be this eye catching gorgeous but these definitely are.
No need to rehash the plot as it's quite well explained in the blurb. Poppy, our main protagonist, goes through a whole gambit of emotions over her husband's death while also struggling to fit in missing pieces of her memory. I didn't feel confusion, but I totally questioned how reliable the narrative was going to be. Lisa Unger makes it seem like everyone around Poppy is either lying or she might be. What a maze to work through! I just know that I really enjoyed the journey, but I still have a few things I would like to say to Poppy.
Thanks to Netgalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review
No need to rehash the plot as it's quite well explained in the blurb. Poppy, our main protagonist, goes through a whole gambit of emotions over her husband's death while also struggling to fit in missing pieces of her memory. I didn't feel confusion, but I totally questioned how reliable the narrative was going to be. Lisa Unger makes it seem like everyone around Poppy is either lying or she might be. What a maze to work through! I just know that I really enjoyed the journey, but I still have a few things I would like to say to Poppy.
Thanks to Netgalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review
August 20, 2019
This book is a buddy read with my buddy Nat, who resides in either the mysterious outback or crowded suburbs (not as mysterious) of Australia, beginning Tuesday August 13, 2019.
“Under My Skin” by Lisa Unger was nominated for the 2019 Macavity Award for Best Novel, nominated for a 2019 Edgar Award and a Finalist for the 2019 Hammett Prize. In this psychological thriller we join a young woman struggling with the aftermath of her husband’s murder as she finds herself in escalating danger.
We seem to enjoy reading stories when we know we're being fooled. Authors sometimes use an ‘Unreliable Narrator’ to tell the story, a protagonist who can't be trusted to tell the events accurately. Either they are insane, evil, delusional, forgetful, or just plain wrong.
New Yorker Poppy Lang was devastated when her husband, Jack, was beaten to death during a jog in Riverside Park. The couple ran a photography agency together, and the murder of likable husband Jack seems to be a random crime.
A year later, the case has become cold and Poppy has become a mess. She’s haunted by vivid nightmares and her inability to recall what happened during her several days disappearance just after Jack’s death.
Poppy’s search for Jack’s killer is the one thing that gives her focus. Poppy’s visions and flashbacks to the Lang’s’ life together become a bit repetitious, yet Ms. Unger has created fully realized characters. The book explores the ways in which grief can alter our minds, blurring the lines between reality, dreams, and memory.
2019 Hammett Award Nominees
William Boyle, The Lonely Witness (Pegasus Crime)
Lisa Unger, Under My Skin (Park Row)
Sam Wiebe, Cut You Down (Random House Canada)
Lou Berney, November Road (William Morrow)
Robert Olen Butler, Paris in the Dark (The Mysterious Press)
The winner has been announced - "November Road" by Lou Berney
“Under My Skin” by Lisa Unger was nominated for the 2019 Macavity Award for Best Novel, nominated for a 2019 Edgar Award and a Finalist for the 2019 Hammett Prize. In this psychological thriller we join a young woman struggling with the aftermath of her husband’s murder as she finds herself in escalating danger.
We seem to enjoy reading stories when we know we're being fooled. Authors sometimes use an ‘Unreliable Narrator’ to tell the story, a protagonist who can't be trusted to tell the events accurately. Either they are insane, evil, delusional, forgetful, or just plain wrong.
New Yorker Poppy Lang was devastated when her husband, Jack, was beaten to death during a jog in Riverside Park. The couple ran a photography agency together, and the murder of likable husband Jack seems to be a random crime.
A year later, the case has become cold and Poppy has become a mess. She’s haunted by vivid nightmares and her inability to recall what happened during her several days disappearance just after Jack’s death.
Poppy’s search for Jack’s killer is the one thing that gives her focus. Poppy’s visions and flashbacks to the Lang’s’ life together become a bit repetitious, yet Ms. Unger has created fully realized characters. The book explores the ways in which grief can alter our minds, blurring the lines between reality, dreams, and memory.
2019 Hammett Award Nominees
William Boyle, The Lonely Witness (Pegasus Crime)
Lisa Unger, Under My Skin (Park Row)
Sam Wiebe, Cut You Down (Random House Canada)
Lou Berney, November Road (William Morrow)
Robert Olen Butler, Paris in the Dark (The Mysterious Press)
The winner has been announced - "November Road" by Lou Berney
March 18, 2018
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
POV/s: First-person, singular
Triggers? No.
Tone: Defeated
HEA?
Poppy Lang’s life is in disarray two days after her husband’s funeral. She has a nervous breakdown and can’t recall where she was or what she was doing after Jack was laid to rest. These unaccounted hours are what this story is centered around.
This story picks up a year after Jack’s death. Poppy has completed a short stint in a psychiatric facility, has returned to the agency she and Jack created, and she is finally wading out of a deep mental swamp of despair. But Jack’s unsolved murder leaves Poppy in an emotional limbo and she’s haunted by her memories of him.
A year—for most people it’s a heartbeat, days rushing into weeks into months that pass in a blur. For the grieving, it’s an eternity, life aborted, days dark and slogging.
Poppy acknowledges that her marriage wasn’t perfect and that she was always in love with her husband.
A marriage is a mosaic, comprised of pieces—some broken and jagged, some shiny, some dull, some golden. The pieces don’t matter as much as the whole picture of your life together.
Along the way, Poppy’s friends and even her subconscious seem to hint that her repressed memories are a kindness, that there’s only agony laced with the truth of what she can’t remember.
“Poppy,” Jack says. He stands, wearing his running clothes that are smeared with mud and blood. The side of his head is mashed, unnatural. “Don’t do this. Keep looking for answers and you’re going to find things you won’t like. Take the advice everyone keeps giving you and let me go. I’m gone. Long gone.”
This book is divided into two parts. The first forty percent was a bit lackluster and it took extra effort to keep reading on. Part one was repetitive as Poppy drifted from one flashback to another and had difficulty distinguishing reality from hallucinations and nightmares.
Issues?
All of the secrecy, ominous bits, and obvious withholding of information from the fragile Poppy should’ve spurred me on to read this story more quickly. Oddly enough, this book was too easy to put down and didn’t grip me as strongly. Also, every time Poppy thought she was inching closer to truths about her old life with Jack, she’d self sabotage and derail by pill popping. Part of her wanted her memories back. The other part of her was very content to live in the peaceful woods of denial.
▣ The writing was solid but this story didn’t rock me, shake me, or deliver the thrill I was after. This story is perfect for the reader looking for a psychological suspense novel with a character-driven approach and featuring an unreliable narrator. For me, finding out the why behind Jack’s death was anticlimactic.
*NetGalley ARC kindly provided by HARLEQUIN - Hanover Square Press in exchange for an honest review.
POV/s: First-person, singular
Triggers? No.
Tone: Defeated
HEA?
Poppy Lang’s life is in disarray two days after her husband’s funeral. She has a nervous breakdown and can’t recall where she was or what she was doing after Jack was laid to rest. These unaccounted hours are what this story is centered around.
This story picks up a year after Jack’s death. Poppy has completed a short stint in a psychiatric facility, has returned to the agency she and Jack created, and she is finally wading out of a deep mental swamp of despair. But Jack’s unsolved murder leaves Poppy in an emotional limbo and she’s haunted by her memories of him.
A year—for most people it’s a heartbeat, days rushing into weeks into months that pass in a blur. For the grieving, it’s an eternity, life aborted, days dark and slogging.
Poppy acknowledges that her marriage wasn’t perfect and that she was always in love with her husband.
A marriage is a mosaic, comprised of pieces—some broken and jagged, some shiny, some dull, some golden. The pieces don’t matter as much as the whole picture of your life together.
Along the way, Poppy’s friends and even her subconscious seem to hint that her repressed memories are a kindness, that there’s only agony laced with the truth of what she can’t remember.
“Poppy,” Jack says. He stands, wearing his running clothes that are smeared with mud and blood. The side of his head is mashed, unnatural. “Don’t do this. Keep looking for answers and you’re going to find things you won’t like. Take the advice everyone keeps giving you and let me go. I’m gone. Long gone.”
This book is divided into two parts. The first forty percent was a bit lackluster and it took extra effort to keep reading on. Part one was repetitive as Poppy drifted from one flashback to another and had difficulty distinguishing reality from hallucinations and nightmares.
Issues?
All of the secrecy, ominous bits, and obvious withholding of information from the fragile Poppy should’ve spurred me on to read this story more quickly. Oddly enough, this book was too easy to put down and didn’t grip me as strongly. Also, every time Poppy thought she was inching closer to truths about her old life with Jack, she’d self sabotage and derail by pill popping. Part of her wanted her memories back. The other part of her was very content to live in the peaceful woods of denial.
▣ The writing was solid but this story didn’t rock me, shake me, or deliver the thrill I was after. This story is perfect for the reader looking for a psychological suspense novel with a character-driven approach and featuring an unreliable narrator. For me, finding out the why behind Jack’s death was anticlimactic.
*NetGalley ARC kindly provided by HARLEQUIN - Hanover Square Press in exchange for an honest review.
October 16, 2019
HYPNAGOGIA
The transition between Sleep & being awake - Twight when you are dreaming & awake
Poppy is a widow & struggling each day as her husband Jack was killed a year earlier she is seeing a psychologist Dr Nash as she needs help coping she is on Xanax but at times doesnt know how much she has taken & downs them with the bottle.
When the police step in to find out who killed Jack, poppy's dreams go into dillusions & what is real. Her best friend Layla has been helping her with her state of mind but is having her own demons to cope with. The police accuse Poppy of killing Jack but that thought makes her prolapse into more darkness than she can handle.
MY THOUGHTS
Lisa Unger is my favourite author in this genre it was a page turner & the pace was top notch, the characters were well written as was the prose , also loved that cover i couldntr stop looking at it, Lisa unger has done it again, the first part was confusing at times but part two put the missing pieces together for me i LOVED LOVED LOVED this book highly recomended.
The transition between Sleep & being awake - Twight when you are dreaming & awake
Poppy is a widow & struggling each day as her husband Jack was killed a year earlier she is seeing a psychologist Dr Nash as she needs help coping she is on Xanax but at times doesnt know how much she has taken & downs them with the bottle.
When the police step in to find out who killed Jack, poppy's dreams go into dillusions & what is real. Her best friend Layla has been helping her with her state of mind but is having her own demons to cope with. The police accuse Poppy of killing Jack but that thought makes her prolapse into more darkness than she can handle.
MY THOUGHTS
Lisa Unger is my favourite author in this genre it was a page turner & the pace was top notch, the characters were well written as was the prose , also loved that cover i couldntr stop looking at it, Lisa unger has done it again, the first part was confusing at times but part two put the missing pieces together for me i LOVED LOVED LOVED this book highly recomended.
July 8, 2020
"What does it mean, these spiderweb threads between two dreams? Is it my subconscious playing tricks on me - or trying to tell me something?"
Reality & dreams are formidable adversaries in this book. The line between the two is difficult to determine. Where does one end & the other begin? That's what makes this such a suspenseful page turner. It's so hard to work out what's really going on.
Poppy Lang has a bit of a habit. Or two. Sleeping pills, nerve pills, alcohol, hard liquor, encounters with strangers in bars. Doing all of these at once. Falling asleep in a bathtub (channeling her inner Jim Morrison). Lost days. Lost nights.
She also has dreams that are vividly real. The lack of sleep adds to her confusion and paranoia. When she should be resting and healing, her mind is working overtime. Not allowing her any break from the constant chatter in her mind.
"Are there secrets hiding in my dreams?"
"What's real and what isn't real? It's a question I never thought I'd ask myself."
Poppy & Jack Lang are madly in love and run a photographic studio in New York City. Until one day Jack goes for his early morning jog in Central Park and never returns. One year later, Poppy still does not know who Jack's murderer is. Her feelings of grief and guilt are immeasurable.
I enjoyed the whole photography/photographer, capturing a moment in time, viewing the world through a lens theme very much. It intrigued me. The thought of putting people and places into a tiny microcosm that exists for as long as the image does. I would have loved for this theme to be expanded on.
"The photographer is a thief, stealing time."
"Everyone's photographing themselves or someone else, texting, or scrolling through feeds. When did we stop seeing with our eyes?"
Poppy is seeing a psychiatrist to help her return to some state of normality. We learn that she suffers from "hypnagogia", which I'd not heard of before. Apparently this is "...the transitional phase between sleep and wakefulness, or between wakefulness and sleep." In layman's terms, a microsleep. Which could explain the difficulty Poppy has with determining if an event actually occured or if she dreamt it.
The use of flashbacks is used liberally throughout the book. This gives an intriguing twist to the story and adds to the reality v dreamlike quality of Poppy's existence. You feel her confusion, always on the edge of remembering...something. The memory remains frustratingly a fingertip's grasp away.
For me this device is slightly overused and perplexes an already perplexing situation with Poppy's mindset.
It's interesting to note that there's a bit of cloak'n'dagger stuff amongst her closest friends, where they imply we perhaps don't really know those nearest to us as well as we assume we do.
"How well do we ever really know each other?"
"Maybe we only ever know pieces of each other."
Throw into the mix a steely jawed, moody detective, a tarot reading ex-neighbour, and new beau (a sculptor of steel figures no less) with his own cloak of sadness, and you have an intriguing kaleidoscope of people and belief systems.
"The world is a patchwork quilt," she says."We are all bits of scrap stitched together. It doesn't always make sense to us - things don't always match. But that's only because we can't see the big picture. No one can - only God."
This started as a very slow burn for me, which heated up as the story developed. A complex, multi-layered plot that will keep you turning the page to find out what happens next.
I'm hovering between 3.5 & 4✩s. The climax was just a bit too sensational for me, though I realise that's the nature of the beast with this genre. But I really enjoyed the storyline & writing style.
My first Lisa Unger, definitely not my last.
*** Shout out to the wonderfully well read Karl (who reads books from writers I've never heard of & books from longlists I didn't know existed). Make sure you check out his fab review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ***
This book was a finalist for the Hammett Prize 2019, which was co-incidentally won by Lou Berney's "November Road". My source for this information being the fount of knowledge for all books crime, Karl.
Some food for thought. I'll leave this rambling review with another wonderful quote from the book.
"The wind outside howls.
'Do you think the world is a beautiful place or an ugly one?', he asks.
'Both', I say. 'You can't have one side without the other. That's the joke of it.' "
November 7, 2019
Poppy Lang and her husband, Jack, were successful photographers who traveled the world before settling in New York and opening an agency. On the surface, they appear to be living a charmed life, although as is often the case, especially in a psychological thriller like this, there may be problems lurking just below the surface. But when Jack is killed, apparently at random while out for an early morning jog, Poppy descends into a year-long depression and her life begins to come apart at the seams.
Shortly after the funeral, Poppy disappears, leaving her mother, her best friend, and everyone else who cares about her worried sick. She surfaces a few days later, wearing a red party dress, with no memory of where she has been or what she has done. Even with the help of caring friends and a therapist, she's having trouble putting her life back together and a year after her husband's death, she still appears to be on a downward spiral.
Part of the problem is that, in addition to the small dose of sleeping pills that the therapist has prescribed, Poppy is self-medicating with pills given to her by her best friend, Layla. She's also drinking heavily and thus, not surprisingly, her sleep is disturbed by powerful and troubling dreams. Even worse, she seems to be dreaming and perhaps imagining things while she's allegedly awake. She becomes convinced that a mysterious hooded man is following her. She begins to "see" Jack, and before long, she no longer knows what's real and what is not.
Neither do we. Poppy is a classic unreliable narrator, and as the story progresses the reader sometimes has a hard time distinguishing between Poppy's dreams and reality, just as she does. One would hope, as Poppy does, that if the police could only clear the case and find Jack's killer, this would provide some closure. The only question is whether or not Poppy will survive and remain sane until this can happen.
On the whole I enjoyed this book, although I thought it ran on a bit and was perhaps fifty to a hundred pages longer than it needed to be. For much of the book, Poppy seemed to be going around in circles and, as a reader, I thought there might have been one or two many trips around the same track. I also really disliked Layla, Poppy's best friend since they were children. She was way too domineering and I kept waiting for Poppy to finally tell her to back off a bit. I also wonder what kind of a "friend" keeps pushing pills and alcohol on a woman in such a fragile state.
By the time the climax finally arrived, I was pretty sure I knew where it was going; still the pace picked up significantly in last one-third of the book or so and in the end, I enjoyed it. 3.5 stars rounded up to four.
Shortly after the funeral, Poppy disappears, leaving her mother, her best friend, and everyone else who cares about her worried sick. She surfaces a few days later, wearing a red party dress, with no memory of where she has been or what she has done. Even with the help of caring friends and a therapist, she's having trouble putting her life back together and a year after her husband's death, she still appears to be on a downward spiral.
Part of the problem is that, in addition to the small dose of sleeping pills that the therapist has prescribed, Poppy is self-medicating with pills given to her by her best friend, Layla. She's also drinking heavily and thus, not surprisingly, her sleep is disturbed by powerful and troubling dreams. Even worse, she seems to be dreaming and perhaps imagining things while she's allegedly awake. She becomes convinced that a mysterious hooded man is following her. She begins to "see" Jack, and before long, she no longer knows what's real and what is not.
Neither do we. Poppy is a classic unreliable narrator, and as the story progresses the reader sometimes has a hard time distinguishing between Poppy's dreams and reality, just as she does. One would hope, as Poppy does, that if the police could only clear the case and find Jack's killer, this would provide some closure. The only question is whether or not Poppy will survive and remain sane until this can happen.
On the whole I enjoyed this book, although I thought it ran on a bit and was perhaps fifty to a hundred pages longer than it needed to be. For much of the book, Poppy seemed to be going around in circles and, as a reader, I thought there might have been one or two many trips around the same track. I also really disliked Layla, Poppy's best friend since they were children. She was way too domineering and I kept waiting for Poppy to finally tell her to back off a bit. I also wonder what kind of a "friend" keeps pushing pills and alcohol on a woman in such a fragile state.
By the time the climax finally arrived, I was pretty sure I knew where it was going; still the pace picked up significantly in last one-third of the book or so and in the end, I enjoyed it. 3.5 stars rounded up to four.
October 2, 2018
Lisa Unger is one of my favorite suspense novelists. I love this very Hitchcockian tale of a recently widowed woman, still searching for the truth behind her husband's recent murder.
August 14, 2018
Really fantastic!! I've read Lisa Unger before and she never disappoints!! The characters in this book feel so real and believable. I felt their struggles and frustrations. The ending was a complete surprise, as all good mysteries should be.
I highly recommend this book for all psychological thriller book lovers!
Special thanks to NegGalley for the advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.
I highly recommend this book for all psychological thriller book lovers!
Special thanks to NegGalley for the advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.
March 18, 2021
Over the past 12 months, I have read several books by Lisa Unger that I loved. This was not one of them. This book is a decent enough read and, because it was written by Lisa Unger, it held my interest and kept me reading/listening through to the end, but this was definitely a “background book” while cooking or doing other mundane tasks around the house - not very stimulating, yet absorbing.
Poppy’s husband was violently murdered a year ago and she is having all kinds of trouble coping. She suffered a nervous breakdown and continues to suffer blackouts and hallucinations, her mind skips in time and place, in and out of reality. Poppy is the MC and the story is told in her POV. We watch as she struggles with her disorientation (which coincided with my own). Are Poppy’s dreams actually the budding memories of the lost days surfacing a year after Jack’s death? Where have I read this before? It seems like a very common theme. Poppy’s best friend from childhood is overprotective and paternalistic. They are more like sisters than friends, tethered by their years of friendship. They know everything about each other. Or do they? There is a possible new romantic interest or is he is a stalker? There is a police detective who just borders on interesting, and a few other minor supporting characters of minimal interest, tossed in for good measure, solely to add a piece or two to the puzzle.
So, who killed Jack? And, who is following Poppy? What was Jack hiding? Who was Elena? Who was having an affair with whom? Is Noa a predator?
This book felt a little like a soap opera, the exciting scenes and twists were predictable. It was an OK read, but not much more than that.
Poppy’s husband was violently murdered a year ago and she is having all kinds of trouble coping. She suffered a nervous breakdown and continues to suffer blackouts and hallucinations, her mind skips in time and place, in and out of reality. Poppy is the MC and the story is told in her POV. We watch as she struggles with her disorientation (which coincided with my own). Are Poppy’s dreams actually the budding memories of the lost days surfacing a year after Jack’s death? Where have I read this before? It seems like a very common theme. Poppy’s best friend from childhood is overprotective and paternalistic. They are more like sisters than friends, tethered by their years of friendship. They know everything about each other. Or do they? There is a possible new romantic interest or is he is a stalker? There is a police detective who just borders on interesting, and a few other minor supporting characters of minimal interest, tossed in for good measure, solely to add a piece or two to the puzzle.
So, who killed Jack? And, who is following Poppy? What was Jack hiding? Who was Elena? Who was having an affair with whom? Is Noa a predator?
This book felt a little like a soap opera, the exciting scenes and twists were predictable. It was an OK read, but not much more than that.
October 6, 2018
Poppy’s husband Jack was killed whilst out jogging in Manhattan’s Riverside Park. Poppy is not coping with her loss and is dependent on sleeping pills,unsure whether her dreams are dreams or reality that she has forgotten about.
It was a real life sliding doors moment, if she had of gone for a jog with Matt would he still be alive?
This story was like peeling an onion, every layer revealed another layer as memories were retrieved. I wasn’t sure who was more confused with what was going on me or Poppy!!
Although I did get confused,I loved this book, I couldn’t put it down. The link between Poppy’s memories and Jack’s murder was written in a way that grips you and keeps you engrossed till the final page.
Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.
It was a real life sliding doors moment, if she had of gone for a jog with Matt would he still be alive?
This story was like peeling an onion, every layer revealed another layer as memories were retrieved. I wasn’t sure who was more confused with what was going on me or Poppy!!
Although I did get confused,I loved this book, I couldn’t put it down. The link between Poppy’s memories and Jack’s murder was written in a way that grips you and keeps you engrossed till the final page.
Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.
October 7, 2018
3.5★s
In the time since her husband, Jack’s brutal murder, almost a year prior, Poppy had spiraled into depression; lost days that she had no memory of; moved out of their comfortable and well-loved home to a stark and sterile apartment; and tried to keep the business that she and Jack owned, running. Poppy’s visits to her psychologist were regular and calming but once she was back into her life, her uncertainties and grief continued. Poppy’s best friends, Layla and Mac, tried to care for her, but she felt a great need to be independent – to move forward.
But was it paranoia that had her seeing a tall, hooded man who watched her and followed her almost everywhere she went? Or was it the microsleeps that Dr Nash said could happen – even in daylight when she was working? Poppy’s sleep was interrupted by vivid dreams; nightmares – what was real? What were dreams? And were there memories mixed up in the chaos that was Poppy’s life – memories that she had no idea about? Detective Grayson was concerned, especially knowing the case was unsolved; Poppy’s friends were also worried. What would happen to Poppy as she desperately searched for answers?
Under My Skin by Lisa Unger is an in-depth psychological thriller with plenty of twists, back and forth memories which tend to confuse (both the reader and Poppy!), intense heartbreak mixed with hope, terror and grief. Poppy was a character who made plenty of mistakes – popping pills to help her sleep, washed down with plenty of alcohol – but the emotions she was going through made it understandable in a way. I’ve read several of Unger’s thrillers, and this one isn’t her best in my opinion. But I’ll definitely read more! Recommended.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.
In the time since her husband, Jack’s brutal murder, almost a year prior, Poppy had spiraled into depression; lost days that she had no memory of; moved out of their comfortable and well-loved home to a stark and sterile apartment; and tried to keep the business that she and Jack owned, running. Poppy’s visits to her psychologist were regular and calming but once she was back into her life, her uncertainties and grief continued. Poppy’s best friends, Layla and Mac, tried to care for her, but she felt a great need to be independent – to move forward.
But was it paranoia that had her seeing a tall, hooded man who watched her and followed her almost everywhere she went? Or was it the microsleeps that Dr Nash said could happen – even in daylight when she was working? Poppy’s sleep was interrupted by vivid dreams; nightmares – what was real? What were dreams? And were there memories mixed up in the chaos that was Poppy’s life – memories that she had no idea about? Detective Grayson was concerned, especially knowing the case was unsolved; Poppy’s friends were also worried. What would happen to Poppy as she desperately searched for answers?
Under My Skin by Lisa Unger is an in-depth psychological thriller with plenty of twists, back and forth memories which tend to confuse (both the reader and Poppy!), intense heartbreak mixed with hope, terror and grief. Poppy was a character who made plenty of mistakes – popping pills to help her sleep, washed down with plenty of alcohol – but the emotions she was going through made it understandable in a way. I’ve read several of Unger’s thrillers, and this one isn’t her best in my opinion. But I’ll definitely read more! Recommended.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.
January 11, 2019
Under my skin by Lisa Unger will definitely not be the last book I read by this author.
It's an easy paced psychological thriller which is written in such away you've finished the book before you even realised.
It has a few characters that just annoy you through out and you will want to shake and shout at them to stop interfering.
It's twists and turns through out from the first untill the last, with an ending you didn't see coming (or didn't want to see)🤔
I loved the whole dream state mixing with reality just to keep us on our toes.
If you're looking for a easy paced psychological thriller,with more twists than ever and a slight dark touch then I recommend this book to you.
It's an easy paced psychological thriller which is written in such away you've finished the book before you even realised.
It has a few characters that just annoy you through out and you will want to shake and shout at them to stop interfering.
It's twists and turns through out from the first untill the last, with an ending you didn't see coming (or didn't want to see)🤔
I loved the whole dream state mixing with reality just to keep us on our toes.
If you're looking for a easy paced psychological thriller,with more twists than ever and a slight dark touch then I recommend this book to you.
October 19, 2018
3.5 stars
Last year, while searching for a book to complete an A to Z Author challenge I was doing, I came across author Lisa Unger’s latest psychological suspense novel The Red Hunter , which ended up being a thrill-ride of a book that I enjoyed from beginning to end and found very difficult to put down. Not surprisingly, when I heard that Unger would have a new book out this year, another psychologicaI suspense thriller entitled Under My Skin , I jumped at the opportunity to read an advance copy.
The story revolves around Poppy Lang, whose husband Jack was brutally murdered a year ago, and even though on the surface it appears that she has moved on with her life, underneath she is actually still traumatized and broken, unable to return to the “normalcy” she had once known. Still haunted by the mysterious circumstances of her husband’s death as well as the few days immediately afterward when she herself disappeared, only to resurface later completely confused with no memory of where she had been or what had happened, Poppy begins to dive deeper and deeper into a life of chaos and confusion. She starts to experience blackouts, moments where she would be lucid one minute but then completely lost the next minute, with things worsening as she dives deeper into a darkness where she is no longer able to distinguish between what is real and what is imaginary. The only thing that keeps her grounded is the insistence on finding out the truth about her husband’s death while also attempting to dig up memories of those lost few days.
This book was a bit of a maze, with quite a few twists and turns as well as a couple red herrings thrown in to mix things up a little. Out of the many books in this particular genre that I’ve read in recent months, I would have to say that this one comes closest to what I would consider a “true” psychological thriller / suspense novel – Poppy’s constantly confused psychological state, the concept of dreams versus reality scattered throughout the story, complex characters who all seemed to have another side to them that no one else is able to see, endless mind games and twists, etc. All of this, coupled with the fact that the narrative is told entirely from Poppy’s first person perspective, lent the story a bit of a chaotic, slightly disjointed feel, which I will admit bothered me a little at first – the jumping back and forth between past and present, the difficulty in distinguishing between events that actually happened versus those imagined by Poppy in her confused state of mind, etc. – this made the story slightly difficult to follow at times. It wasn’t until I finished the book that I realized perhaps the story was structured this way intentionally to better flush out Poppy’s character and her mindset.
Overall, I did like this one, as it was well-written and both the story as well as the characters were interesting, however compared to Unger’s previous book that I had read, I didn’t seem to connect with this one as much. I felt like there was a bit of repetitiveness in some parts which dragged the plot a little, especially in the middle section of the book, to the point that when I actually did have to put the book down in order to attend to personal matters, I didn’t feel the pull of urgently wanting to get back to reading. Perhaps I had different expectations going into this one given that the previous book of hers I had read was so good….or perhaps I’m just burned out with psychological thrillers given how many I’ve read over the past few months. With that said though, I would still recommend this one, as it’s definitely highly readable, but if this is your first time reading a Lisa Unger novel, I would say start with her previous ones first. For me, I still intend on reading her other works, it’s just finding the time to get to them…
Received ARC from Park Row via Edelweiss
Last year, while searching for a book to complete an A to Z Author challenge I was doing, I came across author Lisa Unger’s latest psychological suspense novel The Red Hunter , which ended up being a thrill-ride of a book that I enjoyed from beginning to end and found very difficult to put down. Not surprisingly, when I heard that Unger would have a new book out this year, another psychologicaI suspense thriller entitled Under My Skin , I jumped at the opportunity to read an advance copy.
The story revolves around Poppy Lang, whose husband Jack was brutally murdered a year ago, and even though on the surface it appears that she has moved on with her life, underneath she is actually still traumatized and broken, unable to return to the “normalcy” she had once known. Still haunted by the mysterious circumstances of her husband’s death as well as the few days immediately afterward when she herself disappeared, only to resurface later completely confused with no memory of where she had been or what had happened, Poppy begins to dive deeper and deeper into a life of chaos and confusion. She starts to experience blackouts, moments where she would be lucid one minute but then completely lost the next minute, with things worsening as she dives deeper into a darkness where she is no longer able to distinguish between what is real and what is imaginary. The only thing that keeps her grounded is the insistence on finding out the truth about her husband’s death while also attempting to dig up memories of those lost few days.
This book was a bit of a maze, with quite a few twists and turns as well as a couple red herrings thrown in to mix things up a little. Out of the many books in this particular genre that I’ve read in recent months, I would have to say that this one comes closest to what I would consider a “true” psychological thriller / suspense novel – Poppy’s constantly confused psychological state, the concept of dreams versus reality scattered throughout the story, complex characters who all seemed to have another side to them that no one else is able to see, endless mind games and twists, etc. All of this, coupled with the fact that the narrative is told entirely from Poppy’s first person perspective, lent the story a bit of a chaotic, slightly disjointed feel, which I will admit bothered me a little at first – the jumping back and forth between past and present, the difficulty in distinguishing between events that actually happened versus those imagined by Poppy in her confused state of mind, etc. – this made the story slightly difficult to follow at times. It wasn’t until I finished the book that I realized perhaps the story was structured this way intentionally to better flush out Poppy’s character and her mindset.
Overall, I did like this one, as it was well-written and both the story as well as the characters were interesting, however compared to Unger’s previous book that I had read, I didn’t seem to connect with this one as much. I felt like there was a bit of repetitiveness in some parts which dragged the plot a little, especially in the middle section of the book, to the point that when I actually did have to put the book down in order to attend to personal matters, I didn’t feel the pull of urgently wanting to get back to reading. Perhaps I had different expectations going into this one given that the previous book of hers I had read was so good….or perhaps I’m just burned out with psychological thrillers given how many I’ve read over the past few months. With that said though, I would still recommend this one, as it’s definitely highly readable, but if this is your first time reading a Lisa Unger novel, I would say start with her previous ones first. For me, I still intend on reading her other works, it’s just finding the time to get to them…
Received ARC from Park Row via Edelweiss
August 17, 2018
Under my Skin by Lisa Unger is a psychological thriller about Poppy who's husband Jack is murdered one morning while he is out running.
Poppy is determined to find out who the killer is and why this has happened. Unfortunately she is having nightmares and is taking a lot of pills. She thinks someone is stalking her and she is having blackouts and losing time.
I found this book really confusing and this affected my enjoyment of the book.
I would like to thank NetGalley and HQ for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
Poppy is determined to find out who the killer is and why this has happened. Unfortunately she is having nightmares and is taking a lot of pills. She thinks someone is stalking her and she is having blackouts and losing time.
I found this book really confusing and this affected my enjoyment of the book.
I would like to thank NetGalley and HQ for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
September 10, 2018
So, I've heard nothing but fantastic things about Lisa Unger. I was ecstatic to get my hands on an early arc of Lisa's newest book.
I found myself a tad bit confused in the beginning and had to check couple of times that the characters matched up etc. This became a tad annoying for me and tad tedious. It's a high probability that I may just be a little over psychological thrillers?? haha
Poppy's husband was murdered to a random event as the police have told her. Poppy can't let go of her husband. Unfortunately, Poppy blacked out right after the death of her husband and can't remember anything.
Poppy soon starts having very vivid dreams... where she can't figure out if they're real or dreams. Of course.. Poppy starts being followed by a hooded man.... who is this mysterious man?
Can Poppy pull herself together and figure out what happened to her husband?
This definitely was a twisty thriller that leaves you on the edge of your seat. Overall, I enjoyed but just didn't have that slam of a spark I was looking for in my thrillers. Poppy got on my nerves a tad bit as well.. with her doing some crazy ass stuff!
Huge thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin/Park Row for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest thoughts.
3 stars rounded up!
Published to GR: 9/9/18
Publication date: 10/2/18
I found myself a tad bit confused in the beginning and had to check couple of times that the characters matched up etc. This became a tad annoying for me and tad tedious. It's a high probability that I may just be a little over psychological thrillers?? haha
Poppy's husband was murdered to a random event as the police have told her. Poppy can't let go of her husband. Unfortunately, Poppy blacked out right after the death of her husband and can't remember anything.
Poppy soon starts having very vivid dreams... where she can't figure out if they're real or dreams. Of course.. Poppy starts being followed by a hooded man.... who is this mysterious man?
Can Poppy pull herself together and figure out what happened to her husband?
This definitely was a twisty thriller that leaves you on the edge of your seat. Overall, I enjoyed but just didn't have that slam of a spark I was looking for in my thrillers. Poppy got on my nerves a tad bit as well.. with her doing some crazy ass stuff!
Huge thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin/Park Row for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest thoughts.
3 stars rounded up!
Published to GR: 9/9/18
Publication date: 10/2/18
September 25, 2018
3.5 ⭐️‘s. Haunting suspense with a touch of paranormal! Poppy narrates the story, alternating between past, present, dreams and memories—sometimes unexpectedly. At times I wasn’t sure which of these I was reading, and felt as confused as Poppy! I would have given it a higher rating if some of the transitions were easier to follow. However, when I wasn’t confused, I was totally enthralled by Lisa’s storytelling.
Poppy tells us about her husband’s unsolved murder and the guilt she feels. She keeps reliving that day—thinking about all the “what ifs”. She can’t let go of Jack. She sees him in her dreams and when she’s awake.
She’s still running the business they started together, but she’s never bothered unpacking his belongings after moving into the new apartment. The boxes, with his name on them, are just another reminder of everything she’s lost.
Her best friend—Layla—helped her setup a profile on a dating site and she’s starting to date again...well she wouldn’t exactly call it dating...more like sleeping around.
Her life is a mess...the blackouts and time she can’t account for. There are so many missing pieces—lost days after her breakdown. The vivid dreams that feel like memories—she wakes up confused, in the bathroom of a club, wearing a red dress. Is it real or imagined? She’s not sure what’s happening to her—daydreams, flashbacks or hallucinations—but she keeps seeing Jack, a mystery woman and a hooded stranger following her.
Her nightmares are getting worse. She’s self-medicating with more than just her prescribed sleeping pills...mixing it all with alcohol. She knows it’s getting out of hand, but she longs for dreamless sleep and escape. She’s a wreck and no longer recognizes the woman staring back at her in the mirror.
Thank you NetGalley and Park Row for this ARC, in exchange for my honest review!
#UnderMySkin #NetGalley
Poppy tells us about her husband’s unsolved murder and the guilt she feels. She keeps reliving that day—thinking about all the “what ifs”. She can’t let go of Jack. She sees him in her dreams and when she’s awake.
She’s still running the business they started together, but she’s never bothered unpacking his belongings after moving into the new apartment. The boxes, with his name on them, are just another reminder of everything she’s lost.
Her best friend—Layla—helped her setup a profile on a dating site and she’s starting to date again...well she wouldn’t exactly call it dating...more like sleeping around.
Her life is a mess...the blackouts and time she can’t account for. There are so many missing pieces—lost days after her breakdown. The vivid dreams that feel like memories—she wakes up confused, in the bathroom of a club, wearing a red dress. Is it real or imagined? She’s not sure what’s happening to her—daydreams, flashbacks or hallucinations—but she keeps seeing Jack, a mystery woman and a hooded stranger following her.
Her nightmares are getting worse. She’s self-medicating with more than just her prescribed sleeping pills...mixing it all with alcohol. She knows it’s getting out of hand, but she longs for dreamless sleep and escape. She’s a wreck and no longer recognizes the woman staring back at her in the mirror.
Thank you NetGalley and Park Row for this ARC, in exchange for my honest review!
#UnderMySkin #NetGalley
February 20, 2019
There’s almost always a single germ for each of my novels. A moment, a line of poetry, a news story, a piece of junk mail . What happens next is -- a bit odd. I start to hear a voice, or a couple of voices. And these voices draw me through my narrative. I don’t have an outline. I don’t know who is going to show up each day or what they are going to do. And I certainly don’t know how the book is going to end.
For UNDER MY SKIN, it wasn’t a single moment, as there often is. It was something Carl Jung wrote, a phrase that’s been kicking around in my head for a while:
“Between the dreams of day and night, there is not so great a difference.”
It’s a short sentence, but as with many Jungian quotes there are layers of meaning here. The dreams of day and night – what did he mean by this?
We spend an average of 229,000 hours asleep during our lifetime. That’s more time than we spend eating, working, or driving – more than a third of our lives sleeping and dreaming. Still we’re convinced that our waking life is more real than whatever it is we’re experiencing when we close our eyes at night.
Between those two worlds – the waking and the dreaming worlds – is a doorway called hypnagogia. Maybe you haven’t heard that word before, but you’ve definitely experienced it. It’s the threshold moment where we have those bizarre dreams – we’re falling, or a bear leaps out from the shadows – and we’re startled awake. This connection between the adjacent worlds of waking and dreaming has been a point of wonder for me, as are other states where perception is altered.
For UNDER MY SKIN, it wasn’t a single moment, as there often is. It was something Carl Jung wrote, a phrase that’s been kicking around in my head for a while:
“Between the dreams of day and night, there is not so great a difference.”
It’s a short sentence, but as with many Jungian quotes there are layers of meaning here. The dreams of day and night – what did he mean by this?
We spend an average of 229,000 hours asleep during our lifetime. That’s more time than we spend eating, working, or driving – more than a third of our lives sleeping and dreaming. Still we’re convinced that our waking life is more real than whatever it is we’re experiencing when we close our eyes at night.
Between those two worlds – the waking and the dreaming worlds – is a doorway called hypnagogia. Maybe you haven’t heard that word before, but you’ve definitely experienced it. It’s the threshold moment where we have those bizarre dreams – we’re falling, or a bear leaps out from the shadows – and we’re startled awake. This connection between the adjacent worlds of waking and dreaming has been a point of wonder for me, as are other states where perception is altered.
April 4, 2018
I received a free e-copy of Under My Skin by Lisa Unger from Net Galley for my review.
An exciting and twisty psychological thriller that will keep you reading and wanting more.
An exciting and twisty psychological thriller that will keep you reading and wanting more.
October 7, 2018
A intentional confusing psychological thriller that may just get under your skin
SUMMARY
Poppy‘s husband, Jack, was brutally murdered during a morning run in Manhattan. In the immediate aftermath, Poppy spirals into a dark depression and disappears for several days, only to turn up disheveled and confused wearing a tight red dress she didn’t recognize. She can’t remember where she was or who she was with. She was hospitalized with a nervous breakdown. As her depression continues she is unable to tell the difference between what is real and what she is imagining. She believes a hooded man is following her, she remembers a night club, an a woman covered in blood, but she may be hallucinating. And there may be drugs involved. She is determined to resolve the mystery of her husband’s murder but things are just so confusing.
REVIEW
A psychological thriller that will intentional make you as confused as Poppy feels. The book appears to be a scattered mess. Timelines are confusing, I couldn’t tell what was real, what was imagined, or what was just part of a dream. And then you figure out that it’s an amazing twist on the reader by author Lisa Unger. She wants us to feel Poppy’s confusion. She wants us to know what Poppy felt like. I did feel just as lost and confused as Poppy. Well done, Lisa!
The story, while intentional confusing, keeps you on the edge of your seat with unrelenting tension. The book is filled with many flawed characters who are just perfect for the story. Thanks to Netgalley for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Publisher Park Row
Published October 1, 2018
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com
SUMMARY
Poppy‘s husband, Jack, was brutally murdered during a morning run in Manhattan. In the immediate aftermath, Poppy spirals into a dark depression and disappears for several days, only to turn up disheveled and confused wearing a tight red dress she didn’t recognize. She can’t remember where she was or who she was with. She was hospitalized with a nervous breakdown. As her depression continues she is unable to tell the difference between what is real and what she is imagining. She believes a hooded man is following her, she remembers a night club, an a woman covered in blood, but she may be hallucinating. And there may be drugs involved. She is determined to resolve the mystery of her husband’s murder but things are just so confusing.
REVIEW
A psychological thriller that will intentional make you as confused as Poppy feels. The book appears to be a scattered mess. Timelines are confusing, I couldn’t tell what was real, what was imagined, or what was just part of a dream. And then you figure out that it’s an amazing twist on the reader by author Lisa Unger. She wants us to feel Poppy’s confusion. She wants us to know what Poppy felt like. I did feel just as lost and confused as Poppy. Well done, Lisa!
The story, while intentional confusing, keeps you on the edge of your seat with unrelenting tension. The book is filled with many flawed characters who are just perfect for the story. Thanks to Netgalley for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Publisher Park Row
Published October 1, 2018
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com
December 17, 2018
This was my first time reading a Lisa Unger book and I enjoyed it so much, I'm looking forward to reading some of her other novels. This is a story that had many layers to it and while it had mystery and psychological thriller elements, in all honesty I think it can be labeled best as just a compelling fiction read about a woman dealing with the aftermath of her husband's murder.
There were quite a few things that really held my interest while reading the book. I obviously wanted to find out who murdered the main character's husband but I also needed to know what the heck was going on with Poppy, the wife. At times following the story could be difficult as you weren't always sure at first at what was real or not.
For me the strongest moments of the book dealt with what life is like for someone when their partner is deceased. There was a really good line in the book that stuck with me and to paraphrase it, it was how normally we think of the dead haunting the living, but maybe it's happens the other way too. Maybe we as the living need to learn how to let go so the dead can move on as well. This is one of the reasons why I just found this to be a fascinating look at a woman's grief rather than strictly an edge of your seat thriller.
One criticism I do have is I didn't think the actions of one of the more minor characters in the story was very realistic. I'm trying to be vague here as not to spoil anything but it's like the author decided she had to have this element added to the story and in my opinion it weakened Poppy's overall storyline.
Overall, a good read that I definitely recommend taking a look at.
There were quite a few things that really held my interest while reading the book. I obviously wanted to find out who murdered the main character's husband but I also needed to know what the heck was going on with Poppy, the wife. At times following the story could be difficult as you weren't always sure at first at what was real or not.
For me the strongest moments of the book dealt with what life is like for someone when their partner is deceased. There was a really good line in the book that stuck with me and to paraphrase it, it was how normally we think of the dead haunting the living, but maybe it's happens the other way too. Maybe we as the living need to learn how to let go so the dead can move on as well. This is one of the reasons why I just found this to be a fascinating look at a woman's grief rather than strictly an edge of your seat thriller.
One criticism I do have is I didn't think the actions of one of the more minor characters in the story was very realistic. I'm trying to be vague here as not to spoil anything but it's like the author decided she had to have this element added to the story and in my opinion it weakened Poppy's overall storyline.
Overall, a good read that I definitely recommend taking a look at.
October 11, 2018
Talk about a book that will make your head spin!! I will admit for the first bit I was slightly confused but I think that’s mostly due to the fact the Unger is such a fantastic writer that she just drew me into the tangled web that is Poppy’s life so wholly. Once I caught on I was utterly hooked, and found myself totally caught up and invested in this one.
I haven’t so strongly felt a characters paranoia and unease since The Woman in the Window, I had similar feelings while reading this especially as I could not for the life of me figure out if Poppy was insane or not. She teeters back and forth between seeming mostly sane and then she goes off the rails, she has crazy dreams and has problems separating her dreams from what’s actually happening and I couldn’t begin to figure out what was actually going on and what was part of her delusion. Add in a penchant for popping pills and she was one hot mess but she was sympathetic. She’s deep in the throes of grief and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her even if her decision making skills were severely lacking.
This was just really well executed overall, the writing is top notch and the plot itself was gripping as well. Poppy was extremely well developed and highly complex, love her or hate her she was endlessly fascinating and I couldn’t wait to see how things would play out for her. Fans of Unger will be pleased and new readers will be happy to discover a talented new author.
Under My Skin in three words: Wild, Unnerving and Unreliable.
I haven’t so strongly felt a characters paranoia and unease since The Woman in the Window, I had similar feelings while reading this especially as I could not for the life of me figure out if Poppy was insane or not. She teeters back and forth between seeming mostly sane and then she goes off the rails, she has crazy dreams and has problems separating her dreams from what’s actually happening and I couldn’t begin to figure out what was actually going on and what was part of her delusion. Add in a penchant for popping pills and she was one hot mess but she was sympathetic. She’s deep in the throes of grief and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her even if her decision making skills were severely lacking.
This was just really well executed overall, the writing is top notch and the plot itself was gripping as well. Poppy was extremely well developed and highly complex, love her or hate her she was endlessly fascinating and I couldn’t wait to see how things would play out for her. Fans of Unger will be pleased and new readers will be happy to discover a talented new author.
Under My Skin in three words: Wild, Unnerving and Unreliable.
June 4, 2019
I typically love Lisa Unger's books, but this one was just OK for me. I just feel like it had so much wasted potential.
The premise of the story was great, but it just wasn't executed very well. There was a lot of repetition, and I feel like things were thrown in there to make the reader second guess what was going on, but there was no follow up or reason for it.
I just wanted/expected more. Still a decent book though.
The premise of the story was great, but it just wasn't executed very well. There was a lot of repetition, and I feel like things were thrown in there to make the reader second guess what was going on, but there was no follow up or reason for it.
I just wanted/expected more. Still a decent book though.
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