Reviewer: Robyn Roberts
Title: Skin Deep
Author: Jamie Cortland
Publisher: Crystal Dreams Publishing
ISBN-10: 1-59146-097-2
Release Date: 2007
Genre/Sub-genre: Romantic Suspense
Year/Setting: 2003-2004 Arizona and Florida
Overall Rating: 3.5
Sexual Content Rating: Subtle
Language (Profanity/Slang) Rating: Mild
Violent Content Rating: Moderate
Jamie's Website:
www.jamiecortland.com
Evelyn Valentino is still half in love with her super-star ex-husband. While searching for a condo for her and her daughter to live in, Evelyn meets James McMann. James is part owner of some condos and helps Evelyn get one at a price she can afford. Evelyn’s family doesn’t particularly like James and they find something about him ‘not quite right’. In spite of that, he takes Evelyn on a whirlwind courtship and pressures her to marry him.
Once they are married, Evelyn begins to see the man she married as a monster. He’s often delusional and talks to people who aren’t there. He accuses her repeatedly of having an affair and threatens her and the men he suspects. Evelyn can only think about trying to get away. When he turns particularly violent towards her, she struggles to escape his mental torture. Can she ever be free of him, or will she need to watch in the shadows forever?
I think many readers will enjoy this book. Personally, I had a harder time with it because I’ve lived with mentally ill people in my lifetime. This book was a little too real and a little too disturbing for me. It turns out that James is an alcoholic and has a couple mental illnesses. This makes his behavior very erratic and abusive.
While I found it difficult to follow the jumping around from person to person in the beginning, I was able to catch onto the writing style. The first few chapters were a little slow in trying to get through all the information you needed to assimilate. I also was confused about James and what he did and whom he spoke to until I started to realize he was mentally ill.
However, it is a spine-tingling suspense that keeps you reading page after page trying to get to the end. I thought Ms. Cortland did a great job of working the mental illness into the book and creating a very suspenseful read. By the end, you won’t be able to put it down.
Robyn
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