Skin Lane

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View books by Neil Bartlett.

Sumptuous as mink.... - Rated
Lovely book; slow yet lyrical and a heart-breaking insight into the life of a gay man living without the freedoms we take so much for granted in this day and age.
Pedantry alert: 13th of January 1967 was a Friday not a Thursday as stated in the book (I know as it was my birth date ;-)

So good! - Rated
I had completely forgotten how beautifully Bartlett writes! After 2 pages of "Skin Lane" I was gripped; the first "here it comes" sent the proverbial shivers up and down my spine. Many a time during the read I had to put the book down, as I couldn't take the tension anymore; at other times, because I didn't want it to end. I have not been so involved with fiction for a very long time.
This book doesn't preach; it tells a story, makes you love and hate both protagonists at equal measures and leaves you with the sense that, if only for a brief time, you got to know someone. On the way, it can scare the living daylights out of you. Brilliant!

Great read for those who know how to take their time - Rated
Beautifully crafted story. All the pieces fall into place like in a Tetris game. The mechanics of the writing matching the mechanics of the main character. A rare book in a very unconventional environment, a story with no sex but so much sexual tension.

millefeuille - Rated
NB's best written work. It demands a patience of the reader which reflects the endurance of it's protagonist.
Wonderfully suspenseful, in an old fashioned, crafted way. Sublimely layered story telling which takes you to the brink so many times...
It is slow and intense, this will keep your attention.

A tense layered psychological thriller - Rated
This stunning novel creates psychological tension, not through the endless shocks and horrors typical of the video generation, but through layer upon layer of authorial craft, slicing and shaving its way to the heart of a man. An unusually incomunicative creepy man.
The result is engaging and tense, intriguing and gripping, in a gentle pervasive way that is far too rare these days.
Read the book. It's weird, it's strange, it's art. And then wait for someone to ruin the film.