In the Skin of a Monster (Kathryn Barker, A&U)

Kathryn Barker makes her debut with a book that is daring and heartbreaking in its premise. Alice is the twin left behind after her identical sister took a gun to school and killed herself and seven of their classmates. Alice may not have been responsible, but the whole town can’t look at her without seeing the face of the girl that murdered their children. When Alice is sucked into a nightmarish dreamscape, she has to face the town’s fears, and confront her own guilt. This is a complicated book, which gets a bit lost at times. The majority of the narrative takes place in the nightmare town that Alice finds herself in, and the surreal nature of this dreamscape, combined with the hidden motives of the characters, make some moments difficult to follow. On the whole though, Barker manages her characters and the subject well, which can’t have been an easy task. Although some readers may find this close emotional inspection of the aftermath of a school shooting confronting, In the Skin of a Monster offers moments of great insight. This is a brave debut that has the potential to start powerful conversations about the emotional challenges facing young adults.

Bec Kavanagh is a Melbourne writer and reviewer and the schools coordinator for the Stella Prize

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

Category: Reviews