Second Look

It can take quite a while to get through an audiobook these days, what with the "not really ever going anywhere" and all. But there are some more manageable, short novellas that suit the times. But some are better than others.

Take Second Skin, by Christian White. Explaining the story unfortunately requires giving away at least an hour of the four-and-a-half hour total running time... but you have to be sold on it in the first place, of course. Grieving widower Stan meets nine-year-old Erin, who claims to be the reincarnation of his late wife. And if she's to be believed, the circumstances the death of Stan's wife are not what they seemed.

It's a tantalizing little premise, a sort of mystery-thriller with a supernatural angle. This shorter novella package seems to be about the right size too; the ramp up into the idea is brisk and fun, and you aren't made to wait too long between plot revelations. But if it's a clever idea, and a slightly less compelling narrative, the writing itself is rather poor.

The story features a nine-year-old girl as a major character, but the author doesn't seem to have a very realistic grasp on children and age-appropriate behavior. Erin feels like an early teenager, not innocent enough (even given her unusual circumstances) for who the book says she is. And once you begin to question that bit of logic, you quickly notice plenty of other minor details in the story that don't make sense.

Narrator Ellen Archer does a commendable job of keeping the doubts at bay and keeping you engaged in the story. With clever performances for each major character in the story, and a good sense of how to inject tension and make the story more of a thriller, she is the element that kept me engaged and eager to know the ending.

Then I reached that ending, and it's a pretty bad one. Well, maybe not "bad," but ridiculous. The mystery has a surprising twist. That the logic of it is shaky (to put it charitably) should probably have been expected after all the other holes in the story to that point.

I'd give the Second Skin -- the story itself -- a C. Perhaps the overall experience of listening to it might have been as high as a B-, thanks to that skilled narration I mentioned. Still, there are better audiobook choices out there, even among freebies you can snag from Audible.