Skin and Other Stories

"...Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head..." Patrick Maloney was dead. In "Skin" come eleven chilling tales that are sure to keep you hooked from the beginning words right up until the horrifying surprise ending. Roald Dahl (Celebrated children's writer; author of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.") will shock you with his audacious writing in "Skin." Who would guess that Mrs. Maloney, after successfully killing her husband with a frozen leg of lamb, would later feed the only evidence to the police? Or that an avaricious art dealer would stop at nothing, not even an innocent old man's life, to get a painting...that was tattooed on the poor man's back? These wicked tales are sure to keep you open-mouthed with shock through each story, only to leave you rapacious for more once it's finished. Each story begins with a sweet and innocent storyline with what you think an obvious and predictable ending. Only until the last few pages does Roald Dahl drop the bombshell that will blow you away and keep you petrified for days afterward. For example in "the Sound Machine," an ingenious yet nutty inventor creates a machine that reveal terrifying and astonishing sounds unknown to the human ear. And in "The Surgeon," a man's extremely valuable diamond is stolen, only to turn up again in the most unusual of places!! If you enjoy "Skin", I recommend for you "The Umbrella Man" by the same author. This is a rare read; don't pass it up! I can guarantee you'll love and treasure this book forever. Enjoy!

Roald Dahl has always been one of my favorite children's book writers. It wasn;t until I picked up his other stroy collection, the Umbrella man, that I realized he was also a wonderful short story writer. This book is simply fabulous. "Lamb to the Slaughter," "The Surgeon" and the title story were my favorites. Every story also has Dahl's quintessential dark humor, which is something I've always enjoyed in his books. Everyone should read this and the umbrella man and be introduced to another side of roald Dahl.

I absolutely LOVED Skin and The Umbrella Man. EVERY story in thir was FANTASTICAL and I really want to find more of Roald Dahl's writing like this (I have read all of his books that are specifically for children) There has been some controversy in other reviews that some of the elments in these are not quite fitting for a younger audience, but this is the equivilent of Harry Potter with a touch of lemon juice. If your kid loved HP, or some of Roald Dahl's other works, or just has a liking for the unusual and the uncanny, this would be one of my first choices for them.I do not wish to reveal my age.

I absolutely love this book. Roald Dahl is a gripping and suspenseful writer who manages to captivate the reader with a limited amount of gore. The only thing is that this book is listed as young adult, which is probably decided by the publisher, but the subject matter is pretty strong, so parents might want to read it themselves first before giving to their children! I would say 15 or older would enjoy the book, but 11-14 depends on the child.

Roald Dahl is a wonderful short story writer. He introduces all the characters in a very descriptive manner and ends his storys with twists that will make you want to read them over and over agian. I thoroughly enjoyed every one of the stories but when reccommend them to teenagers 13 and above as some of them have a vast range of vocbulary that is sometimes confusing. I would suggest this book to all my friends. It is definitely worth buying! :)