The blurb:The streets of Philadelphia are blistering in the summer heat, the homicide rate is soaring and the nights belong to the mad. Detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano are prowling the streets with a growing sense of unease. Where next will evil rear its ugly head?When a series of seemingly unrelated crimes shatter the restless silence of the city, their worst fears are confirmed. A beautiful secretary is slashed to death in a grimy motel shower. A street hustler brutally murdered with a chainsaw. Piece by piece, a strange and sickening puzzle presents itself: someone is meticulously recreating Hollywood's most well-known and horrifying murder scenes, capturing them on film and inserting the clips into videos - for an unsuspecting public to find.While Kevin Byrne begins furtive investigations of his own, Jessica Balzano goes undercover to work the steaming back alleys of Philadelphia, entering a violent world of underground film, pornography and seedy nightclubs, hidden to all but the initiated. Discovering that none of The Actor's victims are as innocent as they appear to be, the two detectives arrive at a terrifying reality: They are not just chasing a homicide suspect. They are stalking evil itself ...The review:He had me at Psycho. Any self-respecting horror fan would say the same. And that’s the thing about Richard Montanari’s writing: although aiming for the crime section of the book store, there have been times when he’s felt more like a horror writer, or frustrated horror writer, at the very least. His clipped and colloquial prose, the sharp yet subtle character development; it’s all reminiscent of early Stephen King. And that’s a good thing in my book. With THE SKIN GODS, Byrne and Balzano’s second outing, Montanari sticks pretty much to the formula established within THE ROSARY GIRLS: maverick cop Kevin Byrne is as dodgy as ever, much of the plot dealing with yet another fine mess he’s got himself into, and a subsequent vigilante outing. Meanwhile his partner Jessica Balzano, still fresh to the job and mostly toeing the line, is balancing her role as a mother and struggling to deal with a recent separation. The humanising of his protagonists makes Montanari’s storytelling all the more effective, this series as character driven as it is plot driven. But the plot doesn’t suffer, the mystery at its key every bit as engaging as that of THE ROSARY GIRLS. Montanari’s the master of the red herring, sending Philadelphia’s finest on many a wild goose chase, our killer as resourceful and cunning as they come. The payoff is brilliant, mind, weaving together various subplots into the main thrust of the story with ease. Richard Montanari is quickly becoming my favourite crime writer working today. With Byrne and Balzano, he’s got the perfect duo, their own personal stories being a major hook to this series. A frustrated horror hack he may be, but that in no way takes away from how awesome a crime writer he is. This is genre fiction at its very best.Originally posted at: http://crimesceneni.blogspot.co.uk/20...
I have read a number of Richard Montanari books, but as always, not in the right order. The Skin Gods is the second in the Balzano and Byrne series, and kicks off with a murder being spliced into a video tape of Psycho. Already this setup dates the book as nowadays this crime would be uploaded to YouTube and viral within minutes.I enjoy both leads, especially when Balzano goes undercover, but for me, this novel was a bit too convoluted, a bit stretched out, with too many names to remember. It was hard to keep track of which body belonged to which victim and how they were related/knew each other. It also really surprised me that the author was so disgusted by the fact that porn stars exist. He damned them outright. While I'm not saying that it's my cup of tea, I'm a firm believer in each to their own. People can do whatever they like in the bedroom. Overall, a good premise, but the story line and plot didn't live up to it. I'll probably read more of Montanari's work but it would be nice, if for once it wasn't a serial killer terrorising the streets of Philadelphia. If it happened this often, nobody would live there.
What do You think about The Skin Gods (2006)?
OOOH...creepy. Great plot, great characters,a whodunnit that ambushed me. What more could a mystery buff wish for? The continuing detective characters are so likable and so human that one has no problem suspending their belief in their existence. This is my second work by Montinari and I have already ordered the third and fourth. That's how convinced I am in their continued appeal. They are grim and graphic, not for the faint of heart, but if you have the stomach for realism, have at it! I am pretty sure you'll be back for more. Just a word to the wise...read them in order, there are continuing plot lines which won't make sense otherwise.
—Susan Leary
Okay that's it, I'm 2/3s in and I just can't take it anymore. Montanari's writing is just BAD. I wasn't being catty when I said he writes like me at 16, he literally does! The over-descriptiveness, the weird awkward emo stuff that is meant to be deep... Actually, I think he's a lot WORSE than me at 16. The main female character has yet to have A SINGLE SCENE where she doesn't find some excuse to ponder how her life is basically over because she's now OVER 30 and thus practically dead. And just... I can't be bothered anymore. It's too bad to try. The story idea was cool, a killer filming his crimes in the style of cult movies, and it was kinda fun guessing which movie he was doing at any given crime, but the writing is just too terrible to go on.
—Katharina
A series of thriller movies had been spliced up and replaced with actual murders. Dubbed as The Actor, the serial killer seemed as if he's picking up his victims randomly. Detectives Jessica Balzano and Kevin Byrned must find out the connection between the murders and find the true identity of the killer before his killing spree takes a chilling turn.The Skin Gods is the second installment of Richard Montanari's Balazano and Byrne Series and just like in The Rosary Girls, Montanari takes his readers into fast paced thriller with a lot of red herrings in between.I still think that the chemistry between Byrne and Balzano is still lacking. As the story progresses, I nearly forgot that they were supposed to be partners because their interactions are limited and it lacked depth. The reveal of the true identity of The Actor felt forced too. Montanari wasn't able to plant the clue in the first act of the book, hence, the feeling that the reveal was too sudden and it lacked the clues leading to the reveal.Despite these, I still enjoyed reading The Skin Gods. I'm still looking forward into reading the rest of the series.
—Jen Suguitan
