What do you think?
Rate this book
The City Under the Skin
A cartographic thriller with so many twists and turns it requires its own map.
A cartography-obsessed misfit clerk from an antique map store in a district that's not quite trendy yet. A bold young woman chasing the answer to a question she can't quite formulate. A petty criminal hoping the parking lot he's just purchased is the ticket to a new life of respectability with his school-age daughter. A ruthless but vulnerable killer and his disgruntled accomplice. In The City Under the Skin, it's not fate that will bind these characters together but something more concrete and sinister: the appearance of a group of mysterious women, their backs crudely and extensively tattooed with maps.
They have been kidnapped, marked, and released, otherwise unharmed. When one turns up on the doorstep of the map shop and abruptly bares her back, only to be hustled away by a man in a beat-up blue Cadillac, it's the misfit clerk Zak, pushed by his curious new friend Marilyn, who finds himself reluctantly entering a criminal underworld whose existence he'd prefer to ignore.
In this haunting literary thriller, Geoff Nicholson paints a deft portrait of a city in transition. His sharply drawn characters are people desperate to know where they are but scared of being truly seen. A meditation on obsession and revenge, a hymn to the joys of urban exploration, The City Under the Skin is a wholly original novel about the indelible scars we both live with and inflict on others.
A cartography-obsessed misfit clerk from an antique map store in a district that's not quite trendy yet. A bold young woman chasing the answer to a question she can't quite formulate. A petty criminal hoping the parking lot he's just purchased is the ticket to a new life of respectability with his school-age daughter. A ruthless but vulnerable killer and his disgruntled accomplice. In The City Under the Skin, it's not fate that will bind these characters together but something more concrete and sinister: the appearance of a group of mysterious women, their backs crudely and extensively tattooed with maps.
They have been kidnapped, marked, and released, otherwise unharmed. When one turns up on the doorstep of the map shop and abruptly bares her back, only to be hustled away by a man in a beat-up blue Cadillac, it's the misfit clerk Zak, pushed by his curious new friend Marilyn, who finds himself reluctantly entering a criminal underworld whose existence he'd prefer to ignore.
In this haunting literary thriller, Geoff Nicholson paints a deft portrait of a city in transition. His sharply drawn characters are people desperate to know where they are but scared of being truly seen. A meditation on obsession and revenge, a hymn to the joys of urban exploration, The City Under the Skin is a wholly original novel about the indelible scars we both live with and inflict on others.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
18 people are currently reading
484 people want to read
About the author
Geoff Nicholson
49 books55 followersGeoff Nicholson was a British novelist and nonfiction writer. He was educated at the Universities of Cambridge and Essex.
The main themes and features of his books include leading characters with obsessions, characters with quirky views on life, interweaving storylines and hidden subcultures and societies. His books usually contain a lot of black humour. He has also written three works of nonfiction and some short stories. His novel Bleeding London was shortlisted for the 1997 Whitbread Prize.
The main themes and features of his books include leading characters with obsessions, characters with quirky views on life, interweaving storylines and hidden subcultures and societies. His books usually contain a lot of black humour. He has also written three works of nonfiction and some short stories. His novel Bleeding London was shortlisted for the 1997 Whitbread Prize.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
July 13, 2018
So slow almost as if there wasn't any progress, couldn't keep up with the storyline because of short chapters,the plot was unique but nothing special about the book.no information about characters like age,height even full names. Too long and boring
I had to take a nap after like every chapter ...
I had to take a nap after like every chapter ...
September 8, 2014
What a snappy little thriller containing old-school mystery elements. The book takes place in an unnamed urban environment that has all the big city trappings including grumbling about gentrification. The story is centered around maps. If you never had an interest in cartography, this book just might change your mind.
Someone is abducting women and tattooing maps on their backs. Why are they doing it? Who is doing it? What do the maps lead to? All questions not just you the reader but some of the characters in the story are asking.
Map nerd Zak works at an antique map store, Utopiates, owned by a sleazy developer who's into maps for kicks. Zak's low key but he ends up witnessing one of the mapped up girls being taken into custody, if you will, by Billy Moore. Zak is not alone, Marilyn, a young hipster kinda girl sees it too and they team up to see what the hell is going on. Billy Moore, with a sketch past, is trying to get his act together and out of the violence business to take care of his daughter Carla. He doesn't get too far before he is asked to work for Wrobleski. That name alone suggests wrong doing and I'm not sure why. Wrobleski is trouble and he's very interested in these mapped up girls. Put it all together, throw in some witty repartee and a number of girls with sassy attitudes and you've got yourself a solid mystery thriller on your hands.
Someone is abducting women and tattooing maps on their backs. Why are they doing it? Who is doing it? What do the maps lead to? All questions not just you the reader but some of the characters in the story are asking.
Map nerd Zak works at an antique map store, Utopiates, owned by a sleazy developer who's into maps for kicks. Zak's low key but he ends up witnessing one of the mapped up girls being taken into custody, if you will, by Billy Moore. Zak is not alone, Marilyn, a young hipster kinda girl sees it too and they team up to see what the hell is going on. Billy Moore, with a sketch past, is trying to get his act together and out of the violence business to take care of his daughter Carla. He doesn't get too far before he is asked to work for Wrobleski. That name alone suggests wrong doing and I'm not sure why. Wrobleski is trouble and he's very interested in these mapped up girls. Put it all together, throw in some witty repartee and a number of girls with sassy attitudes and you've got yourself a solid mystery thriller on your hands.
July 7, 2016
Kitabın sonunu daha güzel bağlayabilirmiş. Biraz sıradan olmuş.
October 14, 2022
A book that was interesting because of the different setting, an unusual plot.
But to me it was not as compelling as I expected based on the blurp on the back cover.
But to me it was not as compelling as I expected based on the blurp on the back cover.
July 9, 2014
This book is horrible!
March 29, 2016
Bad writing. Stupid story.
February 21, 2019
Kitap düşündüğümden akıcı olduğundan, beklediğimden çabuk bitse de bana göre yeterli bir kitap değildi. Evet, ön yargılıydım ama biraz okuduktan sonra bu yargı ortadan kalktı ama yine de kitaba karşı elime alma isteksizliği yaşadım ama elime aldığımda da gayet iyi okuyordum. Karmaşık bir durumdu benim için. Kitapta bir şeyler eksikti, okurken önümde bir duvar var gibiydi; okuyorum ama çok az bir şey hissediyorum, olaylar çok az yeterli geliyor gibi falan.
Birkaç kadın, sırtlarına zorla yapılan harita içerikli dövmeler ve bu dövmelerin içerdiği gizli anlamlar... Zak, harita dükkanın önünde şahit olduğu sırtı haritalı bir kadının götürülmesi ve sonrasında ortaya çıkan Marilyn adındaki ilgi çekici kadınla, bu olayların içine isteksizce çekilmesi...
.
Kitap da bir durum vardı, eminim ki yazar o konuda bizi şaşırtmayı amaçlamıştı ama ben, şaşırmadım; çünkü tahmin etmiştim ama üzerinde de durmamıştım. Kitaba kötü bir adam olarak Wrobleski karakterini ayarlamışlar ama okurken öyle hissetmedim. Kitaptan ister istemez daha farklı bir şeyler de bekledim sanırım, bilmiyorum. Her karakterde belli bir kayıtsızlık vardı, belki de bu da bir okuyucu olarak beni de etkiledi, bende o kayıtsızlıkla okuyuverdim. Net bir şekilde beğenmedim, diyemesem de; beğendim de diyemiyorum. Yetersizdi.
Birkaç kadın, sırtlarına zorla yapılan harita içerikli dövmeler ve bu dövmelerin içerdiği gizli anlamlar... Zak, harita dükkanın önünde şahit olduğu sırtı haritalı bir kadının götürülmesi ve sonrasında ortaya çıkan Marilyn adındaki ilgi çekici kadınla, bu olayların içine isteksizce çekilmesi...
.
Kitap da bir durum vardı, eminim ki yazar o konuda bizi şaşırtmayı amaçlamıştı ama ben, şaşırmadım; çünkü tahmin etmiştim ama üzerinde de durmamıştım. Kitaba kötü bir adam olarak Wrobleski karakterini ayarlamışlar ama okurken öyle hissetmedim. Kitaptan ister istemez daha farklı bir şeyler de bekledim sanırım, bilmiyorum. Her karakterde belli bir kayıtsızlık vardı, belki de bu da bir okuyucu olarak beni de etkiledi, bende o kayıtsızlıkla okuyuverdim. Net bir şekilde beğenmedim, diyemesem de; beğendim de diyemiyorum. Yetersizdi.
March 21, 2017
Ik hoop dat mijn mening anders was geweest als ik het boek in de oorspronkelijke taal had gelezen...
Het was geen slecht boek. Het las makkelijk weg, was vermakelijk en niet al te voorspelbaar.
Maar spectaculair was het allerminst. Er was een immense opbouw, een kort maar krachtig 'hoogtepunt'. En toen kwam de afsluiting, de clue en de oplossing. In voor mijn gevoel niet meer dan 3 zinnen. "Die heeft dit gedaan, die heeft dat gedaan, hij bekent dit, zij bekent dat en zo loopt het af." Niet erg bevredigend. Alsof de schrijver er geen zin meer had nu het spannendste deel over was.
Ook de humor voelde erg geforceerd. Alsof men dacht 'nu is het wel tijd voor een grap'. Ik begrijp dat het onder ogen komen van een crimineel het ideale moment is, voor een sociaal onvaardig karakter, om sarcastische grappen te maken... Maar de hoeveelheid was niet erg realistisch en voelde dus erg geforceerd aan.
Het was geen slecht boek. Het las makkelijk weg, was vermakelijk en niet al te voorspelbaar.
Maar spectaculair was het allerminst. Er was een immense opbouw, een kort maar krachtig 'hoogtepunt'. En toen kwam de afsluiting, de clue en de oplossing. In voor mijn gevoel niet meer dan 3 zinnen. "Die heeft dit gedaan, die heeft dat gedaan, hij bekent dit, zij bekent dat en zo loopt het af." Niet erg bevredigend. Alsof de schrijver er geen zin meer had nu het spannendste deel over was.
Ook de humor voelde erg geforceerd. Alsof men dacht 'nu is het wel tijd voor een grap'. Ik begrijp dat het onder ogen komen van een crimineel het ideale moment is, voor een sociaal onvaardig karakter, om sarcastische grappen te maken... Maar de hoeveelheid was niet erg realistisch en voelde dus erg geforceerd aan.
July 20, 2018
Probably a solid 2 1/2 stars. It's well written, at the sentence level, and it's a quick paced, which is good, because I don't know how much of this I could've really handled. It's not awful, but it's not wonderful either. It reminded me a little of old Scooby-doo shows. Everything is spooky and weird and then wrapped up quickly and easily without any question left over. (For the most part.)
Short review for a pretty straightforward book.
Too be honest, I just thought the cover looked cool, and the idea was intriguing. And that's about all the more you get out of it.
Short review for a pretty straightforward book.
Too be honest, I just thought the cover looked cool, and the idea was intriguing. And that's about all the more you get out of it.
August 24, 2019
The story "The City Under the Skin" was a great read. It was a great plot with interesting outcomes, but there were some aspects that needed some work. while the story was interesting and intriguing it the way it was written caused some confusion. If the story was written with more structure to help the reader follow the story than I would have given the story 5-star rating. while the plot and events to follow are an important part of the book. The writing plays a big part in the reader opening the book.
March 9, 2019
Yabancı yazarların aksiyon romanlarını okumayalı epey oldu sanırım, özlemişim çünkü. Bir oturuşta okunan akıcı bir dile ve merakı cezbeden bir olay örgüsüne sahip olmasıyla türevlerinden ayrılmış. Konu seçimi özgün ama daha iyi işlenebilirdi gibi geliyor bana. Yine de hoştu, çocukluğunuzun dizisine/filmine televizyonda denk gelip izlemekten kendinizi alamazsınız ya hani, işte öyle bir his bıraktı bende. Bu türdeki kitaplar arasında bir seçim yapmakta zorlanıyorsanız, tavsiye ederim. =)
May 18, 2021
Creepy themes, deftly told with a touch that is light without trivialising the victims' plights. Some of the writing really stood out a being a well-crafted set of words, which doesn't always happen to me even with books I would rate higher overall. There were some delightfully witty moments, and plenty of questions to keep me wanting to read on. I would happily try something else by this author.
April 19, 2023
Overall it was a good book. The end was a surprise but not a huge shocker. It did kind of feel like the author kind of rushed the ending and didn't give the complete answer to "why" everything happened. This book book was different than anything else I usually read but I'm glad I read it.
February 15, 2018
Sonu gerçekten tahmin ettiğim gibi çıkmadı ve bu hoşuma giden bir şeydir.
March 29, 2018
yazarın ilk defa kitabını okudum ve akıcı bir dili var. olaylar hızlı ilerliyor ama sonu kitabın konusuna ve akıcılığına göre tatmin edici gelmedi.
July 23, 2018
Op zich een prima verhaal. Niet veel diepgang, wel vermakelijk voor de vakantie.
September 22, 2018
Surukleyici bir kitap.
September 1, 2019
Very quick read, entertaining, but ultimately unsatisfying — with a quick and disappointing climax.
June 3, 2021
What began as a sharp little thriller fizzles out in the last chapter
July 25, 2021
DNF - wanted to feel invested but the story dragged too much
October 25, 2021
Yavaş ilerlemesine rağmen güzel bir konu
April 19, 2023
3.5 stars
December 9, 2024
A little slow at times & somewhat predictable. Decent read
April 8, 2025
Not the worst I've read. Interesting premise. Goofy group of fun characters and it does move along. Too bad the book just sort of stops with no resolution for many of the main characters.
November 23, 2014
The flap copy of this book calls it a "haunting literary thriller" that's a "deft portrait of a city in transition" and "a hymn to the joys of urban exploration." It has moments of being all those things, but I'd say it's mostly a thriller, which isn't a genre I really read. Maybe that means I'm not the ideal audience for this book: maybe Nicholson is playing with conventions of that genre here, and maybe the way he plays with them adds to the reading experience. I don't know: I wasn't totally won over. The book opens with a murder, with a hit-man named Wrobleski killing a well-dressed older man in a parking garage. In the next chapter, we meet Billy Moore, a criminal trying to leave crime behind him so he can keep custody of his twelve-year-old daughter. In chapter three, a woman is kidnapped, tattooed, and then returned to the spot where she was taken. These threads come together as the book proceeds: Wrobleski and the murders he commits (or doesn't), Billy's inability to turn down a job offer from Wrobleski, despite the fact that he's supposed to be going straight, and a number of women, all kidnapped and tattooed the same way as the first. And then there's Zak, a map-nerd who works in a store that sells antique maps, and Marilyn, a photographer/squatter/city-explorer who Zak quickly falls for. There's more violence in this book than in most books I read, but there's humor, too: an early scene with Billy and his daughter Carla and a social worker is hilarious/excellent. But I wanted this book to be something different than what it was: the city, with a few exceptions, felt frustratingly vague. It's "a big mess," "in the process of being simultaneously built and unbuilt, reshaped and made formless," (37) but I wanted to see concrete examples of that—there are a few, in the form of a crumbling 1960s hotel (where Marilyn squats) and the juxtaposition of an abandoned subway station/construction of a new subway line, but I wanted more.
January 17, 2015
Goddammit. I wanted so badly to like this book.
Stumbled across Geoff Nicholson in an issue of Black Clock, and was blown away by the precision of his prose and excellence of his description. Hungrily searched for him in used book stores. Finally found this new, with a glowing review by my one true literary love Steve Erickson on the back. Purchased! Yeah!
Unfortunately: Erickson's blurb was by far the best thing about this book.
Sometimes you gotta disagree with people you respect -- and this is one of those times. This book is completely unremarkable. There is nothing original or particularly interesting about it, thematically or narratively. The characters are flat, but in that way where the author is trying to make them nice and fleshed out and round, but fails because they're such stereotypes and cliches. The premise is the best part -- maps tattooed onto young women's backs hastily and forcedly -- but the payoff is terribly unsatisfying.
Most frustrating is the fact that it could have been so good. All the little threads of plot, tied together in different ways, might have made a brilliant novel (one which, I fangirlingly think, would have been right up Erickson's alley). And I haven't given up on Nicholson -- his prose is still pretty solid, though none of this novel is an exactly amazing example thereof.
By no means did I hate this book, but. I picked it up in hopes of using it as a book-club-esque novel with my cousin who's living in Scotland right now -- and I was willing to use a not-so-great book, as long as there was something I could say about it; something it inspired. The City Under the Skin is a bit too non-descript for that purpose, and consequently, underwhelming. Too bad cause now I gotta find something else. MAYBE ANOTHER NICHOLSON: I haven't given up hope!
Stumbled across Geoff Nicholson in an issue of Black Clock, and was blown away by the precision of his prose and excellence of his description. Hungrily searched for him in used book stores. Finally found this new, with a glowing review by my one true literary love Steve Erickson on the back. Purchased! Yeah!
Unfortunately: Erickson's blurb was by far the best thing about this book.
Sometimes you gotta disagree with people you respect -- and this is one of those times. This book is completely unremarkable. There is nothing original or particularly interesting about it, thematically or narratively. The characters are flat, but in that way where the author is trying to make them nice and fleshed out and round, but fails because they're such stereotypes and cliches. The premise is the best part -- maps tattooed onto young women's backs hastily and forcedly -- but the payoff is terribly unsatisfying.
Most frustrating is the fact that it could have been so good. All the little threads of plot, tied together in different ways, might have made a brilliant novel (one which, I fangirlingly think, would have been right up Erickson's alley). And I haven't given up on Nicholson -- his prose is still pretty solid, though none of this novel is an exactly amazing example thereof.
By no means did I hate this book, but. I picked it up in hopes of using it as a book-club-esque novel with my cousin who's living in Scotland right now -- and I was willing to use a not-so-great book, as long as there was something I could say about it; something it inspired. The City Under the Skin is a bit too non-descript for that purpose, and consequently, underwhelming. Too bad cause now I gotta find something else. MAYBE ANOTHER NICHOLSON: I haven't given up hope!
February 1, 2016
Meneer Wrobleksi leeft aan de rand van de stad in een groot verlaten industriëel pand waar hij ruimte heeft voor zijn passie: hij heeft iets met landkaarten.
Zak is verkoper in een winkel waar men kaarten verkoopt, wegenkaarten, landkaarten, kortom alles wat met cartografie te maken heeft. De winkel draait niet goed, maar daar heeft de eigenaar precies geen probleem mee. Zak verveelt zich en staart veel naar buiten. Op een dag ziet hij hoe een vrouw ontvoert wordt in een Cadilac. Maar niet voordat Zak de rug van de vrouw gezien heeft, die is volledig getatoeëerd met een landkaart. Zak denkt er het zijne van maar heeft niet de intensie zich ermee te bemoeien. Hij is echter niet de enige die de ontvoering gezien heeft, ook Marylin heeft het gezien en die wil het zo niet laten. Ontvoering is toch een misdrijf of niet.
Dan is er nog Billy Moore. Billy is een beetje een crimineel, niet erg en rijdt in een Cadilac. Hij baat een parking uit en woont zelf samen met zijn dochter in een caravan aan de rand van de parking. Zijn dochter heeft een huidaandoening.
Ergens komen al deze mensen bij elkaar. Het is een zoektocht naar wat er nu eigenlijk aan de hand is met die vrouw met de getatoeëerde rug, vrouwen moet ik zeggen.
Het boek is niet echt heel spannend, het is eerder een vreemd verhaal met droge humor.
Zak is verkoper in een winkel waar men kaarten verkoopt, wegenkaarten, landkaarten, kortom alles wat met cartografie te maken heeft. De winkel draait niet goed, maar daar heeft de eigenaar precies geen probleem mee. Zak verveelt zich en staart veel naar buiten. Op een dag ziet hij hoe een vrouw ontvoert wordt in een Cadilac. Maar niet voordat Zak de rug van de vrouw gezien heeft, die is volledig getatoeëerd met een landkaart. Zak denkt er het zijne van maar heeft niet de intensie zich ermee te bemoeien. Hij is echter niet de enige die de ontvoering gezien heeft, ook Marylin heeft het gezien en die wil het zo niet laten. Ontvoering is toch een misdrijf of niet.
Dan is er nog Billy Moore. Billy is een beetje een crimineel, niet erg en rijdt in een Cadilac. Hij baat een parking uit en woont zelf samen met zijn dochter in een caravan aan de rand van de parking. Zijn dochter heeft een huidaandoening.
Ergens komen al deze mensen bij elkaar. Het is een zoektocht naar wat er nu eigenlijk aan de hand is met die vrouw met de getatoeëerde rug, vrouwen moet ik zeggen.
Het boek is niet echt heel spannend, het is eerder een vreemd verhaal met droge humor.
May 7, 2015
Een cover die meteen wat over het verhaal vertelt; een blote rug van een vrouw waar een plattegrond op te zien is. Maar waarvan?
'Stad van inkt' is een thriller die anders is dan thrillers die ik gewend ben te lezen, het is geen actiethriller maar een boeiende 'langzame', enigszins amusante thriller. Wat me vooral opviel was de droge humor die de auteur hanteert.
Korte hoofdstukken bestaande uit verschillende verhaallijnen, zorgen voor een afwisseling die nodig is in het verhaal.
Ondanks dat ik al vrij snel wist hoe de ontknoping zou zijn bleef het verhaal me boeien omdat ik steeds meer wilde weten. Deze verwachte ontknoping is een minpuntje.
De personages worden goed uitgewerkt, maar niet allemaal even vanzelfsprekend. Ze passen goed in het verhaal waardoor het gemakkelijk blijft doorlezen.
Droge, vaak intelligente dialogen zorgen voor nog meer leesplezier;
'U hebt van me gehoord.'
'Ja, maar ik dacht dat u niet meer was dan een akelig gerucht.'
'Was het maar waar'
'En u komt me vermoorden?'.
Ik waardeer dit boek met 3,5/5 sterren.
'Stad van inkt' is een thriller die anders is dan thrillers die ik gewend ben te lezen, het is geen actiethriller maar een boeiende 'langzame', enigszins amusante thriller. Wat me vooral opviel was de droge humor die de auteur hanteert.
Korte hoofdstukken bestaande uit verschillende verhaallijnen, zorgen voor een afwisseling die nodig is in het verhaal.
Ondanks dat ik al vrij snel wist hoe de ontknoping zou zijn bleef het verhaal me boeien omdat ik steeds meer wilde weten. Deze verwachte ontknoping is een minpuntje.
De personages worden goed uitgewerkt, maar niet allemaal even vanzelfsprekend. Ze passen goed in het verhaal waardoor het gemakkelijk blijft doorlezen.
Droge, vaak intelligente dialogen zorgen voor nog meer leesplezier;
'U hebt van me gehoord.'
'Ja, maar ik dacht dat u niet meer was dan een akelig gerucht.'
'Was het maar waar'
'En u komt me vermoorden?'.
Ik waardeer dit boek met 3,5/5 sterren.
February 17, 2015
The book follows Zak Webster, map store clerk, map aficionado, urban explorer and Marilyn Driscoll, self-sufficient and a touch kinky, as they unravel the mystery of why women have been randomly abducted to have what appears to be a crude map tattooed on their backs. Along the way, they have run-ins with strong-arm Billy Moore, who is raising a smart and smart-mouthed daughter with dermographia, Wrobleski, a killer with a passion for maps, and Ray McKinley, killer real estate developer and puppet master in the unnamed decaying city.
But it's Nicholson's short, staccato-rhythmed sentences that make the book. Not only does he use them to inject dry humor into the story of abduction and murder, he uses them to drive the story, and the reader, ever forward by the sheer brilliance of his style.
If you're looking for a really good diversion, one filled with mysteries and quiet laughs, you'll do no better than The City Under the Skin.
But it's Nicholson's short, staccato-rhythmed sentences that make the book. Not only does he use them to inject dry humor into the story of abduction and murder, he uses them to drive the story, and the reader, ever forward by the sheer brilliance of his style.
If you're looking for a really good diversion, one filled with mysteries and quiet laughs, you'll do no better than The City Under the Skin.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews