Skin and Bone is Keary's second book in the psychological thriller genre. Her first book in this genre, Three Heart Echo still stands as one my favorite books. While that book has some paranormal aspects in it, I still found the psychological parts extremely intriguing and expected Skin and Bone to hold that same, if not more of, profound feeling. Sadly, it did not. And it kills me to rate a book by Keary less than 3 stars.
The premise for Skin and Bone is quite interesting. A woman so obsessed with a man that she chooses to become the woman he can't get over - her doppelganger in every aspect. But what is even more twisted, she has that woman watch her take over her life day by day.
The Sawyer look-alike truly did her research on EVERYTHING. She left nothing (almost nothing) to chance when she started this process. And as the story progresses, readers learn of everything she went through to take over Sawyer's life at just the right moment. Obsession is never a good trait, but at this level, it could be deadly.
Keary definitely has a strong premise, but unfortunately failed to deliver with a strong plot. I was definitely fascinated by this idea of copy-cat character and wanted to see how everything played out. However, there were quite a few areas that I felt were overlooked or not well developed. The characters were just ok - they were not as well developed as her other books. All of them felt very one-dimensional with a surface-level delivery and hard to connect to. Keary does a great job of building sub-plots up well, but when parts come to fruition, that's where portions of the story derail and the unfolding feels like a deflated balloon. Or certain actions of characters feel unnatural and/or forced, therefore making those particular scenes artificial and hurt the flow of the book.
Skin and Bone had so much promise for me. I feel as though this was a rough draft because I know that Keary can truly deliver an amazing story with characters that stay with you for quite some time. If you truly want to see Keary at her best, read Three Heart Echo - it's been 2 years since that book released and I still remember that story deep in my bones (and I have only read it once). It's that damn good.
I am definitely in the minority on this one and that is ok. If the premise of the book entices you, I urge you to give the book a try. This definitely won't deter from reading anything else she puts out. It just isn't my favorite by her.