Recent Posts

Hi sabryl and welcome to Mo's forum. I hope you have fun on here.

I don't find Mo's work disturbing at all, but can understand why some might be a little squeamish at times, though. It's good to be different, otherwise it would be a dull world, don't you think?

Since I posted above, I've read a Michael Connelly omnibus of his first two Harry Bosch books, The Black Echo and Black Ice. Also Declan Hughes' The Colour Of Blood and I've almost finished Michael Dibdin's Dark Spectre. All good reads, too!

Hi

I am new to this forum and new to Mo Hayders books. I was listening to a radio interview with her some time ago regarding Skin. It sounded really interesting. I first read Pig Island and then started on The Treatment. It has taken me some time to read it but only because when I was about half way through the book I found that fifty or so pages had not been printed!!  I tried desperately to find another copy locally as I was so keen to finish the book. I could not find a copy anywhere even the local library copies were out and reserved for sometime. I finally contacted the publisher and was amazed when they offered to replace the book with a new copy.

So imagine my absolute despair when I finally got to the end.........  I was so desperate for Jack to find Ewan I was so disturbed by the loss of beautiful Smurf not to mention the subject matter but what a brilliant book!!  I somehow have a feeling I will also be haunted for sometime... 

Thank you Mo

Hi Kevin,

Not only do I manage the upkeep of Mo's site but also that of Chris Simms: http://www.chrissimms.info/

I would be more than happy to pass on any comments to Chris regarding his writing if you fancy writing a short review here when you have finished reading Shifting Skin.

Best wishes,
Steve.
Webmaster www.mohayder.net

Goodness, Steve! Me become a book critic/reviewer? Well, I know that I am not nearly as eloquent a reviewer as some on here, but here goes:-

Shifting Skin was a complimemtary book, given out by Robert Crais' publishers at the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival in July 2008. Quite why that is remains a mystery to me, as the writing is of top quality, colloquial in parts and had a real air of authority in terms of knowledge of the local area, both in its physical representation and what goes on behind the doors of the establishments, whether they be true or fictional. The characters were believable, as were the methods of investigation and teamwork of the main protagonist, Spicer, and Saville, his new partner.
The other investigative threads that ran through the book gave a credible insight into the life of a real life detective in an urban setting, who would need to carefully balance where time was spent and how to go about achieving the aims, namely finding and arresting the culprit whilst gathering sufficient evidence that will stand up in court to obtain a conviction.
Whilst I didn't pay for my copy, I enjoyed Shifting Skin sufficiently to buy a copy of Savage Moon, but, having read the Spicer series out of sync., I will have to buy Killing The Beasts and read that before I can move on to Savage Moon.


Steve, please feel free to pass this on to Chris; I will visit his site in due course and look forward to doing so.

I'm reading Fox Evil by Minette Walters. I know it's been out for yonks but I'm really behind in all my 'pleasure reading.' I'm enjoying it and love the way it's unfolding with characters different to how I originally perceived them. Trying to find time to read Peter Temple's The Broken Shore. I've also just finished a Jane R  Goodall book The Visitor which was a little bit creepy. Not quite as disturbing as Fox Evil with all the mutilated animal scenes however.

Brockek's Report by Philipe Claudel. Staggeringly well structured novel concerning the arrival of an outsider in an unspecified village after what was almost certainly the Second World War. Brobeck is a survivor of a concentration camp and it's his duty to complie a report on precisely what happened to the outsider. Brodeck himself is emotionally damaged and the way the novel is narrated - without a conventional linear flow - is a reflection of his tortured thought processes and everything he has witnessed and experienced in the camp and what he regards as his own cowardice and culpability. The prose, translated from the French, soars beatifically, which, coupled with a profound insight into human cruelty and its recurring consequences , is nothing short of masterful. Quite brilliant.

Hi Mo,

I doubt you'll remember me, but I was the 'man in the hat' at the Altricham signing last year and you very kindly gave me advice regarding my own writing. Well, here's the update I promised you: despite things not quite working out for me in the traditional manner, I'm pleased to tell you I am to have a collection of my short stories published by a small press publisher (Screaming Dreams) in 2011. They will be called: Witterings of an Unshackled Dogsbody. Not sure if you'll ever see it on the bookshop shelves (if only...) but I wanted to thank you for telling me to stick at it.

It might not be my novel (yet!) but a result is a result.

And wanted to let you know that I thought Ritual contained some of your best work yet. The research you put into the plot was simply stunning. Loved it so much that I nominated it for the British Fantasy Society Awards in the Best [dark] Novel Category! It might not have won (Graham Joyce walked away with the prize) but such a deliciously claustrophobic novel would have been a worthy winner.

@ Vadigor again: speaking of which, I have since a while entertained the notion that Mo Hayder's oeuvre can be identified as ultimately belonging to the supernatural tradition as exemplified by Arthur Machen: just read his The Novella Of The White Powder, and especially his The Great God Pan (and compare that novel to Pig Island) and you see what I mean.

Although the supernatural never enters her work, there are dark hints silently pointing towards an existence of strange things beyond our existence sprinkled all over her work. This refinement, this having brought down the supernatural element from the overly grotesque (Castle of Otranto) to the hauntingly subliminal formed the ultimate refinement in a long process of maturity in the evolution of the British tale of the Supernatural.

As such, Hayder is a unique writer in that - although her supernatural, or should I say Fortean (and we know that she does mention the austere magazine Fortean Times once in her Pig Island), elements are kept to a bare minimum, it is no more than just a glimpse at the fartherst corner of the eye, she is to my mind working in the finest, most subtle variant of the tradition of the British tale of the Supernatural. Subtle as expressed in the tales of Robert Aickman, perhaps.

regards,

Theo

@ Vadigor: it's nice to see someone undertaking a similar endeavour as I have been doing: to connect Hader's beautiful Tokyo to the works of other authors. Barker had not come to my mind, but I welcome the addition. More than a decade ago I had the opportunity to interview Clive Barker - he was a most courteous person and he had an excellent grasp of the tradition of supernatural fiction (we discussed Arthur Machen and other, even more obscure writers).

I have connected Hayder's Tokyo to the books of William Gibson. I am just re-reading his All Tomorrow's Parties. that book, as well as Pattern Recognition and his Spook Country do connect with Hayder's title on a deeper level. It is as if they are part of the same universe. But come to think of it, China Mieville's Perdido Street Station has something in common with Barker and Hayder; all three have an unusual and highly innovative take on those creatures that are not to be on this side. Perhaps that is the connection with Gibson, although he finds these aspects in human beings.

regards,

Theo 

Hi Kevin,

Not only do I manage the upkeep of Mo's site but also that of Chris Simms: http://www.chrissimms.info/

I would be more than happy to pass on any comments to Chris regarding his writing if you fancy writing a short review here when you have finished reading Shifting Skin.

Best wishes,
Steve.
Webmaster www.mohayder.net