Albert Sánchez Piñol

A nice read. Cold Skin is a refreshing if somewhat disturbing venture into the highs and lows of utter and absolute loneliness. Two men. More alike than not stranded on an island in a remote part of the Antarctic hash out their loves, fears and hostility towards a world that seemingly does not want them. As if the horrors of isolation were not enough, Mother Nature decides to throw in her own two cents by besetting these men with attacks from strange creatures from the depths of a cold and gray ocean. How they react to each other, their visitors and their environment is only the start of their problems. Cold Skin is very well written and pieced together. The writer decided to keep the story short and keep it devoid of any filler. But with his writing style he could have made this book a thousand pages and it would have been just as good. I am willing to think that Pinol has stacks of unpublished sections that he either did not want in the story or was taken out by the editors. What a thrill that would be to read. Cold Skin is a highly recommended novel. The movie is excellent as well.… (more)

Being a novella in which a man is dropped off by a tramp steamer at an island in the Southern Ocean to serve as a weather observer for a year, only to find that said island is infested with monsters and that the only other resident thereon, the lighthouse keeper, is a surly sociopath. The book has some roots in the horror genre, but for most of its length reminded me of a kooked out Swiss Family Robinson as the two characters dreamed up ever-new tactics and DIY weaponry to fortify their lighthouse redoubt against their otherworldly nemeses, but towards the end the book turns its attention a bit more toward the bigger topics of war and xenophobia. Didn't love it, didn't hate it.… (more)