IN THE SKIN OF A MONSTER

What if your identical twin was a murderer?

Three years ago, Alice’s identical twin sister shot seven people in her high school; now Alice wears the face of a killer. She is struggling with her identity, and with life in a small country town, where everyone was touched by the tragedy. Just as she thinks things can’t get much worse, she encounters her sister – the sister she thought dead – on a deserted road. But things aren’t what they seem, and Alice soon discovers that she has stepped into a different reality, where she is trapped with the nightmares of everyone in the community. On her way to acceptance and peace, Alice is forced to confront the true impact of everything that happened the day her twin sister took a gun to school. This cracking YA novel, with its instantly intriguing premise, provides an intense reading experience of just the kind that teenagers seem to crave. As well as providing page-turning action it also explores extreme emotions and conflicted feelings. IN THE SKIN OF A MONSTER is Kathryn Barker’s debut novel, but her writing is amazingly assured, and she handles a difficult topic with aplomb – managing the fine line between showing humanity in the shooter and those around her, but never excusing or glorifying terrible acts. Kathryn has worked in film and television and – as part of a military family – has lived all over the world.