I love Lisa Unger novels, and this one did not disappoint . I stayed up reading it all night long. Lisa has become one of my favorites.

“From New York Times bestselling author and master of suspense Lisa Unger comes an addictive psychological thriller about a woman on the hunt for her husband’s killer”

“Under the Skin” by Lisa Unger is a novel of psychological suspense about a photographer named Poppy Montgomery who is searching for answers of her husband’s seemingly random and senseless murder.

I had a hard time putting this book down and enjoyed the unexpected twists and turns. The book did lag in parts and could have skipped the “romance” angle, but overall, it was a good mystery/thriller.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this Advanced Reader Copy.
3.5/5

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this novel before its release. Poppy is having lots of problems after her husband’s death. Jack was brutally beaten and murdered while out on his morning run. A good start for a thriller for sure. But I found this book so difficult to follow. I had no idea when Poppy was in the present or fully engaged in the backstory. The writing is a blend of poetry, imagination and little reality. It does finally take off the last 50 pages and becomes interesting. Normally Lisa Unger is one of my favorite authors and does thrillers well. Hardly anything about this book was thrilling.

I am a big Lisa Unger fan....I’ve read all of her books, loved them, so I was really excited to receive a copy of her latest book from Netgalley!
This is the first of her books that I didn’t love. I found it to be very slow and confusing at times!
I didn’t grip me right from the first chapter, like every one of her previous books did.
I will still look forward to her next work, but unfortunately this book fell really flat for me.

Wow what a great read! This is not your beach read it is so much more. Lisa Unger knows how to weave a tale to keep you on the edge of your seat. Poppy's husband Jack has been murdered. The police have no leads on this senseless act of violence. Floating through days of sleeping pills and anti anxiety pills washed down by alcohol she loses herself in the twilight of reality and unreality. She swears someone is following her and she gives chase never to catch him is she hallucinating? Poppy dissapears for days after the funeral, then she shows up at her best friends doorstep not remembering where she was and how she got back. Her best friend since childhood and her husband have been a rock trying to help Poppy deal with the loss that affected them all. Roller coastering thoughts and strange events makes her fear she is losing her sanity. Visions of clues materialize in her mind that she is driven to follow. . Through a maze of grief she struggles to know who killed Jack. Why, he had no ememies. What happened to her those days following the funeral? Where was she? Is her life in danger as she thinks, She grapples with what if's over and over about that last morning before Jack went for that fateful run. The argument that now can never be forgiven. There is evil out there and she is closing in on finding who and what. The answer could shatter her. You won't forget this book. It'll reach into your life and make you think. A must read if you appreciate books with depth, mystery, drama and if you like to guess "who dune it". You won't not until it's revealed. I received a digital copy of the book from the author through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Well this was quite the novel! I was confused but very much enjoyed the dream/reality of this novel. The beginning was a bit slow for me as we are dealing with fresh and raw emotions of Poppy losing her husband. But once it started to get more into trying to solve the murder it got better. I enjoyed the twists of the novel and through me for a loop on who the murderer was. I'm definitely going to share this novel in my Facebook book club I know lots of readers that will enjoy the ride of this novel.

I am an enormous fan of psychological thrillers and this author, which is why it was difficult to give this only 3 stars. I feel like there was a failure of editing on the one hand--there's a lot of repetitive passages about photography as an art and meditations on "can you ever REALLY know anyone"--and then on the other hand, a failure to flush out the characters that wind up implicated in the crime.

I would have enjoyed seeing more backstory on those characters and less redundancy in the parts where she's trying to figure out if she's hallucinating or if it's reality. While still a compelling read, I feel like this would have been more successful as a leaner story with more focus on the actual villains in the story.

I have severe insomnia and hypnagogic hallucinations myself, and I was impressed by the author's descriptions of that experience, as well as how she describes profound grief. This is an incredibly talented and articulate author whose novel could have been improved with aggressive editing, tighter plot structure, and a different focus.

"Under My Skin" is a psychological thriller that follows the newly widowed Poppy as she begins to investigate the circumstances around her husband's death. Not only is Poppy at odds with the actual dangerous actors around her that played a role in her husband's death, but she's at odds with her own mind. Poppy struggles with self-medication and alcoholism as she attempts to manage her depression following her husband's death. This means not only does Poppy not know who to trust, she doesn't know if she can trust her own thoughts, experiences, and memories. This book is unique as it follows Poppy as she grows stronger and begins to understand the circumstances that led to her husband's death.

What;s real and what's a memory or imagined? While I think Unger is a very talented writer and the story was enthralling, I do get tired of the unreliable narrator and the reader trying to decipher what's real and what isn't. It's a tactic that has been done way too many times in the last 5+ years.

I like Lisa Unger's books. A lot. This one was hard, though. Without going into spoiler-dom, the shifts between dreads, nightmares, flashbacks, and present day was jarring because the reader wasn't given a head's up which was which until the end of a scene.
The writing, as always, was flawless and haunting, the characters fully drawn and complete. The plot was just okay for me, I figured "it" out way before the end, but that's okay, too. All in all, not one of my favorites of hers, but a solid book, none the less.

What is real? what are memories? What are dreams, how does grief affect us.. is healing about us or the person we lost. An engrossing story that tackles all these questions and more in the new novel by Lisa Unger. Poppy is trying to deal the with death of her husband Jack. Supporting her are her friends Layla and Mac.There were so many layers to this story and try as I might I was never able to guess where we were going…. I highly recommend this book

No one tells a dark tale quite like Lisa Unger. Under My Skin was excellent. Takes hold of you on page one and doesn't let you go til the very end. Started it yesterday and finished it today. Just had to find out who did it ! And it is never who you think it is. One of the main reasons I love her books so much. So if murder mysteries / psychological thrillers are your thing, get this book !!!! Complicated plot, secrets, lies, murder............. so good !

Beautifully written, dark and unsettling, the author chooses words as a painter will use strokes to make a masterpiece.
Love how you can get immersed in the narrative, with a mix of emotions that takes you trough the stages of grieving: the lose of the person you love. Despair, anger, frustration, losing touch with reality. ...
A haunting psychological thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and HARLEQUIN for an advanced read in exchange for this review.

Poppy's husband was murdered and his death remains unsolved.  Following his death, Poppy's memories have been unclear.  Something about a red dress?  A nightclub?  She's trying to put the puzzles together to figure out what happened while struggling with sleeping pills and disassociation.  

This book isn't bad, but there were parts of the story that felt too disjointed and messy.  I found myself saying "Huh?" and "Yeah, right!" a couple of times.  I think the author wants you to not think of Poppy as reliable, which is fairly easy to do.  I felt neutral about her overall.  Again, the book is all over the place, which I think is intentional so that you feel just like Poppy.  Not bad overall.

An excellent mystery/psychological thriller book that I read in a day and a half because I didn't want to stop reading it. Poppy is feeling lost after the brutal "random" murder of her husband a year ago. Right after the funeral she had some "lost days' that she has trouble remembering as she struggles to make it through daily life and work still grieving for what could have been. Her assistant at work, friend Layla and her mother and mother-in-law are all trying to help her process her feelings. Detective Greyson is still trying to solve the seemingly random murder of her husband Jack. The pace of this book is excellent and the back and forth between past and present works well as does the parts where Poppy is trying to figure out if she is suddenly remembering things or hallucinating-is someone with a hooded jacket on following and stalking her? What happened to her in those few days after the funeral that she doesn't remember and her friends couldn't find her? Was Jack's murder really a random thing or was he involved in something right before his death? You will find yourself riveted to this book to uncover the mysteries of Jack and Poppy .

I'm a fan of this authors books. I look forward to reading them as soon as they are published. The story line in this was confusing when you couldn't tell if it was something happening in the present, a hallucination, or a dream. I'm glad I stuck with it to find out how it all came together in the end.

I received a free copy from NetGalley.

Poppy Lang’s life is a blur of dreams and real life after her husband Jack was brutally murdered. Who killed Jack? Why would anyone want to? This book grabbed me from the beginning and I would have finished it sooner if I’d had more time! You’ll enjoy this ride!

Excellent book although a bit disjointed at times and difficult to follow, which is the reason I didnt give it five stars. Gripping ending and well written

Poppy's husband, Jake, was killed while on an early morning run. They seemed to have a good marriage and a successful business, but the police are still not sure if this was a random mugging or if Jake was targeted. Poppy had a breakdown shortly after his death and does not remember anything that happened for several days.

This started out great, but by about half-way I started to lose some interest. Part of this was because there were flashbacks between present day and the time of Poppy's missing memories and I wasn't always sure what was current and what was past. Poppy also had lots of issues where she thought things were happening, but they were dreams. I am sure this sounded like a good plot. but somehow the way all of this was combined made it more confusing than enjoyable.

The ending had a few points, mainly dealing with a police detective's appearance and actions that didn't ring true.

With all of that criticism, I did actually like the book. It just seemed to try to include too many things without smoothly blending them.

This book kept me guessing until the very end, and then it left me underwhelmed. Some parts had me so confused and I’d have to re-read several paragraphs. I wasn’t very happy with the ending and the big reveal. It seemed like it was pointing one way and went the other, but maybe I just interpreted that wrong. I also hated Layla and thought she was an annoying best friend and person.