Under The Skin

Book excerpt: The basis for the film starring Scarlett Johansson, award-winning author Michel Faber's Under the Skin blends elements of science fiction, grotesque comedy, horror, and thriller into a genre-jumping meditation'' (Washington Post Book World). Isserley cruises the Scottish Highlands picking up hitchhikers. Scarred and awkward, yet strangely erotic and threatening, she listens to her hitchhikers as they open up to her, revealing clues about who might miss them if they should disappear. Under the Skin takes us on a heart-thumping ride through dangerous territory—our own moral instincts and the boundaries of compassion. ''A fascinating psychological thriller. . . [that] hovers between the real and the fantastic.''—Baltimore Sun ''Original and unsettling, an Animal Farm for the new century.''—Wall Street Journal ''A satiric novel eerie and touching in equal parts.''—San Francisco Chronicle