I'm reading Skin by Ted Dekker. It goes like this
Skin In the tradition of Thr3e comes the most twisting, unpredictable Ted Dekker novel yet...a story of revenge with a shocking premise and numerous reversals.
A radically countercultural story, Skin asks the question "what is beauty?" Far more than a philosophical question, it's a matter of life and death when a serial killer blazes into Summerville, Nevada. What makes the beautiful ugly and the ugly beautiful? The answer will shock--and haunt--you long after the last page of Skin.
Psycho Sterling Red is on a killing spree, and he is playing a devilish game of mutilation and disfigurement with five unsuspecting and defenseless victims. Five people who came to meet each other through a series of freak circumstances. Red is putting these people through a living gore-fest as he directs evil into each of their lives. He kills without remorse, sucking on a mustard bottle or globs of mayonnaise after the deed is done. Suffering with seizures, which he believes are a weakness, he is tormented by his own body and seeks to make others suffer too.
These five people, Wendy, Colt, Jerry, Nicole and Carey find themselves helplessly in alternating realities. With no control over their environment they are dragged into this sick game with Red. He psychologically tortures them and follows up with the trauma of the day. Keeping them mentally off-balance, Red exerts his will over them.
His living victims try to understand what this game is all about. They have never hurt him, don’t even know him, yet he says he is seeking revenge. What misdeed did Red attribute to them? They have no idea. All they know is one minute they are in a small town south of Las Vegas, and the next they are in the dessert. There are relational changes within the group, with each suspecting one another. In order to cope, the five group together to face their tormentor.
Amidst numerous conflicts, they determine they are being manipulated by a hallucinogenic drug. Possibly electricity or microwaves sensitive to their frontal lobe epilepsy. Yes that is the common denominator amongst the five. There are downed power lines and black streaks in the sky with a loud humming noise. What do these things mean?
“Lycergitide. Best guess, the killer’s drugging them using different delivery systems at different locations –the gas station, in Colt’s cruiser, here. Then he transmits a signal that triggers the implants in the brain’s hippocampus.”
