Cold Skin

‘A troubling, hammering and glorious novel’ DAVID MITCHELL On the edge of the Antarctic Circle, in the years after World War One, a steamship approaches a desolate island. On board is a young man on his way to assume the post of weather observer, to live in solitude for a year at the end of the earth. But on shore he finds no trace of the man whom he has been sent to replace, just a deranged castaway who has witnessed a horror he refuses to name. The rest is woods, a deserted cabin, rocks, silence and the surrounding sea. Then night begins to fall …

Reviews of Cold Skin

A troubling, hammering and glorious novel — DAVID MITCHELL Thrillingly vivid … Sanchez Pinol creates a struggle for survival that is, at the same time, a meditation on humanity * The Times * Beguiling … Pinol's dark tale lingers long after the shivers running down the spine have ceased * The Scotsman * A creepily compelling debut from this Barcelona-based author that reads like a sinister version of a Boy's Own survival adventure * Financial Times * Remarkable … An addictive and unsettling read — ALAN WARNER A great, creepy, tender read — YANN MARTEL Superbly controlled and creepy … Akin to Lord of the Flies or Heart of Darkness rewritten as pulp-horror schlock * The Independent on Sunday * Astonishing … There is something of Edgar Allan Poe … In general, however, Cold Skin would appear to be an example of that rare thing: an original story which emerged, immaculately and unexpectedly, from its author's subconscious * Times Literary Supplemant * Brilliantly suspenseful * Spectator *