Comments on: REVIEW: Skin Game by Ava Gray

By: Another Jessica

Another Jessica — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:42:45 +0000

I used to read all of my dad’s old cold-war espionage thrillers, which had plenty of assassins. Some of them just took the money and went at it, while quite a few (in that genre) had scruples, would look over the dossier of the hit, and decide if they were “bad enough” before they would accept. So I had no problems with that aspect of the story. That even made Foster’s choice of Reyes, that he would fail at the hit, almost sensible to me.

I initially passed on this one just because it seemed so trite: “grifter takes her revenge” and “assassin with scruples” meet and, somehow, fall for each other. But it’s Ann Aguirre, and her other books are far from mainstream, both in characterization and in style, so I went ahead and started this one. While her writing is certainly more prosaic in this book than in her sf books, her characters are still very good and unpredictable. Overall, the book was much better than I was expecting.

My problem with this book, though, was Kyra. More specifically, her ability to hold a grudge based on not-that-much, and from that point never to look back and think things through. She’s supposed to be a smart girl, but I thought that was pretty dumb, and a plot device.

By: Leslee

Leslee — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:00:57 +0000

IMO Ms. Aguirre has the ability to make you suspend disbelief. I am picky when it comes to believability but this was an amazing read. The one sex scene in the car, I mean come on like that would ever happen. But she made me believe it!! Reyes, I think, felt like his scary rep kept people from lying to him. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book!

By: DS

DS — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:17:06 +0000

There would probably have been a point in my life where I would have enjoyed the idea of the hit man and the grifter, but it just doesn’t do anything for me right now.

This summer I gave up in the first chapter on a book where a hit man was after a scientist (Killing Joe) simply because the idea of the two ending up as a couple didn’t appeal.

By: Moth

Moth — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:40:43 +0000

I’m a fan of Ann Aguirre’s writing, and I was really looking forward to this one, because her series books tend to have cliffhanger endings and that bothers me, so I was very happy this one was stand-alone. But then I got it and read it, and while I enjoyed myself mostly, it just wasn’t…great. And I wanted great. I also felt like her writing was a bit more…labored, I guess. I saw her working for it with all the elaborate plotting, etc.

Reyes is one of the best but he's a hitman with scruples.

@Jane, this was one of my sticking points too, because to me you really can’t have it both ways. If you’re killing people for money I really don’t think you’re going to care if they’re good or bad. And I also felt like there wasn’t enough emphasis put on how he determines whether they deserve killing or not. There’s a vague reference to him refusing to kill other people before, but I don’t see how he could be “the best in the business” if he’s so picky about jobs. I think the bad guys are going to take their hits to someone who doesn’t care.

Also, I remember a line at the end where Foster says he picked Reyes because he knew Reyes would fall for Kyra and not kill her, which seemed a pretty long shot to me.

I also thought there was a bit too much set-up for Foster and Mia in the next book that didn’t really need to be in this book.