In the Skin of a Monster

Gr 9 Up-Alice is an identical twin left behind after her emo, edgy 14-year-old sister takes their dad's gun to school and shoots seven people. Alice is now infamous for sharing the face of the girl who brought a nightmare of violence to life in their small town in the Australian Outback. Alice has spent three years in a mental treatment facility learning to cope with the horror, hate, and unanswerable questions. Soon after returning to her damaged hometown, Alice suddenly and impossibly crosses over to a weird dreamscape—a fun house-mirror version of the place that she and her twin once shared. There, what's being dreamed appears as a sort of bubble containing both the dreamer and elements of the dream, such as monsters of the clawed and slavering sort and terrors wearing human faces. Alice's twin has been a regular in this nightmare world, and now Alice has been subbed in for her to navigate with a small band of battle-worn denizens attempting to survive the "nasties." They are helped by Lux, a mysterious humanoid who narrates in alternate chapters, and Ivan, a monstrous beast with a heart of gold. This Australian import features a slowly built parallel world that's held together with a sort of dream logic. It is an inventive attempt to share with readers the confusion and frustration the characters feel about their experiences, but the nebulous plot connections may challenge many readers to stay engaged.