Book#253, International Collection, Themes: The Skin I Live In / Karmic Justice / The Doll / Identity Death, Keywords: Monster of Florence, True Crime Author, Kidnapping, Mortuary Science, Facial Feminization Surgery , FFS, Revenge, Bullying, Italy/Florence, Identity Theft, The Skin I Live In
He hunted monsters. Now he is becoming one. Dean Baker is a famous true crime author living in Florence, obsessed with unmasking the city’s most notorious serial killer. But when he follows a lead to a reclusive billionaire named Timothy Grant, the hunter becomes the prey. Kidnapped and imprisoned in a remote palazzo, Dean discovers that this is not about his book. It is about his past. Timothy is the brother of Eugene—a boy Dean bullied to suicide decades ago in a Perugia schoolyard. Timothy doesn’t want to kill Dean. He wants to rewrite him. Using his mother’s mortuary journals and a team of corrupt surgeons, Timothy begins a terrifying process of “preservation.” Through drugs, hormones, and radical surgery, Dean is systematically erased and sculpted into “Deanna”—a living, breathing replica of the beautiful, dead Eugene. As Dean’s face changes and his identity fractures, he realizes Timothy’s plan is even more diabolical: he intends to frame “Deanna” as the new Monster of Florence. Trapped in a body that isn’t his, accused of crimes he didn’t commit, Dean must find a way to survive the masterpiece he has become. (A harrowing, atmospheric thriller about the architecture of revenge and the ghosts that never sleep.)
[CONTENT WARNING: BODY HORROR] Contains severe themes of: Kidnapping/Confinement, Non-Consensual Medical Modification (Facial Feminization Surgery, Hormones), Sexual Assault (implied/off-page violation of the “doll”), Suicide (backstory), and Psychological Torture.
Heat Level (1-5) 4 (Dark / Disturbing) The sexual content is framed as violation and degradation. The “Cha Cha d’Amour” scene is a pivotal moment of trauma. The focus is on the horror of the transformation and the loss of bodily autonomy.