A couple of friends on their way to spend the weekend together, a creepy gas station on their way, a car accident that leaves them stranded in the middle of nowhere in the deep winter, an evil force out for blood... Sounds familiar? Yep, that's what I thought as well, and for the most time of the book I couldn't shake the feeling I've already read a book or watched a movie about the story going on here. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a rerun of a well-tried plot every time, as long as it has some unique parts. With Skinner, I found this uniqueness solely in the Old One.

Unlike your common monster, he did not attack his victims himself, but made them do all the work on their own - and in a very hideous way. Seeing their friendship coming apart, how instead of fighting together against the Old One they ended up fighting each other was unusual and unexpected.

While the characters were all very stereotyped, at least the Old One was special and gave the book its much-needed originality to set it apart from similar stories. Nice and nasty, especially towards the end.

(I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review)