In Just Beneath My Skin Darren Greer crams a lot into very few pages. This short novel tells the story of Jake McNeil's return to his home town of North River, Nova Scotia after spending time living and working in Halifax. When Jake moved away he left his son Nathan in the care of the boy's mother Carla, an abusive, angry, unreliable drunk. Guilt has forced him to return in order to take Nathan with him to Halifax, where he hopes to provide his son with a better life. The story is told in two alternating first-person streams, one narrated by Jake and the other by Nathan. Jake's narrative is split between the present and his past, which includes harrowing details about his mother's death from cancer and his sister's death by drowning. Jake's life has been painful and he wants desperately to do the right thing, but by returning to North River he exposes himself to the senseless drug-fueled rancor of low-life former friends who did nothing with their lives and resent him for trying to make something of himself. There is an atmosphere of lurking menace hanging over the action that intensifies as the story nears its conclusion because in order to get back to Halifax Jake is forced to make decisions that lead him straight into danger. In Greer's depiction life in a Maritime small town is unremittingly grim. People live without hope and numb themselves to their plight with drugs, booze, or religion. But there is truth in these pages and Jake's tragedy is profound. ( )