Skin River is the story of Buddy Bayes, a man with a shadowy past trying desperately for a second chance at a peaceful life as a tavern owner in small-town Gunnar, Wisconsin. Buddy has traded his connections in the Chicago underworld for the loose friendship of an assortment of locals who frequent his bar. Before long, with the help of a young single mother who works for him as a waitress, Buddy starts to trust that he's lost himself in exactly the kind of new life he'd imagined.

His hopes for a clean start are shattered, however, when he finds the severed hand of a missing college student and falls headlong into a harrowing situation which has Buddy convinced that his past has come back to haunt him. As events unfold, it becomes clear that things aren't what they seem, and jumping to conclusions proves a disastrous mistake as the true nature of Buddy's situation slowly comes into focus. Skin River is a tense, chilling novel that introduces Steven Sidor, a fine crime writer with an exacting touch and a remarkable talent for suspense.