Title: Skinners II: The Spawn

Author: Craig Wesley Wall

Release date: February 17th, 2026

Having recently read book one in this series, I wasn’t going to wait to read book two when it landed on my Kindle on the 17th. As soon as I wrapped up one of my previous reads, I jumped in, excited to see where this one went!

This is a direct sequel to the first book, and this is 100% a case where you have to have read the first book to read the second. So, in accordance with that – everything going forward will pretty much be a spoiler for the first book. I suggest if you’ve not read book one, halt here and return after having done so!

What I liked: The book picks up immediately after the events in the first. Thom, Leland and Angie have survived the skinner infiltration where the survivors were hunkered down, but have been taken into custody by the military group that has arrived. Thom’s imprisoned in a cell with a massive biker named Zeke, unsure of where the two kids are.

Working with his new friend, he escapes and they go on a search for the kids, all while understanding the skinners are still making duplicates of those they attack.

What they don’t realize is that there’s another form they can take.

Craig does a great job of maintaining true to the tension and atmosphere of the first novella. There’s plenty of action, huge emotional moments and we get some really grotesque and fantastic skinner scenes.

Very rarely in this one does Craig take his foot off the gas, and that works to really heighten the reality these characters find themselves in. Saying that, we learn a bit more about what these things are, why the military is involved and whether this sort of thing has happened before on Earth, which I greatly enjoyed.

The ending is a one-two punch of culmination of events and what comes next, and I think it was handled perfectly to conclude things while still leaving the door open a crack for a third down the road.

What I didn’t like: The only thing that I noticed, was that early on a military leader mentions they’ve been studying things for a while and it made me feel like I’d missed something. It gets explained later on, but considering this takes place right after book one, I was momentarily thrown for a loop. Push past that spot if you end up confused like I did!

Why you should buy this: If you loved book one, book two is another creature/sci-fi/horror novella home run. Craig’s skinner creatures are a lot of fun and it’s great seeing them wreak havoc across the country side.

If you haven’t read book one and are looking for that perfect mix of 80s VHS creature-feature/sci-fi/horror that you used to rent every weekend, look no further.

This was such a good time!