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The Shining Girls A Novel Lauren Beukes Books

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The Shining Girls A Novel Lauren Beukes Books

I read this book as part of the book club I run for fans of the My Favorite Murder podcast. This was our non-fiction selection for the month of January. Some people who started reading the book before me complained that book jumping around in time made for a confusing read. Perhaps the advance warning helped because I did not find the time jumps confusing at all. I was also concerned that the premise of a time traveling serial killer would wind up being silly but Lauren Beukes book is a gripping, fast paced read that never feels ridiculous despite its far fetched plot.

Harper Curtis is a serial killer who stumbles onto an abandoned house that opens into other times. Using clues from the house, Harper insinuates himself into the lives of pre-selected girls who "shine" at different periods in modern history. He visits them in their childhood, promising he will visit them later. When he does visit them in adulthood, he murders them brutally. Unbeknownst to him, Kirby Mizrachi, one of his "Shining Girls" survives and is determined to find the man who nearly killed her. Kirby teams up with former Homicide reporter Dan Valesquez to solve the case that has left police baffled.

One thing I really appreciated about this book is that (Possible spoiler?) at no point were there any great leaps of logic on the part of the investigators. Even when the evidence starts to mount, the theory seems fantastical. Additionally, Kirby has done her homework on serial killers. Watching her try to apply clinical criteria that won't fit together is equal parts satisfying and frustrating (satisfyingly frustrating?) because she's smart and she *should* be right but she isn't because the reality is so unreal. The only reason I can't give it a full five stars is that I'm not entirely sure if I like the ending. However, The Shining Girls is a nice addition to serial killer crime fiction that never feels stale or tired.


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The Shining Girls A Novel Lauren Beukes Books Reviews

I wish I liked this book more than I did. For a book about a time-traveling serial killer I really appreciated the author's efforts to ground the events in historical accuracy. Having read the interview in the back of the book I also believe her desire to make the victims of the killer into fully realized characters was a noticeable success.

Too much of a success. I found myself getting caught up in the back stories of the victims and enjoying them way more then the major plot. Every time a cool new character is introduced she is gruesomely killed. I feel like, backstory or not, Beukes is still giving the people what they want extreme depictions of violence against women. Can it really be an empowering exercise if at the end of the day she's still ending her book with a big ol' lady-body count?

In fact, I feel like she defeats her own purpose in other ways as well because the POV of the book is so detached and the reader is forced to spend so much time with the super gross killer (even while he's doing mundane stuff) that I felt myself become a little numb to the horror of it all.

Ultimately, I came away from this book feeling like good research and interesting ideas didn't fully bring this all together in a satisfying way. I do think it's worth reading, if only for the interesting female characters that Beukes creates but, if you are anything like me, you will probably come away wishing they had been the focus instead of the cannon fodder.
I was recommended this book, with an indication that I shouldn't look into what it's about too much, I should just read it and enjoy it. I love the 1930s, and the concept of the time travelling killer driven by a strange force to kill the 'shining girls' seemed dark and interesting.

I think, with the time travel element, and the sentient house element, I mistook it for a work of speculative fiction. It's not. It's a crime a book. And apart from the time travel, there are no mystical elements, it's just one awful man doing awful, awful things. As revolting as he was, the murderer was probably the most interesting character, because Kirby and Dan felt like tired stereotypes. I didn't like anyone in this book, everyone was damaged and uninviting. I think I felt a lot of revulsion and pity while reading this book. One of the other reviews commented that the other Shining Girls were more interesting, and I'm inclined to agree. Margot was fascinating, for the half chapter we got to spend with her.

The worst thing about this book was the feeling of there being no point to my reading it. I persevered because I wanted to know if there was some twist. Some revelation. Something to pull it all together and make me go "Oh yes! I see! How poetic! How incredible!". Something to explain what time travel had to do with anything in this crime novel. But...there wasn't. It was brutal, gory, and a harrowing read, but at the end of it, I didn't get any emotional pay off. There was no reward, or resolution, or anything that justified the emotional energy that this book took from me. I was just glad it was over.

As a crime novel, it's most likely what the fans of the genre expect. For anyone else, I'd recommend caution. It's an intense read for a not-very-satisfying (or even interesting) resolution at the end.
I read this book as part of the book club I run for fans of the My Favorite Murder podcast. This was our non-fiction selection for the month of January. Some people who started reading the book before me complained that book jumping around in time made for a confusing read. Perhaps the advance warning helped because I did not find the time jumps confusing at all. I was also concerned that the premise of a time traveling serial killer would wind up being silly but Lauren Beukes book is a gripping, fast paced read that never feels ridiculous despite its far fetched plot.

Harper Curtis is a serial killer who stumbles onto an abandoned house that opens into other times. Using clues from the house, Harper insinuates himself into the lives of pre-selected girls who "shine" at different periods in modern history. He visits them in their childhood, promising he will visit them later. When he does visit them in adulthood, he murders them brutally. Unbeknownst to him, Kirby Mizrachi, one of his "Shining Girls" survives and is determined to find the man who nearly killed her. Kirby teams up with former Homicide reporter Dan Valesquez to solve the case that has left police baffled.

One thing I really appreciated about this book is that (Possible spoiler?) at no point were there any great leaps of logic on the part of the investigators. Even when the evidence starts to mount, the theory seems fantastical. Additionally, Kirby has done her homework on serial killers. Watching her try to apply clinical criteria that won't fit together is equal parts satisfying and frustrating (satisfyingly frustrating?) because she's smart and she *should* be right but she isn't because the reality is so unreal. The only reason I can't give it a full five stars is that I'm not entirely sure if I like the ending. However, The Shining Girls is a nice addition to serial killer crime fiction that never feels stale or tired.