Status
Available
Call number
Collections
Publication
HarperCollins (2013), Edition: First Edition, Hardcover, 416 pages
Description
Fiction. Literature. Mystery. Historical Fiction. HTML: Now an Apple TV+ series starring Elisabeth Moss: the girl who wouldn't die hunts the killer who shouldn't exist in this "expertly chilling" twist on the serial killer novel from the award-winning author Lauren Beukes (San Francisco Chronicle). Harper Curtis is a killer who stepped out of the past. Kirby Mazrachi is the girl who was never meant to have a future. Kirby is the last shining girl, one of the bright young women, burning with potential, whose lives Harper is destined to snuff out after he stumbles on a House in Depression-era Chicago that opens on to other times. At the urging of the House, Harper inserts himself into the lives of these shining girls, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. He's the ultimate hunter, vanishing without a trace into another time after each murder �?? until one of his victims survives. Determined to bring her would-be killer to justice, Kirby joins the Chicago Sun-Times to work with the reporter, Dan Velasquez, who covered her case. Soon Kirby finds herself closing in on an impossible truth . . . "Utterly original, beautifully written, and I must say, it creeped the holy bejasus out of me. This is something special." �??Tana French… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member clfisha
A beautifully crafted, page turning, tempestuous thriller
“It’s not my fault. It’s yours. You shouldn't shine. You shouldn’t make me do this.”
From the blurb
In Depression-era Chicago, Harper Curtis finds a key to a house that opens on to other times. But it comes at a cost. He has to kill
So tightly wound, so beautifully constructed, two ideas so perfectly joined. This is not a book for bleary eyed 5 minute snatches, this is gripping page turner, a nested doll horror, an Ouroboros of gripping drama, that you are going to want to pay some attention to.
But fear not, it’s not over complicated nor just a clinical puzzle. It's bursting with wonderful characters especially Kirby, a survivor of one of the brutal (and I mean seriously brutal) attacks who manages to be our superb heroine and believable victim and that's before you get a soft spot for Dan or learn not to loathe Kirby's flaky mother. That's before you learn about the shining girls.
For Beukes goes beyond the static horror of murder victim and introduces us to Harper’s victims. Some we merely see glimpses of (Misha the lab tech) and some we walk with for a while and then mourn: for Margo fighting for a women’s right to choose and Alice who is fighting to be a women. And this is the other thing the Shining girls brings, a bracing sweep of history and a strong sense of place. Beukes is as great at describing depression era slums or dusty office blocks as bringing these women bring it alive. Time is a character here as much as place.
Of course it will not please all. It’s fast paced and very tightly wrought so for those who like to meander in a world are going to be as annoyed as those who want explanations. Beukes serial killer is firmly with the genre too, don't expect an in-depth look at what drives a killer or how a tired, overworked and ancient cop catches him. There are tropes here but not tired ones. Don't expect a Zoo City or Moxyland either, this is a slightly different animal and I have to admit I don’t know if it all adds up as I read it too fast but to be honest that’s a good thing too.
I really do recommend this book to anyone who wants a smart thriller, a twist to the tired crime genre & anyone who loves historical fictions or is just fed up with yet another male cop trying to catch a male murderer whilst a blonde women lies dead and unknown.
“It’s not my fault. It’s yours. You shouldn't shine. You shouldn’t make me do this.”
From the blurb
In Depression-era Chicago, Harper Curtis finds a key to a house that opens on to other times. But it comes at a cost. He has to kill
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the shining girls: bright young women, burning with potential. He stalks them through their lives across different eras until, in 1989, one of his victims, Kirby Mazrachi, survives and starts hunting him back. So tightly wound, so beautifully constructed, two ideas so perfectly joined. This is not a book for bleary eyed 5 minute snatches, this is gripping page turner, a nested doll horror, an Ouroboros of gripping drama, that you are going to want to pay some attention to.
But fear not, it’s not over complicated nor just a clinical puzzle. It's bursting with wonderful characters especially Kirby, a survivor of one of the brutal (and I mean seriously brutal) attacks who manages to be our superb heroine and believable victim and that's before you get a soft spot for Dan or learn not to loathe Kirby's flaky mother. That's before you learn about the shining girls.
For Beukes goes beyond the static horror of murder victim and introduces us to Harper’s victims. Some we merely see glimpses of (Misha the lab tech) and some we walk with for a while and then mourn: for Margo fighting for a women’s right to choose and Alice who is fighting to be a women. And this is the other thing the Shining girls brings, a bracing sweep of history and a strong sense of place. Beukes is as great at describing depression era slums or dusty office blocks as bringing these women bring it alive. Time is a character here as much as place.
Of course it will not please all. It’s fast paced and very tightly wrought so for those who like to meander in a world are going to be as annoyed as those who want explanations. Beukes serial killer is firmly with the genre too, don't expect an in-depth look at what drives a killer or how a tired, overworked and ancient cop catches him. There are tropes here but not tired ones. Don't expect a Zoo City or Moxyland either, this is a slightly different animal and I have to admit I don’t know if it all adds up as I read it too fast but to be honest that’s a good thing too.
I really do recommend this book to anyone who wants a smart thriller, a twist to the tired crime genre & anyone who loves historical fictions or is just fed up with yet another male cop trying to catch a male murderer whilst a blonde women lies dead and unknown.
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LibraryThing member Citizenjoyce
I just finished The Shining Girls and would have appreciated this information before I started the book: not only does the villain murder many intelligent, hard working women with dreams, aspirations and responsibilities, he also kills a dog in a very heart rending fashion. There, now you've been
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warned. Show Less
LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes has kept me enthralled from the moment I picked it up and started reading about a Depression-era drifter named Harper Curtis, who stumbles into a house that is able to project him through time. The house has a purpose and that is for Harper to hunt down and kill a
Kirby Mazrachi is one of the shining girls, but when her turn to die comes, she somehow, with the help of her dog, manages to survive the attack. Her life focus then becomes tracking down the man who tried to kill her. Working with a reporter, they start to unravel this strange mystery.
I found this book to be an original take on a serial killer thriller. A little science-fiction mixed with a lot of crime story produces this time-twisting, dark story. I can see this story may not appeal to all. Those who are more interested in the how and why of the science-fiction may feel a little cheated as this book concentrates more on the thriller aspect but for me this story worked beautifully. A warning however, as The Shining Girls is very violent and the author does not shy away from the gruesome.
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series of young women who shine with potential. These shining girls are scattered through the years but the location is always the city of Chicago.Kirby Mazrachi is one of the shining girls, but when her turn to die comes, she somehow, with the help of her dog, manages to survive the attack. Her life focus then becomes tracking down the man who tried to kill her. Working with a reporter, they start to unravel this strange mystery.
I found this book to be an original take on a serial killer thriller. A little science-fiction mixed with a lot of crime story produces this time-twisting, dark story. I can see this story may not appeal to all. Those who are more interested in the how and why of the science-fiction may feel a little cheated as this book concentrates more on the thriller aspect but for me this story worked beautifully. A warning however, as The Shining Girls is very violent and the author does not shy away from the gruesome.
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LibraryThing member PIER50
I find myself very undecided about this book - was it a clever idea of a murderer travelling back and forth through time, or was it a rather nasty serial killer with a slightly silly premise?
It seemed a fairly long book, possibly due to the flitting about through time, or maybe because, apart from
It seemed a fairly long book, possibly due to the flitting about through time, or maybe because, apart from
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the gruesome murders, no much happens in the early part of the book. The language seems to get worse the further into the book you get, and there is never any explanation or back story for either Harper (the murderer) or 'The House' Some will like this book, others may find it rather unsatisfying I think. Show Less
LibraryThing member queencersei
Kirby is a Shining Girl, the lone survivor of a serial killer when she was just a teenager. Now a college intern for the Chicago Sun-Times, she can't let her horrific attack go and is determined to find out who her would be killer was and bring him to justice. An ex-homicide reporter, Dan Velasquez
It's a story about a time travel serial killer. So a fair amount of suspension of disbelief is required. But it is well worth it. The Shining Girls is a unique and gripping read, right up until the very last page.
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is working the sports beat when he meets Kirby. Reluctantly he decides to help her in her hunt. Together they unravel the strange mystery of her attacker, Harper Curtis. What they find is an unbelievable trail of other murdered girls and a house like no other. It's a story about a time travel serial killer. So a fair amount of suspension of disbelief is required. But it is well worth it. The Shining Girls is a unique and gripping read, right up until the very last page.
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LibraryThing member pdebolt
There is a lot going on in this book. The unique premise features a psychotic serial killer (aren't they all?) who travels back and forth in time in Chicago from the 1930s to 1990s. There is an array of victims, his "shining girls," including the one who survived and is determined to bring him to
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justice. Chicago through the decades is the backdrop with shifting political and social events and mores. It is challenging in the beginning of this novel to adjust to the shifts in time, but once in the rhythm, it is an enthralling, albeit grisly, read. Show Less
LibraryThing member snat
While fleeing the law in Depression era Chicago, Harper Curtis stumbles upon the key to a derelict house with magical properties. Despite its outward appearance, the inside of the house is one of grandeur (well, except for the dead body in the hallway, but real estate being what it is during the
So, serial killer stories aren't normally my thing. I'm not particularly intrigued by how a psychopath's mind works, never really interested in his methods and his madness, and I find the whodunit aspect of most of these novels tiresome. But I found that I couldn't ignore the hype surrounding The Shining Girls. The promise of a serial killer who could travel through time and disappear without a trace? Now that is certainly something that I've never read before and it appealed to the part of me that enjoys science fiction. I thought there might be something new and inventive here--something that might help it rise above others of its ilk. However, it proved to be disappointingly, well, average.
Harper Curtis is a casebook psychopath, complete with a childhood history of torturing animals and an inability to empathize with others. In terms of character, there's very little to distinguish him from other literary serial killers--he's fairly bland in comparison to, say, a Hannibal Lecter. Harper's only distinction is provided by the house itself and, unfortunately, the house only serves as a vehicle for Harper. An inventive premise, to be sure, but it's ultimately as riveting as knowing the make and model of the vehicle a killer might use to get from one place to another. Its origin is never explained and its role in the events that transpire is never really clear.
The hunt for Harper is led by the only woman to have survived his brutal attack, Kirby Mazrachi. Kirby is an appealing and interesting character. She's strong, quirky, and hellbent on finding the man who did this to her. As a means of doing so, she becomes an intern for a former criminal reporter, Dan Velasquez, at the Chicago Sun-Times. While he's now on the sports beat, Kirby hopes that she can convince him to help her gain access to files and reports that might help her track down the man who left her for dead. Kirby's investigations seem a little slapdash, moved along by heaping dollops of happenstance and coincidence that fall too neatly into place. I loved Kirby's headstrong nature, but to all those who compare this novel to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo I must point out that a few punk rock t-shirts and a nose ring do not a Lisbeth Salander make.
As it weaves back and forth through time, the novel alternates its chapters between Harper, Kirby, Harper's other victims (whose stories, while poignant, aren't as fleshed out as I would have liked them to be), and a few minor characters. The chapters read quickly, but all of the back and forth through time caused it to lose some momentum and suspense for me. By the time the denouement occurs, it is, despite all the weirdness that leads up to it, fairly average and not much different from the resolution one might expect in a more traditional serial killer narrative.
There's no doubt that Lauren Beukes has an interesting idea behind The Shining Girls, but it never really delivered for me. Her writing is serviceable and occasionally finds moments of beauty, profundity, or wit; I particularly enjoyed the chapters focusing on Dan, a middle-aged man who knows he's falling for the much younger and damaged Kirby. Beukes hit the right note of guilt, longing, and restraint in his internal monologues. Despite its strong female protagonist and its creativity, I can only say that I liked the book but never truly fell in love.
Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder
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Depression, one can't be too picky). There's a stash of cash and a haphazard collection of kitschy objects from different time periods, but that's not the only secret hidden by this house--it is also a portal to the past and the future. As Harper explores the house, it speaks to him and it becomes clear that he's been drawn here for a purpose. He must seek out "The Shining Girls," women from different times and different walks of life who must die by his knife. So, serial killer stories aren't normally my thing. I'm not particularly intrigued by how a psychopath's mind works, never really interested in his methods and his madness, and I find the whodunit aspect of most of these novels tiresome. But I found that I couldn't ignore the hype surrounding The Shining Girls. The promise of a serial killer who could travel through time and disappear without a trace? Now that is certainly something that I've never read before and it appealed to the part of me that enjoys science fiction. I thought there might be something new and inventive here--something that might help it rise above others of its ilk. However, it proved to be disappointingly, well, average.
Harper Curtis is a casebook psychopath, complete with a childhood history of torturing animals and an inability to empathize with others. In terms of character, there's very little to distinguish him from other literary serial killers--he's fairly bland in comparison to, say, a Hannibal Lecter. Harper's only distinction is provided by the house itself and, unfortunately, the house only serves as a vehicle for Harper. An inventive premise, to be sure, but it's ultimately as riveting as knowing the make and model of the vehicle a killer might use to get from one place to another. Its origin is never explained and its role in the events that transpire is never really clear.
The hunt for Harper is led by the only woman to have survived his brutal attack, Kirby Mazrachi. Kirby is an appealing and interesting character. She's strong, quirky, and hellbent on finding the man who did this to her. As a means of doing so, she becomes an intern for a former criminal reporter, Dan Velasquez, at the Chicago Sun-Times. While he's now on the sports beat, Kirby hopes that she can convince him to help her gain access to files and reports that might help her track down the man who left her for dead. Kirby's investigations seem a little slapdash, moved along by heaping dollops of happenstance and coincidence that fall too neatly into place. I loved Kirby's headstrong nature, but to all those who compare this novel to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo I must point out that a few punk rock t-shirts and a nose ring do not a Lisbeth Salander make.
As it weaves back and forth through time, the novel alternates its chapters between Harper, Kirby, Harper's other victims (whose stories, while poignant, aren't as fleshed out as I would have liked them to be), and a few minor characters. The chapters read quickly, but all of the back and forth through time caused it to lose some momentum and suspense for me. By the time the denouement occurs, it is, despite all the weirdness that leads up to it, fairly average and not much different from the resolution one might expect in a more traditional serial killer narrative.
There's no doubt that Lauren Beukes has an interesting idea behind The Shining Girls, but it never really delivered for me. Her writing is serviceable and occasionally finds moments of beauty, profundity, or wit; I particularly enjoyed the chapters focusing on Dan, a middle-aged man who knows he's falling for the much younger and damaged Kirby. Beukes hit the right note of guilt, longing, and restraint in his internal monologues. Despite its strong female protagonist and its creativity, I can only say that I liked the book but never truly fell in love.
Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder
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LibraryThing member zoomball
Another reviewer mentioned that the book skipped around a lot. Well, yeah, it is a time-travel crime thing. That was different... With this in mind, I made sure to pay really good attention to the dates at the beginning of the chapters as I listened to the audio version. There were multiple readers
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- and that added to the ease of being able to follow it in the audio version. Personally it was too gorey for me - I found myself fast forwarding through long sections. Those scenes didn't seem to add anything to the plot. As for the time travel thing, it was an interesting twist and the historical era recreations seemed good. I just never got how the specificity of arriving at a given time was managed. I'm glad I hung in for the ending. Show Less
LibraryThing member jmchshannon
Harper Curtis is a down-on-his-heels laborer from the 1930s. Kirby Mazrachi is a lively teen enjoying life in the 1990s. The two, by all accounts, should never meet. However, thanks to the influence of a mysterious House in a rundown Chicago neighborhood, their lives collide in horrific fashion. As
Lauren Beukes’ The Shining Girls needs to be read carefully. The time travel shifts are sudden and subtle, often indicated by a sentence or two and easily missed. That should not scare off a reader though, as the time travel aspect of this murder mystery is absolutely brilliant. The ramifications and circular nature of the events as they unfold adds a fascinating level of intricacy and horror that propels the novel beyond a traditional murder mystery.
Kirby’s story is particularly compelling. After barely surviving Harper’s truly atrocious attack, it would have been easy for her to hide and protect herself from future harm. Her determination to obtain justice is understandable but still surprising given the level of trauma she underwent. Her inability to take no for an answer serves her well, not only in her continued existence but also as she delves further into her own mysterious case. More importantly, her fortitude allows her to open her mind to the impossible. She’s fiery, fierce, and yet extraordinarily fragile as she works to confront her would-be killer.
In most horror stories, the horror best comes from a reader’s imagination and not from anything stated by an author. The Shining Girls is an exception to that. A reader can imagine Harper’s murders, but they will never be as brutal or disturbing as what Ms. Beukes describes. Not for the faint of heart, the murder scenes serve to highlight how truly depraved Harper is and the viciousness with which one human can attack and mutilate another.
Interestingly enough, as inhuman as Harper appears to be, there remains the question of whether he truly is a vicious, heartless creature. While his murders get progressively more frightening, his initial hesitation hints at someone who was not born to be a serial killer. The natural conclusion at such suggestions is Harper is not the serial killer but rather The House. That is when the story truly becomes awesome.
Speaking of The House, it is easy to ignore it as just another mystical portal. However, as indicated by Harper’s transformation, to fail to consider it as more than the backdrop is to miss a vital piece of the novel. While she make get explicit with her murder scenes, Ms. Beukes wisely leaves the true nature of The House up to the individual reader. The unanswered questions, the suggestions, the descriptions, and the narrative surrounding The House all indicate something insidious, but what that may be is only as horrifying as a reader wants it to be. However, the unknown aspect of this unusual dwelling is significantly more terrifying than anything Harper does to his shining girls.
Everything about The Shining Girls is familiar, and yet the tweaks Ms. Beukes does to a traditional murder mystery format sets the story apart from any previous story. The serial killer aspect is awful, especially as Harper does not exhibit any of the traditional psychological signs of such killers. What he does to those girls is simply horrible, and Ms. Beukes makes sure to leave nothing about those scenes to a reader’s imagination, which somehow makes them even worse. However, the sinister feel of The House, belied by its appearances of wealth and comfort, change the story from disgusting to horrifying. There is definitely more than meets the eye about The House, and Harper is its unfortunate pawn. The time travel aspect of The House and Harper’s crimes is staggeringly fascinating in its implications. This unique and extremely well-written thriller makes for a perfect addition to anyone’s summer reads pile.
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Harper steps back to the past, Kirby must confront her fears and trust her instincts if she ever hopes to unravel the mystery of her unknown assailant.Lauren Beukes’ The Shining Girls needs to be read carefully. The time travel shifts are sudden and subtle, often indicated by a sentence or two and easily missed. That should not scare off a reader though, as the time travel aspect of this murder mystery is absolutely brilliant. The ramifications and circular nature of the events as they unfold adds a fascinating level of intricacy and horror that propels the novel beyond a traditional murder mystery.
Kirby’s story is particularly compelling. After barely surviving Harper’s truly atrocious attack, it would have been easy for her to hide and protect herself from future harm. Her determination to obtain justice is understandable but still surprising given the level of trauma she underwent. Her inability to take no for an answer serves her well, not only in her continued existence but also as she delves further into her own mysterious case. More importantly, her fortitude allows her to open her mind to the impossible. She’s fiery, fierce, and yet extraordinarily fragile as she works to confront her would-be killer.
In most horror stories, the horror best comes from a reader’s imagination and not from anything stated by an author. The Shining Girls is an exception to that. A reader can imagine Harper’s murders, but they will never be as brutal or disturbing as what Ms. Beukes describes. Not for the faint of heart, the murder scenes serve to highlight how truly depraved Harper is and the viciousness with which one human can attack and mutilate another.
Interestingly enough, as inhuman as Harper appears to be, there remains the question of whether he truly is a vicious, heartless creature. While his murders get progressively more frightening, his initial hesitation hints at someone who was not born to be a serial killer. The natural conclusion at such suggestions is Harper is not the serial killer but rather The House. That is when the story truly becomes awesome.
Speaking of The House, it is easy to ignore it as just another mystical portal. However, as indicated by Harper’s transformation, to fail to consider it as more than the backdrop is to miss a vital piece of the novel. While she make get explicit with her murder scenes, Ms. Beukes wisely leaves the true nature of The House up to the individual reader. The unanswered questions, the suggestions, the descriptions, and the narrative surrounding The House all indicate something insidious, but what that may be is only as horrifying as a reader wants it to be. However, the unknown aspect of this unusual dwelling is significantly more terrifying than anything Harper does to his shining girls.
Everything about The Shining Girls is familiar, and yet the tweaks Ms. Beukes does to a traditional murder mystery format sets the story apart from any previous story. The serial killer aspect is awful, especially as Harper does not exhibit any of the traditional psychological signs of such killers. What he does to those girls is simply horrible, and Ms. Beukes makes sure to leave nothing about those scenes to a reader’s imagination, which somehow makes them even worse. However, the sinister feel of The House, belied by its appearances of wealth and comfort, change the story from disgusting to horrifying. There is definitely more than meets the eye about The House, and Harper is its unfortunate pawn. The time travel aspect of The House and Harper’s crimes is staggeringly fascinating in its implications. This unique and extremely well-written thriller makes for a perfect addition to anyone’s summer reads pile.
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LibraryThing member smcamp1234
Sooooo disappointed in this book. The premise had me hooked and I instantly added it to my reading pile and started reading within the week. Now what went wrong? I can name two specific areas perchance. One the characters are not that interesting at all. They are flat, tasteless, and utterly
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boring. That for one should be more than enough reason not to like this book, but the chapters are so brief and the pov change at each new chapter that it just becomes an irritating nuisance. Show Less
LibraryThing member JacobSeifert
I was very disappointed with this novel. Beukes falls so short with the potential she had with a time traveling serial killer. I mean, come on, people hear about that and they are going have some sort of expectation--that of at least assuming the author had some cool ideas about how to use time
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travel in interesting ways. Wrong. In fact, it doesn't seem like Beukes cared about utilizing the time travel at all. The time traveling aspects could have easily been taken out because the "mystery" and "drama" it causes feels tacked on. It seems as though Beukes' intention wasn't to tell an engaging story, but to push her own agendas. Hate the killer and adore the victims, she seems to beg us. Sadly, being so heavy handed only makes the characters flat and uninteresting. There were glimpses of depth in the killer, but it wasn't pushed far enough to come to fruition. As far as the shining girls, they were interesting and fully-imagined in theory, but we saw so little of most of them that they ended up coming off as flat and uninteresting to me. They felt more like they were created to be martyrs instead of engaging characters. Beukes is an admirable activist and a great human being in general, but her writing is too pushy with its ideas and woefully unimaginative in its execution. Show Less
LibraryThing member MinDea
The Shining Girls is about a man named Harper who has found a house that allows him to travel through time to track down these "Shining Girls". He usually meets them when they're younger to give them something not of their time and then finds them later in their life and murders them.
One of
If you like thrillers this is a great book. I would say there were a couple very graphic scenes that were hard for me to get through, but the story is well written and the characters are brilliantly created. You become attached to the characters.
All in all, a great read!
One of
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Harper's victims is Kirby. She survives his attack and starts investigating her murder and similar murders to track down her attacker.If you like thrillers this is a great book. I would say there were a couple very graphic scenes that were hard for me to get through, but the story is well written and the characters are brilliantly created. You become attached to the characters.
All in all, a great read!
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LibraryThing member norabelle414
A serial killer mysteriously travels through time from the 1920s to 1990s to murder very specific young women - he says he can see them shining. He always takes one item from their possession, and leaves them with something else. Unbeknownst to him, one of his victims survives, and spends the next
I never thought a book about time travel could feel so bland and generic. As I have mentioned before, serial killer/detective novels are not for me. The time travel aspect of this book was too weak to make up for that. Nothing about the time travel is really explored, it just sits there. The author tries to add the cool time-travel tropes I love (like leaving something for one's younger self to find, and lots of "closing the loop") but they are overshadowed by the tired old serial killer/detective tropes. (Killer returns to the murder site to jerk off; killer tortures small animals as a child; old, washed-out, divorced detective/journalist falls in love with vivacious young almost-victim). Yawn. There wasn't enough science fiction (or too much detective novel?) to make me like this book, though I did really enjoy the historical peeks into the lives of young women throughout Chicago history and the writing was lovely.
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several years of her life trying to figure out whodunit with the help of a seasoned old journalist.I never thought a book about time travel could feel so bland and generic. As I have mentioned before, serial killer/detective novels are not for me. The time travel aspect of this book was too weak to make up for that. Nothing about the time travel is really explored, it just sits there. The author tries to add the cool time-travel tropes I love (like leaving something for one's younger self to find, and lots of "closing the loop") but they are overshadowed by the tired old serial killer/detective tropes. (Killer returns to the murder site to jerk off; killer tortures small animals as a child; old, washed-out, divorced detective/journalist falls in love with vivacious young almost-victim). Yawn. There wasn't enough science fiction (or too much detective novel?) to make me like this book, though I did really enjoy the historical peeks into the lives of young women throughout Chicago history and the writing was lovely.
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LibraryThing member VintageReader
First, let me say this: I hate serial-killer novels. I just hate them. I'm a mystery fan, but serial killers and child murderers... ugh. I just can't stand them.
But I LOVE time-travel novels, and I thought this was a great idea. A time-traveling serial killer? Wow.
In the end, I didn't think the
But I LOVE time-travel novels, and I thought this was a great idea. A time-traveling serial killer? Wow.
In the end, I didn't think the
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time-travel part held up as well as the serial-killer part, but they blend together into one fantastic read. And the serial-killer stuff was gory, but not as much as some. Highly recommended for a creepy summer read. Show Less
LibraryThing member cathyskye
First Line: He clenches the orange plastic pony in the pocket of his sports coat.
In The Shining Girls, a time-traveling serial killer named Harper Curtis meets Kirby Mazrachi, a young woman who refuses to die.
Stumbling into a house in Depression-Era Chicago that opens into other times, Curtis is
Kirby is the last shining girl, the shining girl who survived. She's made a vow to herself to bring her would-be killer to justice and uses her work with Chicago Sun-Times ex-homicide reporter Dan Velasquez towards this goal. The truth-- once she starts homing in on it-- is unbelievable.
I have to admit that I was drawn to this book by its conceit of a time-traveling serial killer. I wanted to see how the author would make this work. She does, but the results are very uneven.
The unevenness begins with the setting. Chicago during many different time periods (beginning with the Depression) would be a marvelous setting for this type of book, and it started out to be here. However, the various Chicago scenes soon felt like two-dimensional stage props, or like name dropping. Instead of bringing me deeper into the story, Chicago was keeping me out.
The characters did the same thing. Curtis the Killer is described as "charming" more than once, but that charm never came across to me. He remained nothing more than a creepy, scary figure in the shadows whom I would hope to face with some sort of real weapon in my hand if we were ever to meet. Kirby, as the survivor who's trying to bring Curtis to justice, should elicit sympathy from readers, but outside of the very well-written and emotional scene where she is attacked and left for dead, she is anything but sympathetic. The experience has turned Kirby into a distrustful girl who keeps the world at bay with the liberal application of sarcasm. Although this would be a natural reaction to such a horrific event, the reader needs to be able to see past that from time to time. Since I couldn't, Kirby and her mission never really came to life.
The only characters who did in fact shine for me were the "shining girls" that Curtis dispatched so quickly. As Kirby researches what clues she can find, we are allowed to glimpse into these victims' lives and know that they would truly have been extraordinary. Along with Kirby's much-maligned dog Houdini, these are the characters who generated enough interest for me to continue to read the book.
There were also two more points in the book that didn't quite make sense to me. One, the house that allowed Curtis to travel back and forth through time needed to be explained a bit more. Readers are allowed to believe that there's something mystical going on, a strange presence of sorts. Perhaps the author felt this was needed in order to explain the time-traveling process, but I think most readers would prefer thinking the house just does it by methods unknown rather than to have the author mention something but never reveal it in more detail. The second point that bothered me was the clues that Curtis would leave behind at each crime scene. They're very distinctive clues that would stand out as "head scratchers" for certain, yet none of the homicide detectives seem to think they mean anything. I don't think seventy or eighty years' worth of detectives would completely overlook something so obvious and so puzzling.
Despite its unevenness, I did enjoy reading The Shining Girls because it's such an interesting concept, and-- as I mentioned before-- the attack scene with Kirby, Curtis, and Houdini the dog is extremely well written. The book just needed more scenes like those.
In The Shining Girls, a time-traveling serial killer named Harper Curtis meets Kirby Mazrachi, a young woman who refuses to die.
Stumbling into a house in Depression-Era Chicago that opens into other times, Curtis is
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compelled to kill young women who are shining with potential, often meeting them as children and telling them that he'll be back. After each killing Curtis simply disappears back into the house and another time period. Kirby is the last shining girl, the shining girl who survived. She's made a vow to herself to bring her would-be killer to justice and uses her work with Chicago Sun-Times ex-homicide reporter Dan Velasquez towards this goal. The truth-- once she starts homing in on it-- is unbelievable.
I have to admit that I was drawn to this book by its conceit of a time-traveling serial killer. I wanted to see how the author would make this work. She does, but the results are very uneven.
The unevenness begins with the setting. Chicago during many different time periods (beginning with the Depression) would be a marvelous setting for this type of book, and it started out to be here. However, the various Chicago scenes soon felt like two-dimensional stage props, or like name dropping. Instead of bringing me deeper into the story, Chicago was keeping me out.
The characters did the same thing. Curtis the Killer is described as "charming" more than once, but that charm never came across to me. He remained nothing more than a creepy, scary figure in the shadows whom I would hope to face with some sort of real weapon in my hand if we were ever to meet. Kirby, as the survivor who's trying to bring Curtis to justice, should elicit sympathy from readers, but outside of the very well-written and emotional scene where she is attacked and left for dead, she is anything but sympathetic. The experience has turned Kirby into a distrustful girl who keeps the world at bay with the liberal application of sarcasm. Although this would be a natural reaction to such a horrific event, the reader needs to be able to see past that from time to time. Since I couldn't, Kirby and her mission never really came to life.
The only characters who did in fact shine for me were the "shining girls" that Curtis dispatched so quickly. As Kirby researches what clues she can find, we are allowed to glimpse into these victims' lives and know that they would truly have been extraordinary. Along with Kirby's much-maligned dog Houdini, these are the characters who generated enough interest for me to continue to read the book.
There were also two more points in the book that didn't quite make sense to me. One, the house that allowed Curtis to travel back and forth through time needed to be explained a bit more. Readers are allowed to believe that there's something mystical going on, a strange presence of sorts. Perhaps the author felt this was needed in order to explain the time-traveling process, but I think most readers would prefer thinking the house just does it by methods unknown rather than to have the author mention something but never reveal it in more detail. The second point that bothered me was the clues that Curtis would leave behind at each crime scene. They're very distinctive clues that would stand out as "head scratchers" for certain, yet none of the homicide detectives seem to think they mean anything. I don't think seventy or eighty years' worth of detectives would completely overlook something so obvious and so puzzling.
Despite its unevenness, I did enjoy reading The Shining Girls because it's such an interesting concept, and-- as I mentioned before-- the attack scene with Kirby, Curtis, and Houdini the dog is extremely well written. The book just needed more scenes like those.
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LibraryThing member capiam1234
Sooooo disappointed in this book. The premise had me hooked and I instantly added it to my reading pile and started reading within the week. Now what went wrong? I can name two specific areas perchance. One the characters are not that interesting at all. They are flat, tasteless, and utterly
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boring. That for one should be more than enough reason not to like this book, but the chapters are so brief and the pov change at each new chapter that it just becomes an irritating nuisance. Show Less
LibraryThing member alwright1
Thrillers are not my usual fare, but I have a weakness for time travel. The Shining Girls has great characters, a rich setting, and a truly bad bad guy. I must have rushed to the end, because it felt like it was through in no time.
LibraryThing member picardyrose
I usually hate serial killers, but this was so imaginative!
LibraryThing member Sugar_and_Snark
Kirby is a determined young woman searching for the man who took everything from her. She starts her search by getting a job at a newspaper and befriends Dan, a sports journalist who covered her attack a few years before. Together they find answers neither of them ever dreamed off! There was
There were a few things that I would have liked to have happened, but nothing ground-breaking and I cannot wait for the TV series! (yip read about it here). I love mysteries and thrillers, but add a sci-fi element and a fantastic plot, and you have me for life! I will read every mystery/thriller novel Lauren Beukes decides to write!
The title and the various covers are amazing and really suite this novel well. The cover I chose to put at the top is my favorite, as it gives the essence of the story - a view from different times and places all mashed together, to give you The Shining Girls!
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something about Kirby that felt startlingly real, and reading the killers thoughts was enlightening and creepy at the same time. You don't get to read from the killer's perspective often, and I must say this mix really worked well.There were a few things that I would have liked to have happened, but nothing ground-breaking and I cannot wait for the TV series! (yip read about it here). I love mysteries and thrillers, but add a sci-fi element and a fantastic plot, and you have me for life! I will read every mystery/thriller novel Lauren Beukes decides to write!
The title and the various covers are amazing and really suite this novel well. The cover I chose to put at the top is my favorite, as it gives the essence of the story - a view from different times and places all mashed together, to give you The Shining Girls!
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LibraryThing member Randall.Hansen
An interesting concept -- a time-traveling serial killer! Good mix of thriller, victim stories and survival, as well as insights into the mind of a crazed killer who zips through several decades. Interesting storytelling, and a decent page-turner, but lacked a bit in really helping the reader to
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truly understand. Show Less
LibraryThing member AdonisGuilfoyle
OK, gush, gush, gush - what a fantastic novel! The cover, which suggests derivative YA fantasy fiction perhaps containing sparkly vampires, does not do the content justice. I would describe the story as a creative hybrid of The Time Traveller's Wife and The Lovely Bones, but in a good way, only
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darker. I borrowed a copy from the library, but might have to buy my own Kindle version, because there is so much to take in. I even missed the real meaning of the 'shining' girls until midway through, diverted by the sharp narration and observant details. When I finally realised why these women were being targeted, the killer's words to one of his victims towards the end of the book really hit me: 'Don't stop shining'. I am possibly going overboard here, and like The Lovely Bones, might have forgotten about Lauren Beukes' novel soon after being so bowled over, but right now I am deeply impressed. Thoughtful, brutal, heartbreaking, yet always captivating, The Shining Girls is a powerful read for 2013. Show Less
LibraryThing member melissarochelle
Read from June 22 to 25, 2013
This book is a mix of genres (Sci-Fi, Mystery, Horror), but overall it's Suspense. Sure...there's time travel, but I soon realized that wasn't why I kept reading. I almost gave up on the book about 50 or so pages in. It just didn't grab me in those first few chapters.
At first, it felt like the time travel was slowing me down, but eventually it kind of fell to the side and I stopped trying to figure it out. Once I did that, the story really kept me interested. Kirby's hunt for her attacker and the way both sides of the story unfolds was fantastic.
Kirby reminded me of Vic in NOS4A2 -- despite my troubles with the book, I liked Vic -- and Harper reminded me of Charlie Manx. I'm sure that's just because I read them so close together. The time travel, of course, reminded me of The Time Traveler's Wife (there the time travel REALLY confused me...with this one the confusion happened less). Finally, like with Life After Life, I recommend reading the physical book instead of an eBook for easy flipping back and forth (because you know you're gonna forget the date of something).
Once I finished the book, I was very happy that I had stuck with it. Great ending, great characters, and great suspense.
(Aside...how do you distinguish between Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Horror? I think Suspense keeps you turning the pages, while just Thriller has a few jumps along the way. Pyschological Thriller is more heady and may require a Xanax and Horror is a little of all of that with more blood. --OK, that's a little too simplified, but they do tend to all overlap.)
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Reading Progress
06/23 page 44 11.0% "Hmm...not sure I'm going to finish this one."
06/23 page 52 14.0% "Kirby dislikes The Giving Tree...maybe I will keep reading."
06/24 page 288 78.0% "Time travel confuses me."
06/25 page 368 100.0% "It was a slow start, but ended up being pretty fantastic."
This book is a mix of genres (Sci-Fi, Mystery, Horror), but overall it's Suspense. Sure...there's time travel, but I soon realized that wasn't why I kept reading. I almost gave up on the book about 50 or so pages in. It just didn't grab me in those first few chapters.
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But then a few additional POVs were introduced and that created a bigger world and I wanted to know all of these people connected. Plus...I discovered Kirby didn't like The Giving Tree and that made me like her even more. At first, it felt like the time travel was slowing me down, but eventually it kind of fell to the side and I stopped trying to figure it out. Once I did that, the story really kept me interested. Kirby's hunt for her attacker and the way both sides of the story unfolds was fantastic.
Kirby reminded me of Vic in NOS4A2 -- despite my troubles with the book, I liked Vic -- and Harper reminded me of Charlie Manx. I'm sure that's just because I read them so close together. The time travel, of course, reminded me of The Time Traveler's Wife (there the time travel REALLY confused me...with this one the confusion happened less). Finally, like with Life After Life, I recommend reading the physical book instead of an eBook for easy flipping back and forth (because you know you're gonna forget the date of something).
Once I finished the book, I was very happy that I had stuck with it. Great ending, great characters, and great suspense.
(Aside...how do you distinguish between Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Horror? I think Suspense keeps you turning the pages, while just Thriller has a few jumps along the way. Pyschological Thriller is more heady and may require a Xanax and Horror is a little of all of that with more blood. --OK, that's a little too simplified, but they do tend to all overlap.)
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Reading Progress
06/23 page 44 11.0% "Hmm...not sure I'm going to finish this one."
06/23 page 52 14.0% "Kirby dislikes The Giving Tree...maybe I will keep reading."
06/24 page 288 78.0% "Time travel confuses me."
06/25 page 368 100.0% "It was a slow start, but ended up being pretty fantastic."
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LibraryThing member bcquinnsmom
Here's another novel I'm throwing into the category of peachy beachy. The Shining Girls is a mix of time-travel scifi and serial-killer crime fiction, but don't believe the blurb written by Matt Haig on the back cover that says it's a cross between The Time Traveler's Wife and The Silence of the
In this story, time runs along different chronologies. The serial killer in this novel, Harper Curtis, has his own time line -- he jumps in and out of time from the 1930s until 1993 -- and then there's the timeline of one his victims, Kirby, whom Harper mistakenly leaves alive after a brutal attack. Third, there's the real, historical chronology, time and changing attitudes moving forward in history. It may seem confusing at first, but it makes sense here. As the novel opens, Harper Curtis is running from an angry mob in a Depression-era Hooverville. He runs into a shack, takes a coat and leaves; in one of the pockets is a key. He is drawn to a mysterious house in the city of Chicago, a jumping-off point into time; a place where his destiny, and those of a group of young women he doesn't even know, is literally written on the walls. The women are the shining girls of the title, and he is compelled to track them through time and ultimately to snuff out their glowing potential in the world. Harper visits each one long before he kills them, leaving some token; years later when it's a woman's time to die, he leaves something else with each of them, something from one of the other victims. One of them, Kirby Mazrachi, escapes from a savage attack and her destiny with death, but she is left with both physical and emotional scars. She becomes fixated on finding the person who did this to her, determined enough to the point where she becomes an intern on a newspaper that covered the case because of the access to the paper's archives. She has caught on to the pattern of artifacts left behind, but trying to find someone who will listen to her is pretty much impossible, as is trying to pin down one specific person whom she knows is responsible for a number of other brutal attacks.
On a surface level I suppose you could read this book as another serial-killer novel with a time-travelling gimmick as a hook, but to me it goes well beyond that sort of simplified explanation. Harper is figuratively plucking the wings off of women, killing them just as they are starting to make a difference in their present; cutting off their potential for making a difference in the futures of others. Thinking about that, it seems to me that the author is not only talking about men who feel compelled to keep women down, but also about victims of violence -- where every life taken represents a loss of future possibilities. The crazy time loops in this novel help to point out that although time moves on, violence against women has always been, is, and always will be part of our existence, with effects that ripple ever outward over time.
Overall, it's a good enough novel, one that kept me intrigued, but there were parts that dragged and I had to read it twice to figure out the House. I'm also not big on graphic violence, which there is plenty of in this book; I get the point -- these were living people with personalities, lives, parents, loved ones -- but sometimes too much is just too much. The ending, well, since I can't talk about that here, suffice it to say I think the action-packed empowerment statement was a little too obvious, but I know lots of people who'll disagree. This book is getting some excellent reviews, but not everyone is loving it -- I'm somewhere in the middle of all of that. I'll recommend it as a good summer read -- but read it slowly so you don't have to go through it a second time like I did.
ps/if you don't plan to read the book, there's already a series in the works based on the novel.
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Lambs, Even if, in your wildest imagination, you could mix the two, you still don't come anywhere close to The Shining Girls. Yes, there is time travel and yes there is a nasty serial killer out there, but this killer already knows who he's going to kill and visits his victims beforehand -- and even leaves them a little something to hold on to until he comes back. Bought exclusively for its summer-read/beach potential, the book didn't let me down; it may not go on this year's list of favorite novels of the year, but it's still pretty good.In this story, time runs along different chronologies. The serial killer in this novel, Harper Curtis, has his own time line -- he jumps in and out of time from the 1930s until 1993 -- and then there's the timeline of one his victims, Kirby, whom Harper mistakenly leaves alive after a brutal attack. Third, there's the real, historical chronology, time and changing attitudes moving forward in history. It may seem confusing at first, but it makes sense here. As the novel opens, Harper Curtis is running from an angry mob in a Depression-era Hooverville. He runs into a shack, takes a coat and leaves; in one of the pockets is a key. He is drawn to a mysterious house in the city of Chicago, a jumping-off point into time; a place where his destiny, and those of a group of young women he doesn't even know, is literally written on the walls. The women are the shining girls of the title, and he is compelled to track them through time and ultimately to snuff out their glowing potential in the world. Harper visits each one long before he kills them, leaving some token; years later when it's a woman's time to die, he leaves something else with each of them, something from one of the other victims. One of them, Kirby Mazrachi, escapes from a savage attack and her destiny with death, but she is left with both physical and emotional scars. She becomes fixated on finding the person who did this to her, determined enough to the point where she becomes an intern on a newspaper that covered the case because of the access to the paper's archives. She has caught on to the pattern of artifacts left behind, but trying to find someone who will listen to her is pretty much impossible, as is trying to pin down one specific person whom she knows is responsible for a number of other brutal attacks.
On a surface level I suppose you could read this book as another serial-killer novel with a time-travelling gimmick as a hook, but to me it goes well beyond that sort of simplified explanation. Harper is figuratively plucking the wings off of women, killing them just as they are starting to make a difference in their present; cutting off their potential for making a difference in the futures of others. Thinking about that, it seems to me that the author is not only talking about men who feel compelled to keep women down, but also about victims of violence -- where every life taken represents a loss of future possibilities. The crazy time loops in this novel help to point out that although time moves on, violence against women has always been, is, and always will be part of our existence, with effects that ripple ever outward over time.
Overall, it's a good enough novel, one that kept me intrigued, but there were parts that dragged and I had to read it twice to figure out the House. I'm also not big on graphic violence, which there is plenty of in this book; I get the point -- these were living people with personalities, lives, parents, loved ones -- but sometimes too much is just too much. The ending, well, since I can't talk about that here, suffice it to say I think the action-packed empowerment statement was a little too obvious, but I know lots of people who'll disagree. This book is getting some excellent reviews, but not everyone is loving it -- I'm somewhere in the middle of all of that. I'll recommend it as a good summer read -- but read it slowly so you don't have to go through it a second time like I did.
ps/if you don't plan to read the book, there's already a series in the works based on the novel.
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LibraryThing member beserene
It took me considerable time to work through this sci-fi thriller. The non-linear narrative, while elegant in its jumps and twists, took concentration and patience. Often, I found myself flipping back to previous chapters to check dates or details, in order to reconstruct events in a more
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accessible line. But that effort is part of the beauty of the book. The tangled narrative creates an appropriately unsettled tone that is perfect for this tale of a serial killer who jumps through time and the girl who escaped him once but must now try to stop him. It wasn't the easiest read on the block, but the experience is delicious in its details and well-crafted in its form and pace. Each chapter creates is own contained tension while also contributing to the pieced-in picture that the reader is working to form, resulting in an even greater sense of satisfaction than usual when one finally reaches the conclusion. Worth checking out for those who like their books to intrigue and challenge, and for those who can handle some pretty graphic descriptions of killings (just so you know). Show Less
LibraryThing member Beamis12
There are many, many serial killer novels out there, but not one that is quite like this. Featuring a killer, who stumbles onto a house that lets him travel through time to find what he calls, his "shining girls." Girls that are so full of life he is compelled to extinguish their flame. How does
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one possibly catch a killer that can kill and then escape to another time. He does leave a few clues, and Kirby, who did not die and is the one who got away, wants nothing more than to hunt him down. I loved that this is set in Chicago, and we are shown Chicago all the way through the thirties to the nineties. I just read that this highly inventive novel has been optioned by DiCaprio's production company, for television. Although at times it did get confusing, what year when, the concept mattered more than the details and as I read it did get easier. It is pretty descriptive so definitely not for the faint of heart, but I was thoroughly entertained. Show Less
Awards
Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award (Winner — Suspense/Thriller — 2013)
Crime Writers' Association Awards (Shortlist — 2013)
British Fantasy Award (Winner — August Derleth Award — 2014)
The Sunday Times Fiction Prize (Shortlist — 2014)
University of Johannesburg Prize (Shortlist — 2014)
Theakstons Old Peculier Prize (Longlist — 2014)
NPR: Books We Love (2013)
Nielsen BookData New Zealand Booksellers' Choice Award (Finalist — 2014)
Language
Original publication date
2013-04-15
ISBN
0007464568 / 9780007464562
Local notes
A time-traveling Depression-era drifter must murder the "shining girls" in order to continue his travels. Until one escapes and starts hunting him.