My Review: 4/5 Stars
Goodreads Average Review: 3.47/5 Stars
"They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. But what if death came back to try again?"
The Shining Girls is a novel by South African author Lauren Beukes and tells the story of a 1930s American drifter who travels throughout time in search of his "shining girls". Harper stalks and kills each of these girls, leaving trinkets on the bodies that link each girl together. They are objects of his obsession, his need to make his murders perfect.
Kirby is one of these shining girls, the only one to survive the brutal attack, and she demands answers. What she finds, however, is impossible.
The Shining Girls shows the amount of research Beukes has put in to the production of this novel as she shows Chicago from 1929 through to 1993. In particular, the portrayal of the Depression era is significant, with in-depth descriptions of the Hooverville, hospitals and speakeasies. Beukes doesn't tone down the violence of the murder which is new in such a novel, but it then seems separate from the other events of the novel. Everything else seems pale in comparison, leaving the reader to question what else is happening and the importance of it beyond the murders. However, as a whole, I found this novel really interesting and well written. Kirby is an independent and sarcastic protagonist which is refreshing in a world of damsel-in-distress type female leads and her near miss with death only makes her more cynical.
This is definitely worth the read if you're looking for something a little out of the ordinary because it plays with the expected conventions of such a novel.
The Shining Girls is available to purchase from these locations:
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