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    The Shining Girls
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    The Shining Girls
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    The Shining Girls
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Shining Girls

    Written by Lauren Beukes

    Narrated by Christopher Ragland

    3.5/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this audiobook

    The jaw-dropping, page-turning, critically-acclaimed book of the year: a serial-killer thriller unlike any other from the award-winning Lauren Beukes. ‘GONE GIRL has not exactly gone. But THE SHINING GIRLS have arrived’ (The Times).

    THE SHINING GIRLS is now streaming on Apple TV+, starring Elisabeth Moss and Jamie Bell

    “It’s not my fault. It’s yours. You shouldn’t shine. You shouldn’t make me do this.”

    Chicago 1931. Harper Curtis, a violent drifter, stumbles on a house with a secret as shocking as his own twisted nature – it opens onto other times. He uses it to stalk his carefully chosen 'shining girls' through the decades – and cut the spark out of them.

    He’s the perfect killer. Unstoppable. Untraceable. He thinks…

    Chicago, 1992. They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Tell that to Kirby Mazrachi, whose life was shattered after a brutal attempt to murder her. Still struggling to find her attacker, her only ally is Dan, an ex-homicide reporter who covered her case and now might be falling in love with her.

    As Kirby investigates, she finds the other girls – the ones who didn’t make it. The evidence is … impossible. But for a girl who should be dead, impossible doesn’t mean it didn’t happen…

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateApr 25, 2013
    ISBN9780007524853
    Unavailable
    The Shining Girls
    Author

    Lauren Beukes

    Lauren Beukes writes novels, comics and screenplays, and has worked in journalism, kids TV and documentary making. Her critically acclaimed novel The Shining Girls, which has been translated into 22 languages, was a Sunday Times bestseller and 2013 Richard & Judy Book Club choice. Her previous novel, Zoo City, a black magic noir set in Johannesburg, won the coveted Arthur C. Clarke Award. She is also the author of the neo-political thriller, Moxyland. She lives in Cape Town, South Africa.

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    Reviews for The Shining Girls

    3.5/5

    827 ratings99 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This was a fast, punchy book. The overall plot is very dark - it's about a serial killer & there's plenty of gore. But he's also time-travelling, which allows the writer to use Chicago from the 30s to the 90s as a back-drop. I really like the way she highlighted a whole load of social issues through the choice of victims, without it being heavy-handed, and her attempt to show the effects of violent murders on the people left behind.Showing that emotional impact was somewhat limited by the style of the book: the chapters are often very short, snatches of action in different times. But I liked that, and felt it kept the plot moving, and it meant the devastation experienced by the families and friends wasn't overwhelming, or mawkishly sentimental. In fact, it's perhaps only something that sinks in when you've finished the book and the details come back to you as you're mulling it over.I also liked the use of names/dates for each chapter to give the reader a handle on how it all fit together. That might have been confusing because it's not told chronologically, but I found it fairly easy to keep track of once I realised Kirkby's story is mostly told in order with a flashback/ fast forward or two, whilst Harper's story is told in the order he experiences it, but he's jumping between times to commit the murders. And the chapter titles help keep track.All in all, a good read.
    • 5/5
      It was an interesting twist on the serial killer type of book. I loved the back and forth and the story line of both main characters. It was a very good and fast read.
    • 4/5
      Murder mystery with a time travelling killer. My favourite part of this novel was the female protagonist and her rounded character. A big change of pace from Zoo City but still enjoyable.
    • 4/5
      Murder mystery with a time travelling killer. My favourite part of this novel was the female protagonist and her rounded character. A big change of pace from Zoo City but still enjoyable.
    • 2/5
      I didn't like it as much as i thought i would.
      I watched the first few episodes from the tv show and thought it was a good idea to read the book. But the book had the action backwards and as it was confusing at first, i found it hard to listen.
      I had hopes this book was a simple thriller, but it had elements of time travel, which i admit it was my fault for not reading the synopsis better.
    • 1/5
      Harper is a serial killer with a difference, he can travel through time. Kirby is one of his victims who survives. Kirby is determined to find the man who nearly killed her.I don't normally read books that could be classed as sci fi. Time travel I can cope with if it's done simply and not to complex. In this case Harper can time travel by going to The House.I was getting on with the book ok but then started getting very confused. The chapters switched between the characters and various time periods. There was a lot of backwards and forwards. I had to keep backtracking to see where I was. This then left me very frustrated. For now the book unfortunately I have left unfinished half way through. This is the reason I have given it one star. If I could have finished the book it would probably be worthy of a higher score.
    • 3/5
      I'd give this a C. Way to reminiscent of Stephen King for my liking. Fairly well executed thriller but the fantasy hook is wasted on what amounts to a police procedural.
    • 2/5
      An unsatisfactory experience, but not altogether lousy. An uphill read without reward.
    • 3/5
      The Shining Girls started off kind of rocky, got better, then falls apart. It takes a little bit to understand what is going on with Harper because the book explains it in a vague sentence early on. He goes back in time and kills women because the house he is in tells him to. Yep. A lot going on that just gets messy. The characters are great though so that makes the book more interesting and able to stand the time traveling serial killer scenario. The book just goes to hell at the end when Kirby kind of figures out what is going on. No real reaction just a need to stop him. Ok. And what happens when she does stop him? The book ends. I was really hoping Kirby and Dan would try to explain it and prove what Harper was, but nah.
    • 4/5
      Time-traveling serial killer is tracked by the one woman who survived the attack. Plucky heroine can’t believe her own crazy suspicions. Nail-biting!Somehow, Lauren Beukes managed to put a new, fascinating spin on murder mysteries, and I just fell for it!During the Great Depression, Harper finds himself in possession of a key to a house…a house that does something fantastic. Harper can choose any date within a 70-year span, open the front door, and find himself in a new time. So, being the creative thinker he is, Harper decides this is a great way to commit murder. He chooses female victims, all of whom “shine”. To cultivate the darkness inside himself, Harper decides to extinguish these women’s light, but only after he plays a game of cat and mouse with them. Until one victim survives his attack. Kirby will never feel free until she finds her attacker. The pattern she finds is impossible, but it's her only lead.What I liked about this book was the straight-forward language telling an impossible story. There is really no need for flashback, since time travel exists in Beukes’ world, and we can witness the events first hand. We never get an explanation of why this particular house in Chicago has this power, or how Harper came to understand its power. But it doesn’t really matter. It’s like asking why people do the things they do. They just do.Although Kirby is the only victim we get to know in any real sense, we learn enough about the others to understand why Harper views them as such threats. They each shine in their own way. One shines because of her glamour. Another shines because of her strong work ethic and quiet dignity. Kirby shines just because her spirit is so indomitable. That life force is what kept Kirby alive when she should have died. And let me just say: when I finally read the story of Kirby’s attack, I was left horrified. I had to put the book down until the next night so I could try to purge the images from my head. This from a woman who devoured Stephen King as a kid!If you are looking for a quick read for the summer, this is definitely a good one to try. Murder, romance, time travel: what’s not to like?
    • 4/5
      Not as good as "Broken Monsters" but still a terror-ific thriller/horror which I'd call magical realism. There is the issue of time travel and a House in which the a door opens onto those episodes. However,there i no explanation for this doornor is it treated as anything baffling but simply *is*. Rather experimenal in its narrative, the book uses one of my fvourite devices of each chapter being told from a different point of view, but add to this the jumping around through time as well. The time period covered is from the early thirties until 1993, at which point there is no further access. The plot follows a yuong woman who was a victim of a serial killer but miraculously survived to be the only one ever to get away from him. A journalist friend joins here in trying to hunt down this madmen. On the other side we follow the serial killer (originally from the 30's) as he jumps to and from various time periods to commit his murders with a distinct MO. The beginning is a little slow asone takes some time to adjust to the different charcters,pov and time periods. Once settled in the read is faster-paced, and completely engaging. I'm impressed with this author and will be continuing to read her other works.
    • 2/5
      My expectations weren’t that high, to begin with, but it was hoping for something less confusing and more fast paced. I thought the premise was interesting, but the execution was very confusing. There’s no actual explanation for the murders, which I think would’ve cleared up some of my confusion.
    • 4/5
      The Shining Girls - Lauren Beukes

      It's interesting that this book has a rating of only 3,55 on Goodreads, because usually GR ratings are heavily skewed up (compared to my personal tastest). However, I felt that this was a pretty good serial killer book with a time travel twist. I liked the characters well enough, even though I found Dan's crush on Kirby a little shifty, considering she read pretty much like a teenager (she wasn's) and he read like a middle aged divorcee. Anyway, that wasn't a deal breaker for me and he wasn't too insufferable about it, so I can look past it.

      Now, I listened to this on audio, and on several occasions I had to pick up the physical copy to check the timeline (every chapter jumps around over several decades) and I didn't even try to keep the kills straight in my head. Over all I just found the concept very interesting, and thought the author did a pretty good job exploring it.

      By no means my favorite book ever, but a solid one nonetheless.
    • 5/5
      SO. GOOD. Really, really amazing.
    • 3/5
      I don't normally pick up suspenseful/thriller novels, but I received this as a Christmas gift and decided to give it a try. While is was definitely a suspenseful, crime drama, the science fiction side really drew me in.Without giving too much away: The story jumps around in perspective between the shining girls (women from all different periods within the 20th century) and their murderer. The main shining girl, Kirby, survives her own attempted murder and makes it her mission to solve her own cold case. She enlists the begrudging help of a seasoned newspaper reporter and begins to find connections between her attack and those of many other women.The book moved at a solid pace and I never felt lost. Like I said before, the sci-fi side of the book was much more interesting to me than the murders, but I finished it quickly and thought it was a solid choice.
    • 3/5
      Well, at least I can say I've dipped my toe into the world of serial killer fiction though I don't when I'll have the stamina to revisit it. Still, this was interesting despite the usual hang-ups that accompany writing time travel. I'm looking forward to reading more of Beukes' work I have waiting in the ranks.
    • 5/5
      Lauren Beukes first came to my attention thanks to William Gibson or maybe Cory Doctorow. Some great author who recommended her on Twitter. I picked up her first two books, Moxyland and Zoo City, and read Moxyland a few years ago. I liked it, but it definitely felt like Gibson’s sensibility filtered through a South African setting. On the other hand, The Shining Girls, her third novel and first for Mulholland Books, reads like Beukes striking out on her own and making a name for herself. The result is stunning, harrowing and immensely readable.

      The Shining Girls follows the interlocking lives of two characters: Curtis Harper, who discovers a mysterious house that lets him travel in time as long as he murders the “shining girls” mapped out on the bedroom wall, and Kirby Mazrachi, one of Harper’s attempted murder victims who manages to survive and devotes her life to tracking him down. We are also treated to heartbreaking vignettes of the women Harper kills throughout the 20th century; every woman he murders is full of endless potential that he snuffs out by torturing them to death and mutilating their bodies.

      Although time travel is part of the narrative, The Shining Girls feels more like a crime thriller than a scifi story. It helps that the story all takes part in the past – Kirby’s “present day” is the early nineties. The speculative elements exist mostly as plot devices and a way to build tension, and Beukes doesn’t spend much time explaining how Harper is able to do what he does. Beukes has a background in journalism, and it’s clear that a lot of research went into this novel. The women we meet throughout the story span multiple social classes, decades and races, and each one is carefully drawn in the short moments before she dies terribly.

      My only criticism of the novel is that it feels like Kirby discovers the truth very late in the story, and after that point everything kicks into high gear until the ending. I would have liked to see a bit more of Kirby exploring the strange world of the house and its dangerous inhabitant. If nothing else, Beukes left me wanting more at the end, which is definitely a positive thing. My hope is that The Shining Girls is just the first of Beukes’ forays into crime/thriller writing. It’s a genre that suits her well.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book! It was the right amount of creepy murders, time travel (sort of), and sassy female characters. Beukes does a great job of creating an atmosphere of intrigue and repulsion set in a world of reality and fantasy. I didn't love the ending - it felt too wrapped up and tied in a bow for me - and I wish we had gotten a little more from the other shining girls (those were some of my favorite parts). All in all, I did really enjoy "The Shining Girls" and I'll be looking for more from Lauren Beukes.
    • 3/5
      Harper Curtis is a drifter in the city of Chicago. It is set in 1931, the year of the great American depression. He obtains a key to a house that means that he can have shelter, but this is no ordinary house, it is one that can open out onto other times and having called him, this house wants him to track and kill the Shining Girls, women who burn with potential through time.

      And so he starts this brutal task, appearing to the girls when they are young and leaving them a gift and then going forward in time to commit the murder. Then one day, one of his victims, Kirby Mazrachi, survives his attack. After she has recovered she starts to see where the police have got to with the investigation, and learns that they think this is sole attempt, but she feels that he had done this before, and starts to track him down. But as the evidence mounts she is unable to believe what she is finding out that this serial killer has been murdering a number of different girls in similar ways, but over a huge spread of time.

      Though that this was an original spin on the serial killer genre, with the time travel aspect, and the way that house was leading him to these victims. The characters were fairly well developed too. Harper was a nasty piece of work, and flawed too. Kirby came across as very determined, but was prone to angry outbursts and unsubtle methods of getting data. The pace was good to, but I would have liked to have seen longer chapters as some were only a page or two long before you read the story from the next perspective. Nod bad overall.
    • 3/5
      I'm not an easy sell on time travel, but this story line was intriguing.
    • 4/5
      While I was in the middle of this one, a co-worker asked me what I was reading."It's about a time-traveling serial killer," I said."Oh," he replied wryly. "There's an idea that hasn't been done before."It has, of course. But this novel, about a man from the 1930s who commits gruesome murders across the next six decades and the survivor of one of his attacks who is trying to track him down without knowing his crucial secret, feels fresh enough that it's easy to forget that fact. And I'm very impressed with how easy it makes its complicated premise and even more complicated structure work. We move rapidly back and forth from one time to another, from one perspective to another, in a decidedly non-linear fashion. Causes and effects are out of order, jumbled up, or folded in on each other until there's no telling them apart at all. There's no carefully laid-out exposition of how the time travel works and what its rules are, and only the barest hint of an explanation as to why it happens at all. And yet, it all reads clearly and easily and never remotely seems difficult to follow. I'm not at all sure how Beukes pulls that off, but my hat's off to her.I'm also slightly impressed by how she depicts the killer's POV, with his utterly matter-of-fact sociopathy. Impressed, but a little disturbed. As, indeed, the whole thing is disturbing, and, I admit, I can't entirely decide whether it's disturbing in a good or a bad way. It feels unpleasantly voyeuristic, watching this guy cut up women throughout recent history, and while there is a nice little supernatural twist at the end that I liked, I'm not sure there's ultimately a payoff to it all that makes me feel like I watched all that happen for a reason. Then again, maybe the complete lack of reasons (or causes) is part of the point. I'm not at all sure.Rating: The stuff that impresses me definitely impresses me enough to give this a 4/5, despite any lingering uncertainties.
    • 5/5
      This book grabs you by the throat and never lets you go from page one. Starting off in 1931 Chicago, Harper Curtis is a killer who murders a blind woman and takes her coat. He had killed someone else and injured his leg in the process of running away and needed to see a doctor. Luckily there's a five dollar bill in the coat and after laying low for a couple of days after murdering the blind woman he goes to the clinic and gets a cast put on his leg since his tendon is ripped and needs to heal and he's given a metal cane. Then he feels a calling to this rundown boarded-up house that when he enters is fixed up really nice inside. Upstairs is a room with the names of girls who "shine" and things that belong to them outlined on the wall. His mission was to kill them.The next time he steps outside of the house it is 1988. Inside the house, he had found a suitcase full of money and betting slips so he took some money and used it. The money was in bundles according to date which he would find out later. The women live during different times but he can go no farther in the future than 1993 for reasons he has no idea about.Kirby, one of the girls, survives the attack in 1989 because her dog saves her life. Harper leaves her to bleed out, but she gets help from a fisherman on the beach. When he checks up on her a few days later her overly dramatic mother tells him thinking he's the press that she's dead. Kirby had first met Harper when she was six and he gave her a toy horse. He took away the tennis ball she used to throw at her dog and left behind Willie Rose's lighter with the initials W.R. on it. Willie was an architect from the 1950s who was gay and worried about being pointed out a Red even though she wasn't a communist. She did have lofty ideas that she had shared with the wrong person at the firm in a world where they don't want a woman working there and will do anything to get rid of her. But they're not the ones she needs to worry about.Kirby isn't taking surviving lying down. She's tried traveling and other things but nothing is working now she wants to go after the person who did this to her. She wants to find out who he is. So she goes back to school and gets an intern at the Sun-Times with Dan Velasquez who is the sports guy but once worked homicide and did the story on her, but he burned out and couldn't handle any more man's inhumanity to man and asked to be sent to sports. It cost him his marriage. Now it's 1991 and he's agreed to help steer her in the right direction in her research if she does her job as his intern and provides him with numbers and quotes.Meanwhile, Harper is traveling back and forth in time enjoying his time in each time period and scoping out each victim killing some people that aren't on the list because they piss him off. Also, a drug addict from 1988 has discovered the inside of the house and robbed it, barely escaping before Harper returns. But nearly anyone who sees inside the house will see a dilapidated torn up house on the inside. It takes a special person to see the magical side of it. At some point, though, Harper will realize that Kirby is alive and he will be highly pissed and vindictive about ending her life. How can Kirby capture a man who travels through time? Dan is falling for her even though he doesn't want to and he is having a hard time believing the truth about Harper.This book is amazing and very unique in its storyline of having a serial killer that is compelled to kill by a house throughout time some very special girls who "shine" with life and fierceness of spirit. These are strong women whose strength the house seems to want to sap. Kirby is a great character who is full of spunk and is sick of being a victim. She has lost her old friends due to the drifting apart that happens with these things and can't seem to make new friends because she is a freak to new people who want to help her or ogle her. Dan is a romantic who sees the beauty in things like baseball. I flew through this book in no time at all it was that good. I give it five out of five stars.Quotes She punches him playfully in the arm, but hard, with her knuckle out, and he retatliates without really thinking about it, punching her back with about the same amount of force. Give as good as you get, his sisters taught him. They threw some mean punches. Also wrist burns. Wrestling him to the ground and pulling his hair. Affectionate violence. For when a hug just won’t do. That’s a Hallmark card for you-Lauren Beukes (The Shining Girls p 129) Put dope and the devil up against each other in the ring, and dope will win out. Every single time. -Lauren Beukes (The Shining Girls p 180) Worst of all—and this is how pathetic he’s become—pop songs make sense.-Lauren Beukes (The Shining Girls 231)
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this book. It was fun and entertaining and I didn't have to take it too seriously, which is exactly what I was looking for. I liked that I got to dip into different historical periods without slogging through 100 pages in each. I liked the concept of the shining girls and how each one was special in her own time and way. I liked that the serial killer wasn't especially clever or suave, he was just a creepy psycho. It was a good read.

      Here was my only issue, and maybe someone can explain it to me:
      In the Acknowledgements, the author makes a big deal out of researching everything and I totally believe it. But then there were dozens of instances of non-American word usage. I started making a list around page 150 because it was bothering me so much. I was reading the UK version, so it's possible much of that was edited out in the American version. But it seems to me the language (especially dialogue) should be consistent with the setting, not the audience or author. It just really pulled me out of the story.
      Why???

      NB - I understand and expect British spelling in a UK edition of an American-set book. But not word usage. It's like the difference between a BBC quoting an American "The colour of her tank top was blue." or "The colour of her vest was blue." which has a completely different meaning.
    • 3/5
      So I first tried this book a few months ago, read a few pages, and then put it back down. I'm not sure exactly why, whether the gruesomeness and gore was too much for me, or I found the book confusing, but it just didn't seem for me.However, I had heard so much about this book, and so when I got a copy for free for volunteering at a charity book sale, I put it on my TBR shelf. When it fit a Popsugar Reading Challenge category for this year, I picked it up again.It's hard to even describe the story, about a serial killer who can travel through time thanks to a mysterious house, who finds girls who "shine" and then tracks them down as women and brutally murders them, but the girl who survived who is now a woman is trying to solve the case of her past. The book is very nonlinear, which makes sense with the plot, but also made it harder for me to understand the plot. I'm glad I did give this book another chance. I didn't love this book, but I did like it. The gruesomeness and gore were sometimes too much for me, and I'm still not sure I entirely understood everything, especially some of the end. But I did find myself staying up much later than intended to finish the book, unable to stop turning pages, so clearly the book was doing multiple things right.
    • 3/5
      The Shining Girls started off kind of rocky, got better, then falls apart. It takes a little bit to understand what is going on with Harper because the book explains it in a vague sentence early on. He goes back in time and kills women because the house he is in tells him to. Yep. A lot going on that just gets messy. The characters are great though so that makes the book more interesting and able to stand the time traveling serial killer scenario. The book just goes to hell at the end when Kirby kind of figures out what is going on. No real reaction just a need to stop him. Ok. And what happens when she does stop him? The book ends. I was really hoping Kirby and Dan would try to explain it and prove what Harper was, but nah.
    • 3/5
      There's a lot to love in this book. The time travel loops are interesting, and the horror elements are effective. There are so many aspects of this book that done very well, but I don't feel that they ultimately come together well.

      I was a bit underwhelmed by the revelation of the nature of the house. It makes for a cool loop and explanation for its effect on Harper, but the questions it raises is more frustrating than intriguing.
    • 4/5
      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 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.
    • 4/5
      Ugh, so great. I love these sorts of big concept novels, and this one combines serial killers with journalist with 20th century women's history with early 90s pop culture and it's just so good. It also uses time travel very well. When I saw a photo of the author posing in front of a Carrie-in-a-manic-moment-on-Homeland style corkboard covered with note cards and red string, I knew I was in good hands. She really knows what she's doing. So good. Go read it so we can talk about it!
    • 5/5
      This one is worth all the hype. Crazy story line that you fall for! NO things don't get all answered, no totally tidy bow... but you're satisfied. A story like this wouldn't be tidy - one of the endearing things.
      Note - if you dislike time change in a story line, this ain't for you.

      This is one I honestly had trouble putting down.
    • 3/5
      In Chicago, a serial killer hunts through time, targeting girls from “shining girls” from different eras. Then one of his victims survives.The Shining Girls was oddly forgettable. After reading Beukes nonfiction essay “All the Pretty Corpses,” I decided I had to read The Shining Girls. The essay burns with anger at the way media treats female murder victims as pretty dead things, not people whose lives have been cut short. In it, Beukes says she wrote The Shining Girls to be as much about the victims as the killer. Unfortunately, I found it not nearly as powerful or subversive as I think Beukes intended.The Shining Girls is told from many different POVs, with the two most prominent being the killer, Harper, and the survivor, Kirby. Other sections contain points of view from Harper’s other victims, giving the reader a glimpse into the lives of the women Harper kills. Additionally, Dan, Kirby’s mentor at the Chicago Sun-Times, has reoccurring chapters.But even as The Shining Girls brings in chapters from the victims perspectives, it still ends up feeling like that same story we are all familiar with, the focus being on a male serial killer brutally murdering women. While the plot of the story is nominally Kirby bringing Harper to justice, she lacks agency, driven by the plot instead of driving it. I’m not sure what effect if any her actions during the first 75% of the book have. She could have disappeared from the majority of the story, and the result would have been the same.I also question the decision to make Kirby the survivor. All of Harper’s victims are women existing within our sexist society, but there are intersections within the category “women.” The women who die are black, Asian, gay, and trans. The woman who lives is straight, white and cis. This pattern is entirely predictable and plays into problematic trends about who gets to be a heroine.On the bright side, the pacing is appropriately fast for a thriller. I ended up reading the entirety of The Shining Girls in one day. Beukes also has a gift for describing the historical settings and how Chicago changes through the decades. It’s clear that a lot of research went into this area.However, The Shining Girls is not a book I will ever reread. The time traveling feels like a plot gimmick, the romance is completely unnecessary, and the story is not nearly as subversive as it thinks it is. At this point, I’ve tried two of Lauren Beukes books and a collection of her short stories. None really impressed me, and I don’t think I’ll be seeking out any of her work.Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.