The Shining Girls Book Review

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 the shining girls: bright young women, burning with potential. Curtis stalks them through their lives across different eras until, in 1989, one of his victims, Kirby Mazrachi, survives and starts hunting him back.
Working with a former homicide reporter who is falling for her, Kirby races against time and reason to unravel an impossible mystery.

I think The Shining Girls may just be my favourite book of the year. It is a fast paced and brilliantly thought out. I flew through this book, as in, it’s probably been the first book I haven’t been able to put down in a really long time. Emotionally however this was probably the most confusing book I have ever read. It was almost calming to read, but also kept me on the edge of my seat with the thrilling aspects. Anyway, I really loved this book and story.

Characters in The Shining Girls

This book follows multiple characters over different timelines as they are stalked and mutilated by a serial killer. The Shining Girls is brilliant because despite having a limited amount of time with each characters you end up loving each of them. Although it was clear what was going to happen you ended up hoping beyond hope that it would be different. It was a really great look into the mind of a serial killer especially one with a supernatural twist.

I think the use of Kirby as the survivor was a really interesting twist. It gave me that hope I was looking for. It could have been a very dark book, without her subplot. The comic levity that her and Dan shared was enough to break up the story as well as fleshing her out beyond her trauma. It was well written and I ended up really loving their friendship. It was built on a mutual understanding, I just thought it was a great addition to the story!

Bad Bits in The Shining Girls

It’s a very rare occurrence, but I don’t actually think there was any particularly bad parts in The Shining Girls. One thing I would note is it does at times get extremely gory and detailed. So please please bear that in mind if it is something you are likely to be sensitive to. The ending although fantastically wound up, was a little underwhelming. Especially, when you compare it to the other parts of the books. It felt almost a little out of character with the rest of the story. However the full circle moment definitely made up for that.

Good Bits in The Shining Girls

For me the different timelines and characters were the best part of this book. I adored the moments where Kirby was living a normal life and trying to move past the trauma of the attack. It was great because despite the amount of characters and timelines I never felt lost. There were only a few occasions where I had to double check where we were in the world. It was brilliantly written where each character felt distinct and each timeline felt well formed and separate from each other. I was impressed with the pacing, nothing ever felt as though it was dragging on.

Next move

I will definitely be picking up Beukes other works and trying them out. I loved her writing style and could definitely see myself reading and loving other books written in a similar style. In terms of recommending this one, I have also crowed about this one to all my friends and family. I think it will be an acquired taste but if it seems to be something you might enjoy I would definitely say PICK IT UP!

Have you ever read such a well paced book that you couldn’t leave it alone? Let me know any books you think I would love after this review!