He's the perfect killer. Unstoppable. Untraceable. He thinks. 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. 'It's not my fault. It's yours. You shouldn't shine. You shouldn't make me do this.' 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 the attacker, Kirby's only ally is Dan, an ex-homicide reporter who covered the 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 ... 'strong contender for the role of this summer's universal beach read ... [an] expert hair-raiser ... loaded with acrobatic twists' New York times 'whip-smart, mildly tricksy and compulsively readable' the Weekend Australian 'Engrossing as it is original, as rewarding as it is challenging ... a beautifully layered work of fiction. take the time to read this, it's mesmerizing' the Sun Forget GONE GIRL, now it's all about tHE SHINING GIRLS' the Observer 'By turns brilliant, brutal and riveting ... Read it and wonder' the Age 'Powerful. A tense, compelling thriller' the times 'A tremendous work of suspense fiction... a mind-melting, heart-pounding mashup that delivers on its promise' Cory Doctorow 'One of my favourite books of the year ... stark, brooding and will have you sitting up long into the wee hours in a bid to gallop through its pages' the Herald 'A grisly crime thriller meets sci-fi action meets historical fiction in a wildly inventive summer page-turner' Entertainment Weekly 'the premise is pure Stephen King, but Beukes gives it an intricate, lyrical treatment all her own' time magazine 'Fantastic' Derek Landy 'utterly original, beautifully written, it creeped the holy bejasus out of me. this is something special' tana French 'Full of surprises ... Keep the lights on' Daily Mail 'If you've got a GONE GIRL shaped hole in your life, try this cleverly constructed thriller' Evening Standard
He's the perfect killer. Unstoppable. Untraceable. He thinks. 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. 'It's not my fault. It's yours. You shouldn't shine. You shouldn't make me do this.' 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 the attacker, Kirby's only ally is Dan, an ex-homicide reporter who covered the 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 ... 'strong contender for the role of this summer's universal beach read ... [an] expert hair-raiser ... loaded with acrobatic twists' New York times 'whip-smart, mildly tricksy and compulsively readable' the Weekend Australian 'Engrossing as it is original, as rewarding as it is challenging ... a beautifully layered work of fiction. take the time to read this, it's mesmerizing' the Sun Forget GONE GIRL, now it's all about tHE SHINING GIRLS' the Observer 'By turns brilliant, brutal and riveting ... Read it and wonder' the Age 'Powerful. A tense, compelling thriller' the times 'A tremendous work of suspense fiction... a mind-melting, heart-pounding mashup that delivers on its promise' Cory Doctorow 'One of my favourite books of the year ... stark, brooding and will have you sitting up long into the wee hours in a bid to gallop through its pages' the Herald 'A grisly crime thriller meets sci-fi action meets historical fiction in a wildly inventive summer page-turner' Entertainment Weekly 'the premise is pure Stephen King, but Beukes gives it an intricate, lyrical treatment all her own' time magazine 'Fantastic' Derek Landy 'utterly original, beautifully written, it creeped the holy bejasus out of me. this is something special' tana French 'Full of surprises ... Keep the lights on' Daily Mail 'If you've got a GONE GIRL shaped hole in your life, try this cleverly constructed thriller' Evening Standard
- ISBN:
- 9780732295530
- 9780732295530
- Category:
- Crime & Mystery
- Format:
- Paperback
- Publication Date:
- 01-05-2013
- Publisher:
- HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd
- Country of origin:
- Australia
- Pages:
- 400
- Dimensions (mm):
- 234x153x30mm
- Weight:
- 0.47kg
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Reviews
2 Reviews
Author Lauren Beukes new novel 'The Shining Girls' is a science fiction thriller. It tells of Harper Curtis a serial killer who time travels to his victims earlier in life and returns to complete the killing of the shining girls. But his plans are foiled when the last of them (Kirby) survives and sets herself on a mission to find the killer.
Shining girls incorporates many themes, and was a surprising twist, however I did feel that it was lacking detail in certain areas. The investigation into finding Curtis could have been explained in better detail as could why he was completing these brutal attacks or why the girls shined to him. Not as gripping a thriller as I usually like, but still a good read.
A fast and grizzly time travelling thriller that takes the best of Jo Nesbo style serial killers (think The Snowman)and mixes it with Doctor Who time travelling.
Our hero, Kirby, must try to stop a killer who has discovered a way to travel through time. When his attempt on her life fails, she is once again in his sights and must race to stop him from trying again. Using clues from the murderer's past kills, Kirby must discover his identity and end his reign of terror. But our killer is crafty and with each kill his confidence grows and his ability to blend into the time stream becomes more seamless.
There's something about this concept that I loved. A time travelling assasin, a future victim fighting for her own survival. But, sadly I felt the ending was unsatisfying and the sci fi elements took a back seat to the bloody killing. It could be said that in trying to be both murder/sci fi it didn't do enough justice to either genre to please fans.
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