Lauren Beukes is one of the more interesting new writers. I loved her previous novel Zoo City (my review) but was so-so on her debut novel Moxyland(my review). So, I was excited to read her new novel, The Shining Girls, which has debuted to stellar reviews and has the most interesting idea I’ve seen in a while (time traveling serial killer). Beukes has grown as a writer and each book is leaps and bounds better than the previous one. So let’s go meet the Shining Girls.
Harper is our leading man serial killer. He’s a loser who stumbles into a house in 1931 that allows him (since he has the key) travel to other times (although not prior to 1929 and not past 1993). In the house, he finds some knick-knacks and a list of girls names. And he knows what he needs to do. He must find these girls in time and kill them because they are Shining Girls. There is something special about them.
Kirby is our leading lady. Harper attacked Kirby in 1989 and she is the only one who survived (although he believes he killed her). We meet her four years later as she is an intern reporter to Dan. Dan used previously the crime reporter for Chicago Sun-Times, but it got to him and now he’s a sports reporter. Kirby doesn’t know much about sports, but she wants to intern for Dan so that he can help her investigate her attack.
And then we have our other Shining Girls. We meet each of them briefly before Harper strikes them down. The main plot of the book follow Kirby hunting Harper as he hunts Shining Girls. As the investigation continues, Kirby starts realizing that some of the knick-knacks that Harper leaves on the dead girls don’t match the time the murder happened (such as a Jackie Robinson baseball card from several years prior to him playing professional baseball). And the real mystery and investigation starts.
The book does two wonderful things that you don’t see in many serial killer books. First, we get a serial killer who isn’t a super-smart Hannibal/Dexter killer who is smarter than everyone else. Harper is a loser who doesn’t get caught due to the House, not due to his smarts. And Second, we get to know the victims. They aren’t just bodies that exist just to die for the sake of the plot. We get to spend time with them and see at least a hint of why they are Shining Girls. The plot is looping (due to the time travel), but never confusing. Kirby is a nicely complex character who has her own strengths and weaknesses. This isn’t a traditional serial killer story and might not appeal to readers of Hannibal or Dexter. But it is an intelligently written wonderfully loopy story that I loved. Highly recommended.