Reviews

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

frustratedlibrarian's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

katieb1034's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book is a testament to the extent of Beukes' research when writing different characters from a multitude of backgrounds, but there are so many bizarre decisions the author made when writing this story -- not the least of which is to write a homeless Black drug addict (a character who is only loosely related to the story) who speaks in what I assume is the white writer's estimation of AAVE. Overall, the time travel is interesting, the characters are diverse,
and the ending is satisfying in that everyone you want to win wins.
However, the story lacks any true theme that could make it actually resonant, and the more fantastical elements only serve to make the horror fall flat. 

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cindy_ped's review against another edition

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4.0

A bit gruesome and dark for me in some spots (and I can usually handle most murder-plot based stories). The rotating character perspectives were a bit tricky initially. Interesting read.

trixster33's review against another edition

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mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

handsandeyes's review against another edition

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3.75

Excellent use of time loops, many of the murders leave you wanting to know more about the woman, would’ve liked Kirby to have been equally as compelling. 

floyd_jpg's review

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Didn't grab me 

ekeller7's review against another edition

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3.0

I almost didn’t finish this one. I don’t like the writing style and it’s a hard book to follow. You mostly know what’s going to happen because he’s a serial killer. Some of the murder scenes are graphic. It did leave you guessing a bit at the end.

nancyadelman's review against another edition

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5.0

This book is amazing. It started off somewhat slow for me, but once it had me hooked, it became something I had to finish all at once. I've only read one other book by Lauren Beukes ("Broken Monsters") but this is by far and away the better of the two. The concept is fresh and original: what if there was a serial killer who could travel through time, and what if one of his victims survived? Don't worry, the book won't drag you down with minutiae of time travel and physics and whatnot; that issue is never really fully fleshed out, but trust me, you won't really care. You have to read this!

beccacondon's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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gregz_newdorkreviewofbooks's review against another edition

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4.0

In order to toss around review cliches like "compulsively readable," which this novel DEFINITELY is, I think there should be certain standards to define the term. If so, then here's my metric for compulsively readable: I read the last 200 pages of this book in basically one sitting. So yeah, this is good.

This Chicago-set novel is one I've had on my shelves for years. For my money, Lauren Beukes is one of the more underrated thriller writers working today. I finally picked this up now because of the impending Elizabeth Moss series on Apple Plus. And I'm very glad I did. What an amazingly original story - a time-traveling serial killer is hunted down by one of his victims who survived his attack. Loved it! Highly recommend.