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carriethis's review against another edition
5.0
So great to find a book that I couldn't put down. Reminded me a lot of True Detective and all the really excellent BBC police procedurals. Best use of social media in a novel that didn't seem gratuitous or cheesy. Excellently creepy supernatural twists.
bluestarfish's review against another edition
4.0
I am surprised I picked up a horror book. I only did it though as it's by Lauren Beukes and I trust her I guess. It was scary and creepy, and at several times I had to put the book down for a while. But it is really well written, and Gabi and Layla are interesting people, and creepily the killer is also someone we follow, and the bad guys (even the really, really bad guys) seem to have glimpses of humanity. The major and minor plot lines weave in anxiety and funny, satirical moments and it was absorbing.
liketheday's review against another edition
4.0
I was completely entranced by this book, alternately worried about certain characters and whether they would be okay after doing not-terribly-smart things (spoiler: not everyone is okay) and really curious to see how all of this insanity could possibly come together at the end. I wasn't the biggest fan of the ending, which is just too weird for the tone of the rest of the book, but it was definitely exciting.
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wren_k's review against another edition
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
crimyami's review against another edition
3.0
Copy of book provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This thriller sort of threw me for a loop. I'm use to movie thrillers and psychological twists so this was a different experience in reading one. I'm still not too sure of how I enjoyed the book but the writing was well put together and flowed nicely. It does give you that creepy thrill of reading a Serial Killer novel. The story is written in different POV's from the Killer to the Detective, to the detective's daughter, and a blogger/journalist wanna-be and a homeless man. While switching to the POV's is done well it is also a bit annoying with some of the characters. There are character's you'll be annoyed with and some you'll love.
With the start you've got the typical Creepy serial killer who believes he's being controlled by evil. His mental stability isn't there and he believe's he's creating art with glueing a boy's top half with a deer's bottom half. You get some detective work and there are some sub-side stories along with the main case. I wasn't thrilled with the Pedophile side story, it seems like it was just put in there to add more pages to the book. The plot requires full attention and not half of it, and is not rushed. Part of me feels that it was a bit drawn out with all the POVS as your going around but I possibly didn't give the full attention to this book as I should of. The ending has an intense climax but it leaves you feeling unfulfilled. It gives you the ending of "think of it as you want" type of thing whether it is supernatural or not. It keeps you thinking and though I love movies they usually give you some sort of coverage for your psyche and this didn't.
As I said, the writing is well done, and flows wonderfully. It just wasn't what I expected with a thriller and perhaps I'll have to take a second look at it when I have more time to give it a bit more extensive look.
This thriller sort of threw me for a loop. I'm use to movie thrillers and psychological twists so this was a different experience in reading one. I'm still not too sure of how I enjoyed the book but the writing was well put together and flowed nicely. It does give you that creepy thrill of reading a Serial Killer novel. The story is written in different POV's from the Killer to the Detective, to the detective's daughter, and a blogger/journalist wanna-be and a homeless man. While switching to the POV's is done well it is also a bit annoying with some of the characters. There are character's you'll be annoyed with and some you'll love.
With the start you've got the typical Creepy serial killer who believes he's being controlled by evil. His mental stability isn't there and he believe's he's creating art with glueing a boy's top half with a deer's bottom half. You get some detective work and there are some sub-side stories along with the main case. I wasn't thrilled with the Pedophile side story, it seems like it was just put in there to add more pages to the book. The plot requires full attention and not half of it, and is not rushed. Part of me feels that it was a bit drawn out with all the POVS as your going around but I possibly didn't give the full attention to this book as I should of. The ending has an intense climax but it leaves you feeling unfulfilled. It gives you the ending of "think of it as you want" type of thing whether it is supernatural or not. It keeps you thinking and though I love movies they usually give you some sort of coverage for your psyche and this didn't.
As I said, the writing is well done, and flows wonderfully. It just wasn't what I expected with a thriller and perhaps I'll have to take a second look at it when I have more time to give it a bit more extensive look.
hank's review against another edition
5.0
Great payoff at the end! I was pretty sucked into the characters from the get go, they were all fairly different and evoked different emotions when reading about them. The middle part was just about to turn into one of those real life parallel type of stories that bore me to death but Beukes added some unrealism in the nick of time.
Parts of Leah's character didn't ring true to me, she was this uber aware and savvy teenager, luring pedophiles online and then she was doing some fairly obviously, stupd things. It was explained to some exctent after the fact but I never got the sense her character would actually do some of the things she did without thinking them through. Stealing videos from her detective mom's computer? Nobody is that dumb/desperate.
Jonno was highly annoying from the get go and I didn't like his insertion into the book until I realized, that is exactly why he was there, then he became an effective villain rather than someone I had no interest in reading about.
I love happy endings, maybe this one wasn't happy but it wasn't disasterous. 4.8 stars because of the almost distracting lull in the middle.
Parts of Leah's character didn't ring true to me, she was this uber aware and savvy teenager, luring pedophiles online and then she was doing some fairly obviously, stupd things. It was explained to some exctent after the fact but I never got the sense her character would actually do some of the things she did without thinking them through. Stealing videos from her detective mom's computer? Nobody is that dumb/desperate.
Jonno was highly annoying from the get go and I didn't like his insertion into the book until I realized, that is exactly why he was there, then he became an effective villain rather than someone I had no interest in reading about.
I love happy endings, maybe this one wasn't happy but it wasn't disasterous. 4.8 stars because of the almost distracting lull in the middle.
ridgewaygirl's review against another edition
4.0
This book is set in a decaying, crime-ridden Detroit, a city of urban ruin, but is also where artists are finding freedom to work and to come up with interesting ways to display their work. Broken Monsters follows Detective Gabi Versado, divorced mother raising her teenage daughter alone and a woman working in a field dominated by men who are not all pleased to work with a woman. She gets the call out to where a rookie patrol officer has found a gruesomely mutilated corpse and ends up leading a politically charged and difficult hunt for the murderer, a case subject to frenzied media attention as they speculate on whether or not they are looking for a serial killer. Added to this is Layla, Gabi's teenage daughter, who is struggling to find her way in a world where she doesn't fit in, although she does have one dubious friend; TK, who works for a homeless shelter and is known as someone who will always help, and Jonno, a journalist from New York who is trying to put his life back together and reignite his career with a series of YouTube videos.
Most of Broken Monsters is a solidly plotted crime novel, with interesting, well-developed characters and an atmospheric setting. While the identity of the murderer is made clear early in the book, it doesn't lessen the tension as the police struggle to figure out what exactly they are dealing with. Toward the climax of the book, supernatural aspects turn up, which were not entirely needed or as successfully integrated as Beukes did in The Shining Girls. It feels a little tacked on, as does the eventual explanation. Supernatural themes aside, the book would have been an outstanding read for me had not the protagonist behaved both stupidly and out of character in order to force the climactic scenes. I really hate the overused trope of having the protagonist put themselves into unnecessary danger in order to make the story more exciting. But with that glaring exception, Broken Monsters was a fun book to read.
Most of Broken Monsters is a solidly plotted crime novel, with interesting, well-developed characters and an atmospheric setting. While the identity of the murderer is made clear early in the book, it doesn't lessen the tension as the police struggle to figure out what exactly they are dealing with. Toward the climax of the book, supernatural aspects turn up, which were not entirely needed or as successfully integrated as Beukes did in The Shining Girls. It feels a little tacked on, as does the eventual explanation. Supernatural themes aside, the book would have been an outstanding read for me had not the protagonist behaved both stupidly and out of character in order to force the climactic scenes. I really hate the overused trope of having the protagonist put themselves into unnecessary danger in order to make the story more exciting. But with that glaring exception, Broken Monsters was a fun book to read.
rachelbohlen's review against another edition
4.0
This is a well-written, ambitious book that crosses the borders between crime thriller and horror novel. Set in Detroit, this novel tells the story of a serial killer whose trademark includes merging human bodies with animals. It's horrific, and Ms. Beukes's writing style doesn't shy away from grotesque descriptions. The book starts off at a reasonable pace (not slow - certainly not slow. It opens with the body of a boy glued onto a body of a deer), but once I hit the last third of the book, I couldn't put it down. Though most of the book stays solidly in the crime thriller genre, toward the end, it transitions into more of a supernatural horror story. What I really loved about this book is the commentary on social media and on our obsession with exhibitionism. There is a side plot with the main character's daughter that I didn't love (sure, she's an essential character, but I'm not quite what the point of her story was compared to the rest of the book), but that's my only real criticism. Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who's a fan of crime and/or horror novels.
emckeon1002's review against another edition
3.0
What the hell happened. I was really loving this. Beukes is a strong writer, and her noir ramble through the remains of Detroit is both completely current and believable. She identifies the murderer early, and she gets inside of his schizophrenia-addled head well. But five chapter from the end, we're in a dream-world controlled by the killer's contagious thoughts (his art? his madness? his doorway to another world?) At this point it all falls apart for me. There's fodder her for a good book club discussion of mental illness, an artist's madness, the art-lover's swoon, but it was a damned unsatisfying way to end a book.