A review by thero159
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Let me start by saying that I really like the premise of the novel- a time travelling serial killer who is being hunted by the victim that survived. I thought this sort of plot offers intrigue, mystery and tension. Unfortunately, that is not what I got out of The Shining Girls.

The fact that we follow the serial killer means there is no mystery. We know who the killer is. We know how he gets away. And we don’t need to worry about motive because this killer doesn’t have one, except that he just likes to kill and is an unstable individual. As for Kirby, the survivor. Yes, she is trying to solve the mystery of her almost murder. However the way she goes about it is so haphazard and illogical, she basically just stumbles through the case and in some places almost jeopardises the case with her actions.

I will say that I did like the glimpses that we get of the killer’s victims. We get to see them as more than victims. We get to see them as women who had so much potential but their lives were cut short. These chapters offer a glimpse at the tragedy behind the novel but unfortunately these chapters, that are essentially the heart of the novel, are few and far between. In fact a chunk of the story almost feels like filler content. Dan and Kirby’s relationship as a journalist and intern, Kirby and her mother’s tumultuous relationship and even the killer’s love life all feature in the novel but quite honestly do little to contribute to the novel’s themes. In fact, all these diversions simply slow the pace of the novel and minimise the tension created by the serial killer’s actions.

Speaking of the characters, I do have to mention that I did not like any of the main characters. Naturally, I disliked the serial killer but his lack of genuine motive or really any character aside from being a sadistic killer makes him uninteresting to read about and when his chapters take up almost half of the book, that is not great. As for Kirby, although I can sympathise with what she went through, I found her to be a contrarian and frustrating character to read. She also comes across as really stupid and in places really entitled. In fact, it was the characters who were murdered that I felt the most emotion for and each of those characters only featured for a couple of chapters. Also, I did love Tokyo the dog.

My final and biggest issue was the lack of explanation for many of the key elements of the plot. The two big questions are how does the time travel work in this world and what makes these girls so special that they ‘shine’?  Never once is it explained how the house is connected to all the various time periods. We get a limit placed on how far back and how far forward the house can ‘move’ but that is it and again, no explanation for this limit either. As for the girls, it is stressed  throughout the novel that they ‘shine’, that something makes them different and stand out to the killer but never once is it explored or explained. With both of these questions there are hints and suggestions but nothing is definite, which makes me think that Lauren Beukes hadn’t really fleshed out these concepts, leaving the reader to try and piece the fragments of information together. 

Overall, The Shining Girls, as a novel, is like the girls within its pages- it had potential but was cut short before it could ‘shine’. You could have taken away the time travel and shining elements as neither concept was properly explored and you would have had a very basic serial killer thriller. The climax of the plot was disappointing and rushed; the main characters just stumbled through the mystery and the killer felt very tropey. I'm not sure who I can recommend this book to, as crime fans will find the mystery lacking and the science fiction aspect is very limited and may disappoint sci-fi fans. The Shining Girls is not a terrible book but it did leave me disappointed. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings