A killer travels through time, choosing his victims and leaving mementos behind. I thought I'd venture outside of my comfort zone with *The Shining Girls*, and I certainly did. It was far too gory and violent for me. If you're looking for a suspenseful book review, be warned this one is intense!The trouble is that almost half of the story is told from the killer's point of view. The reader gets a front-row seat at the crimes, usually immediately after a series of passages describing the girl so ...

A shocking, original, and subversive psychological thriller. *The Shining Girls* manages to combine the paranormal and the absurd with the realistic and the expected, creating a perfectly dark and repulsive atmosphere around the events and the protagonists. The temporal shifts and parallel narratives within the story add even more interest and a sense of mystery to the unpredictable events that, by satanic coincidence, are all predetermined from the start. There is not a trace of ambiguity or hi...

It's tough to convince people to read *The Shining Girls* because every time I try to explain the plot, it sounds like the dumbest book idea ever. It's a story about a time-traveling serial killer. See? It sounds *so dumb* and *so bad*. If you read it and felt the same way, I wouldn't blame you. But, like the over-the-top craziness of *The Girl on the Train*, this book just clicked with me. Basically, it's a really, really dumb idea for a story that's executed really, really well (which is also ...

Not the creepy twins from Kubrick's film, but the prey of a serial killer who stumbles upon a time portal in Depression-era Chicago. He then skips and hops through recent American history, murdering women and snatching souvenirs. That is, until he runs into a resilient woman who isn't so easy to get rid of. Think of it as the dark, twisted version of The Time Traveler’s Wife, but with a much higher body count. Lauren Beukes's "The Shining Girls" is a thriller that will keep you guessing until th...

Lauren Beukes's "The Shining Girls," initially released in 2013, is captivating and almost mesmerizing for numerous reasons, most notably because its style and subject matter defy easy categorization. This book, which blends elements of horror, mystery, thriller, crime, and time travel fantasy, occupies a unique spot on the bookshelf, showcasing Beukes's extraordinary talent for imagination and technical skill. Beukes employs a shifting perspective and a non-linear narrative that works wonderfu...

Quick caveat before I apologize for not reading or reviewing much anymore: I'm an English Lit student, and it's pretty much killed reading for pleasure. But then came "The Shining Girls", and Karen's review compared it to "Gone Girl", one of my favorites and the big buzz book of summer 2012, and *I need to get on this shit*.Then I read it.And I don't know what's wrong with me, but it's as simple as this – I don't understand the hype.Looking at the blurb, I get it. The premise is both devilishly ...

Okay, so here's the deal with The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes: it tries to blend a whole bunch of different genres together. And while it's not badly done, I never felt like any of those genres really got the chance to shine, you know? Nothing felt truly… outstanding. Let's break down some of the different elements The Shining Girls tries to throw into the mix, along with my thoughts on each: Time travel: The timeline jumps in this book revolve around this weird house in 1930s Chicago. It s...

Okay, I've got pet peeves, we all do. I am so tired of books being hyped as the next Gone Girl, or even worse... just like The Secret History. So, let's be clear: The Shining Girls is nothing like Gone Girl, and the only similarity to Stieg Larsson's books is that there's a female survivor who refuses to give up. But hey, plenty of books have badass female survivors. The problem with constantly comparing books is that they often suffer in comparison. And The Shining Girls is no exception. We'v...

This book is just plain weird. The climax involves a lopsided snowball fight. Oh, and it's about a time-traveling serial killer. Seriously weird. And honestly? Not that great. *The Shining Girls* is a book of mixed success, where some parts really click and others fall flat. Each chapter plunges you into a different character and time. Harper, the time-hopping killer, spends most of his time in the Great Depression, plotting his trips to the future to snuff out these "shining girls." The other ...

Love her, not sure about the show yet...*******************************SQUEEE! This book is going to end up being *the* book of the summer, and probably beyond, because some of you are slow to catch on, and it deserves a longer moment in the sun.It's about a time-traveling serial killer.Which sounds like drunken Mad Libs, but it totally works. Time travel (the *idea* of time travel) frequently either makes my head hurt,or is just too silly for me to care about.But this one is different. The t...