The Shining Girls
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4.0 • 47 Ratings
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
The girl who wouldn't die ... hunting a killer who shouldn't exist.
He's the perfect killer. Unstoppable. Untraceable. He thinks.CHICAGO, 1931.Harper Curtis, a violent drifter, stumbles on a house with a secret as shocking as his own twisted nature - it opens onto other times. He uses it to stalk his carefully chosen 'shining girls' through the decades - and cut the spark out of them.'It's not my fault. It's yours. You shouldn't shine. You shouldn't make me do this.'CHICAGO, 1992.they say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. tell that to Kirby Mazrachi, whose life was shattered after a brutal attempt to murder her. Still struggling to find the attacker, Kirby's only ally is Dan, an ex-homicide reporter who covered the case and now might be falling in love with her.As Kirby investigates, she finds the other girls - the ones who didn't make it. the evidence is ... impossible. But for a girl who should be dead, impossible doesn't mean it didn't happen ...'strong contender for the role of this summer's universal beach read ... loaded with acrobatic twists' New York times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
South African author Beukes, winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Zoo City, adds an intriguing wrinkle to the serial killer suspense novel. In the creepy opening chapter, set in 1974, sadist Harper Curtis, who's on the prowl for one of his "shining girls" ("bright young women burning with potential"), approaches six-year-old Kirby Mazrachi, as she plays alone. After an initially friendly exchange turns nasty, Harper promises that he will see Kirby when she's grown up. In 1989, he keeps that promise by savagely attacking her. Miraculously, Mazrachi survives and leverages an internship with a Chicago newspaper into a private investigation of her assailant who can travel through time. The shifting perspectives require readers to stay alert, but those who do will be rewarded. Beukes is particularly good at garnering sympathy for Harper's female victims, creating deep characterizations in only a few pages, so that they come across as more than just fodder for a psychopath's mission. 5-city author tour.