The
Shining Girls is
about a time-traveling serial killer. For a reason that really isn’t explained,
Harper Curtis is tasked with traveling through time to kill ‘shining girls’ or
girls who have great potential. The book jumps from present to past and back
again as Harper meets, stalks and kills his victims.
Kirby
Mazrachi is the only woman who survives a gruesome attack by Harper. The great
potential Kirby promised as a young girl (Harper often meets his victims as
girls or young women to give them a token and tell them he’ll come back for
them in the future) may have been squashed but now she is determined to find
Harper.
Kirby
gets an internship at the Chicago Sun-Times and persuades
sports reporter Dan Velasquez to help her. Velasquez covered Kirby’s case years
ago but moved to the sports beat after years as a crime reporter left him
jaded.
As with
any time travel book it can be difficult to keep track of Harper’s travels.
Since he meets the girls multiple times in their lives I had to flip back and
forth a bit to keep track of everyone. The concept is interesting and the story
is compelling but it is also extremely violent – think what you will about the
fact that all the victims are women, all are intelligent or compassionate or
promising, most are also ethnic.
For me,
this book suffers for two major reasons. Firstly, there are a number of
clichés. Of course there is a simmering romance between Kirby and Dan. Of
course Kirby, an inexperienced reporter, is able to track down a serial killer
that no experienced professional could find. Of course, there is a vague ending
that could lead to a sequel.
Secondly,
the book tries to be a science-fiction/horror/mystery and each genre ends
up diluted. Add to that some extremely graphic, misogynistic attacks, a couple
implausible plot points and a silly, climactic snowball fight and the result is
disappointing.
