The Shining Girls - Lauren Beukes

It's interesting that this book has a rating of only 3,55 on Goodreads, because usually GR ratings are heavily skewed up (compared to my personal tastest). However, I felt that this was a pretty good serial killer book with a time travel twist. I liked the characters well enough, even though I found Dan's crush on Kirby a little shifty, considering she read pretty much like a teenager (she wasn's) and he read like a middle aged divorcee. Anyway, that wasn't a deal breaker for me and he wasn't too insufferable about it, so I can look past it.

Now, I listened to this on audio, and on several occasions I had to pick up the physical copy to check the timeline (every chapter jumps around over several decades) and I didn't even try to keep the kills straight in my head. Over all I just found the concept very interesting, and thought the author did a pretty good job exploring it.

By no means my favorite book ever, but a solid one nonetheless. ( )

This book did not have to be this long. ( )

I always enjoy Beukes's books, and this one, with its glimpses of Chicago throughout the 20th century, is no exception. The many victims have distinct personalities, and the villain is remorseless and unhinged. There are two wordings I noticed that aren't quite what an American would say (describing honking cars as "hooting" and referring to French "plaiting" instead of braiding), but spotting those kinds of things is a fun scavenger hunt for me. ( )

What a strange book. It was kind of fun to read if you don't take it too seriously. I personally can't take time travel too much, as it really makes things complicated, and this was no exception. But this one didn't get too caught up with things like changing the timeline. But it skipped around in time a lot, maybe too much, which made it confusing at times.

I never understood a lot of what was happening, and why certain girls were targeted. But I stuck with it until the end, so I guess it was OK. ( )

Could not get interested ( )