Author | Lauren Beukes |
---|---|
Cover artist | Joey Hi-Fi |
Country | South Africa |
Language | English |
Genres | Thriller / science fiction |
Publisher | Random House Struik (SA) HarperCollins (UK) Mulholland Books (US) |
Publication date | 15 April 2013 (SA) 25 April 2013 (UK) 4 June 2013 (US) |
Award | August Derleth Award |
ISBN | 978-1-4152-0201-2 (SA) 978-0-00-746456-2 (UK) 978-0-316-21685-2 (US) |
The Shining Girls is a science fiction thriller novel by South African author Lauren Beukes. [1] The book centers on a mysterious drifter who murders the titular "shining girls" and one victim's attempts to expose him. [2]
The Shining Girls was published on 15 April 2013 by the Umuzi imprint of Random House Struik in South Africa, [3] [4] on 25 April 2013 by HarperCollins [5] in the United Kingdom, and on 4 June 2013 by Mulholland Books in the United States. [6] HarperCollins had won the international rights to the book in a bidding war with several other publishers. [7] [8]
Unlike her previous novels, which are set in South Africa, The Shining Girls takes place in Chicago. Beukes said that because the story steps back and forth through history, she felt South Africa would not be a suitable setting because "then it would become an Apartheid story". [9] Beukes added that race issues appear frequently in her work, but "Apartheid would have overwhelmed everything else I wanted to do with the novel". [9]
In 2013, The Shining Girls was short-listed for UK based Crime Writers' Association 2013 Goldsboro Gold Dagger award. [10] In 2014 the book won the British Fantasy Society's August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel [11]
The Shining Girls follows Harper Curtis, a killer from Depression-era Chicago, who finds a key on the person of his latest victim, and uses it to unlock the door to a strange house. Inside, Harper discovers a room covered in seemingly random objects, each with a woman’s name attached. He quickly figures out that the house wants him to kill these women — the titular Shining Girls — who live at various times across the next 60 years. All Harper has to do is step out of the room with the house key and a copy of one of the objects — the originals remain inside the house — and he can visit any year between 1929 and 1993.
So begins Harper Curtis’ killing spree. He visits each of the Shining Girls when she is little and gives her a token item from the room, such as a baseball card or toy. Then, he leaps forward in time by a decade or more, murders the Shining Girl, and leaves a different woman’s token at the scene.
His luck changes when he brutally stabs Kirby Mizrachi in 1989 and leaves her for dead. Unbeknownst to Harper, Kirby survives the attempt on her life. And four years later, with her would-be killer still unidentified, she decides to go after him on her own.
Kirby takes a job working for Dan Velazquez, the journalist who covered her story for the Chicago Sun-Times . She’s upfront about wanting to track down her attacker, and she has an impossible theory — that the man who tried to kill her has been murdering women in Chicago for the last 60 years. Because Harper’s modus operandi (M.O.) includes leaving another woman’s token with each Shining Girl he kills, Kirby’s search uncovers anachronisms at the scenes of several Chicago murders, and she realizes that her own token — the 1985 My Little Pony figurine a strange man gave her in 1976 — is similarly displaced in time. Armed with this information, she enlists Dan’s help to research the pony’s history.
Meanwhile, Harper is hunting Kirby once again, having read one of her articles from 1993. When someone tips her off that a man is looking for her, Kirby turns the tables on Harper and pursues him all the way to the house. After seeing the token room, she tries reporting Harper and the house to the police, but they find nothing amiss inside.
Kirby approaches Dan once more and convinces him to break into the house with her. While Dan fends off Harper in 1929, Kirby gathers the tokens and prepares to burn them. Harper critically injures Dan and returns to the house, arriving just in time to see Kirby set the items ablaze. The novel ends with Kirby shooting Harper and leaving him to die in the burning house while she and Dan escape.
The Shining Girls received positive to mixed reviews from critics.
Writing for NPR, American writer and critic Alan Cheuse called The Shining Girls "a triumph" and "a marvelous narrative feat that spans the history of Chicago from the 1930s to the 1990s". [12] He complimented Beukes on her in-depth research into Chicago's history, and described the plot as a "well-made, though extremely complex temporal creation". [12] A reviewer in the National Post described The Shining Girls as "a thoroughly satisfying thriller" and said that Kirby's charm is "irresistible and irrepressible", while Harper reminds one of the 1890s Chicago serial killer H. H. Holmes. [13]
American writer Julia Keller wrote in a review of the book in the Chicago Tribune that she was pleased that The Shining Girls deviates from traditional serial-killer fiction in that it does not glorify the killer. Beukes presents Harper as "greedy and seedy and opportunistic", rather than "scintillatingly brilliant and alluringly damaged". [14] While the book's time-travel theme "stretches scientific plausibility", Keller said that the book's strength comes from Beukes's "audacious imaginative vision", and that she has made "delicate and redemptive magic" out of "something horrific and inexplicable". [14]
Simmy Richman wrote in The Independent that while the book has good ideas, it is "ultimately another high-concept novel that suffers in the execution". [15] He said that the back-and-forth time travel results in the story "feel[ing] all over the place". [15] Richman added that Beukes's characterization of Harper's victims was good, but felt that she does not give the killer the same attention. [15] American author Charles Finch writing in a review in USA Today also felt that The Shining Girls is "not entirely successful in its execution", but added that because Beukes is "so profusely talented – capable of wit, darkness, and emotion on a single page", the book should still be a "blockbuster". [16] Finch said that while Beukes "successfully defines and limits her story's magical elements", the magic "come[s] apart at the seams" during the final showdown between Kirby and Harper. [16]
In a review in The New York Times , American journalist and critic Janet Maslin wrote that Beukes has made The Shining Girls more than "a standard serial-killer story" by "load[ing] it with acrobatic twists", and said it is a "strong contender for the role of this summer's universal beach read". [17] Maslin added that a strong point of the book is "the emotional effect of the victims' unusual virtue" that Beukes creates, but complained about the book's lack of information about Harper. [17] Maslin also criticized the fact that all the story's "occult power" rests in the House, which "has a mind of its own, but we never find out how it works". [17] Alison Flood wrote in a review in The Guardian that if you accept Beukes's "time-travel conceit", The Shining Girls is a page-turner that will "take some beating this summer". [18] Flood defended Beukes's decision not to explain how the House works, saying that "The [H]ouse just is", and that Harper's underdeveloped character is what makes him an enigma. [18] She complimented Beukes on her victims, calling them "vivid, glowing characters", and described Kirby as "one of the sarkiest, most resilient heroines you're likely to meet this year". [18]
In May 2013, it was announced that MRC and Appian Way, Leonardo DiCaprio's production company, have bought the television rights to The Shining Girls. [19] In July 2020, Apple announced that it green lit a straight-to-series order for Shining Girls, launching exclusively on Apple TV+, with Elisabeth Moss set to star and executive produce. [20] In February 2021, Wagner Moura was cast to lead opposite Moss. [21] Production on the series began in Chicago in May 2021. [22] It premiered on April 29, 2022. [23]
Chloë Stevens Sevigny is an American actress, model and fashion designer. Known for her work in independent films, often appearing in controversial or experimental features, Sevigny is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a Satellite Award, an Independent Spirit Award, as well as nominations for an Academy Award and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. She also has a career in fashion design concurrent with her acting work. Over the years, her alternative fashion sense has earned her a reputation as a "style icon".
Melanie Richards Griffith is an American actress. She began her career in the 1970s, appearing in several independent thriller films before achieving mainstream success in the mid-1980s.
Lauren Graham is an American actress and author. She is best known for her roles as Lorelai Gilmore on The WB/CW television series Gilmore Girls (2000–2007), for which she received nominations for Screen Actors Guild, Golden Globe and Satellite Awards, and as Sarah Braverman on the NBC television drama Parenthood (2010–2015).
The Devil Wears Prada is a 2003 novel by Lauren Weisberger about a young woman who is hired as a personal assistant to a powerful fashion magazine editor, a job that becomes nightmarish as she struggles to keep up with her boss's grueling schedule and demeaning demands. It spent six months on the New York Times bestseller list and became the basis for the 2006 film of the same name, starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, and Emily Blunt. The novel is considered by many to be an example of the "chick lit" genre.
Jane Holland is an English poet, novelist and astrologer. She won an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors for her poetry in 1996 and her YA novel Witchstruck, written as Victoria Lamb, won the Romantic Novelists' Association's Young Adult Romantic Novel of the Year Award for 2013. Her sister is the novelist, actress and singer Sarah Holland. She also writes commercial fiction under various pseudonyms, including Betty Walker, JJ Holland, Victoria Lamb, Elizabeth Moss, Beth Good and Hannah Coates.
Lauren Christine German is an American actress. She had her first major role in the 2002 teen romantic drama film A Walk to Remember, followed by roles in the horror films The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) and Hostel: Part II (2007). From 2011 to 2012, German had a main role as DHS agent Lori Weston in the second season of the CBS police drama Hawaii Five-0, and from 2012 to 2014, she starred as Leslie Shay in the NBC drama Chicago Fire. From 2016-2021, she appeared as detective Chloe Decker in the American fantasy comedy-drama Lucifer.
Bailee Madison Riley is an American actress. She first gained acclaim for her role as May Belle Aarons in the fantasy drama film Bridge to Terabithia (2007). Madison received further recognition for her role in series 3 of House in the episode ’act your age’ in (2007). And in starring roles as Isabelle in the war drama film Brothers (2009), Sally Hurst in the horror film Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010), Maggie in the romantic comedy film Just Go with It (2011), Harper Simmons in the comedy film Parental Guidance (2012), Ida Clayton in the family film Cowgirls 'n Angels (2012), Clementine in the fantasy film Northpole (2014), Kinsey in the slasher film The Strangers: Prey at Night (2018), and Avery in the Netflix film A Week Away (2021).
Gillian Schieber Flynn is an American author, screenwriter, and producer. She is known for writing the thriller and mystery novels Sharp Objects (2006), Dark Places (2009), and Gone Girl (2012), which are all critically acclaimed. Her books have been published in 40 languages and according to The Washington Post, as of 2016 Gone Girl alone has sold more than 15 million copies.
Jordan Dane is a romantic thriller young adult fiction novelist. She sold her first three-book series in auction to Avon/HarperCollins in June 2006, and another three-book thriller series in May 2007. The first series was released April through June 2008. Titles and release dates for the second series were released beginning in February 2009.
Adrian McKinty is a Northern Irish writer of crime and mystery novels and young adult fiction, best known for his 2020 award-winning thriller, The Chain, and the Sean Duffy novels set in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. He is a winner of the Edgar Award, the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, the Macavity Award, the Ned Kelly Award, the Barry Award, the Audie Award, the Anthony Award and the International Thriller Writers Award. He has been shortlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger and the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière.
Sam Stone is the horror and fantasy pen name for British Thriller novellist and award winning screenwriter Samantha Lee Howe. She is best known for her USA Today! best selling novel The Stranger In Our Bed published by HarperCollins imprint One More Chapter. This novel has recently been made into a film by production company Buffalo Dragon, The film, directed by Giles Alderson and starring Samantha Bond, Emily Berrington, Ben Lloyd-Hughes, Joseph Marcell, Nina Wadia, Bart Edwards and Terri Dwyer, was released on 1 July 2022 on Showtime Networks. Samantha has since sold three more books to HarperCollins One More Chapter and all three were published in 2021 as The House of Killers Trilogy which consists of The House of Killers Book 1, Kill or Die Book 2, and Kill A Spy Book 3.
Lauren Beukes is a South African novelist, short story writer, journalist and television scriptwriter.
Isabella Heathcote is an Australian actress. Following her film debut in Acolytes (2008), Heathcote had a recurring role as Amanda Fowler on the television soap opera Neighbours (2009). She gained further recognition for her dual roles as Victoria Winters and Josette du Pres in the dark fantasy film Dark Shadows (2012), and Olive Byrne in the biographical drama film Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017).
Lauren Oliver is an American author of numerous young adult novels including Panic; the Delirium trilogy: Delirium, Pandemonium, and Requiem; and Before I Fall, which became a major motion picture in 2017. Panic was also turned into a series by Amazon studios. She served as creator, writer and showrunner on the project. Her novels have been translated into more than thirty languages internationally. Oliver is a 2012 E.B. White Read-Aloud Award nominee for her middle-grade novel Liesl & Po, as well as author of the middle-grade fantasy novel The Spindlers.
Zoo City is a 2010 science fiction novel by South African author Lauren Beukes. It won the 2011 Arthur C. Clarke Award and the 2010 Kitschies Red Tentacle for best novel. The cover of the British edition of the book was awarded the 2010 BSFA Award for best artwork, and the book itself was shortlisted in the best novel category of the award.
Mulholland Books (US) is an imprint of Little, Brown and Company, a division of the Hachette Book Group. It specializes in publishing mysteries, thrillers, and suspense novels.
Lauren Milne Henderson is an English freelance journalist and novelist who also writes as Rebecca Chance. Her books include thrillers/bonkbusters/chick lit, mysteries, Tart Noir, romantic comedies, and young adult. Between 1996 and 2011 Henderson published 17 books under her own name. She began writing as Rebecca Chance in 2009, and now writes novels exclusively as Rebecca Chance.
Gone Girl is a 2012 crime thriller novel by American writer Gillian Flynn. It was published by Crown Publishing Group in June 2012. The novel was popular and made the New York Times Best Seller list. The sense of suspense in the novel comes from whether Nick Dunne is responsible for the disappearance of his wife Amy.
Shining Girls is an American thriller streaming television series based on the 2013 novel The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes. The series stars Elisabeth Moss, Wagner Moura and Jamie Bell. It premiered on Apple TV+ on April 29, 2022. A portion of the series premiered at South by Southwest on March 11, 2022.
Afterland is a 2020 science fiction novel by South African writer Lauren Beukes. It takes place during "Manfall", a 2020 pandemic which has killed off almost all the world's men. Three years later In the United States, Cole and her twelve-year-old son, Miles are trying to flee to their home in South Africa. Miles is one of the few surviving males, and is sought after by US government researchers and boy traffickers.