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Saturday, March 7, 2020

REVIEW⇢ THE SHINING GIRLS


BY LAUREN BEUKES




    SYNOPSIS FROM AUTHORS WEBSITE⇣
    In Depression-era Chicago, Harper Curtis finds a key to a house that opens on to other times. But it comes at a cost. He has to kill the shining girls: bright young women, burning with potential. He stalks them through their lives across different eras, leaving anachronistic clues on their bodies, until, in 1989, one of his victims, Kirby Mazrachi, survives and turns the hunt around.


    BOOK TAGS


     TIME TRAVELING 
    ⤏ SERIAL KILLER THRILLER
     MYSTERY WITH SUSPENSE
     GRAPHIC SCENES
     FULL-CAST NARRATION

      BOOK DETAILS⇣


      AUDIO PERFORMED BY KHRISTINE HVAM, PETER GANIM, JAY SNYDER, JOSHUA BOONE, DANI CERVONE, & JENNA HELLMUTH
      NARRATION RATING  4/5
      BOOK COVER A BUZZING BEE...WELL, IT DID HELP ME WITH A READING CHALLENGE
      SETTING CHICAGO...TIME-JUMPING THROUGHOUT THE YEARS
      SOURCE LIBBY AUDIOBOOK (LIBRARY)
      AUDIOBOOK LENGTH 10 HOURS, 33 MINUTES


      MY THOUGHTS⇣


      I'm usually never disappointed with a full-cast narration...but one particular voice was really bland...and he was the voice of the time-traveling serial killer...and unfortunately, his POV was the one we heard from the most.  Which then brings me to my other issue...I didn't like being in his head.  He was icky, like sexual predator icky, I didn't want to be in his head at all.  I get it, you're not supposed to like him...but sometimes it helps if you can like him at least a little...you know, like Joe (from YOU).  If he had any of the charisma that Joe had...then it might have been better. 

      Other than that, the whole concept of a time-traveling serial killer was terrific. I just not sure how well she pulled it off.  If you read the synopsis of this, it states that the house is what made him kill the girls...not his own sadistic tendencies.  If it really is the house then I missed important information while listening to this.  And if that's the case it was most likely due to the overly bland narrator, which I assume was Peter Ganim.  I tended to let my mind wander away from the story whenever he was narrating. 

      Khristine Hvam was wonderful as Kirby, but even her parts of the story left me feeling confused sometimes.  Although it's possible the constant time-jumping, and an over abundance of characters, is what really had me unable to follow the story, plus that splash of romance felt uncomfortable and unnecessary to the plot. Overall I wanted to like this more than I actually did.  


      MY RATING 3✰STARS✰


      BREAKDOWN⇣

      Plot 3.5/5
      Characters 3.8/5
      The Feels 2.5/5
      Pacing 3/5
      Addictiveness 3/5
      Theme or Tone 3.5/5
      Flow (Writing Style) 3/5
      World-Building 2/5
      Originality 5/5
      Ending 3.8/5




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