The Shining Girls: A Novel

Now an Apple TV+ series starring Elisabeth Moss: the girl who wouldn't die hunts the killer who shouldn't exist in this "expertly chilling" twist on the serial killer novel from the award-winning author Lauren Beukes (San Francisco Chronicle).Harper Curtis is a killer who stepped out of the past. Kirby Mazrachi is the girl who was never meant to have a future. Kirby is the last shining girl, one of the bright young women, burning with potential, whose lives Harper is destined to snuff out after he stumbles on a House in Depression-era Chicago that opens on to other times.At the urging of the House, Harper inserts himself into the lives of these shining girls, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. He's the ultimate hunter, vanishing without a trace into another time after each murder -- until one of his victims survives.Determined to bring her would-be killer to justice, Kirby joins the Chicago Sun-Times to work with the reporter, Dan Velasquez, who covered her case. Soon Kirby finds herself closing in on an impossible truth . . .“Utterly original, beautifully written, and I must say, it creeped the holy bejasus out of me. This is something special.” —Tana French

From Booklist

Harper Curtis isn’t your run-of-the-mill serial killer. He gets to time travel from the 1920s through the 1980s, killing girls in different decades, all to satisfy a bloodthirsty Chicago bungalow. Yes, you read that correctly: the house makes him do it. In this genre-bending novel, Beukes never explains the origins of this evil house or how it manages to transport Harper from year to year. All we know is that Harper is compelled to track down and murder specific “shining girls” in gruesome ways (usually evisceration), and he gets away with it since he can escape across time. Until he leaves Kirby Mazrachi behind in 1989, that is. Kirby miraculously recovers from the vicious attack and is determined to track down her assailant, even if the police consider it a closed case. She enlists the help of Dan, a reporter at the Sun-Times, and they slowly uncover odd clues left behind in a dozen unsolved murder cases; it turns out Harper has been leaving behind items from the future. Not for all tastes, but fans of urban fantasy may be interested in this clever and detailed supernatural thriller. --Rebecca Vnuk

About the Author

Khristine Hvam studied acting for the theater and film. Her voice can be heard in Pokemon, World of Warcraft, various television and radio commercials, and most notably in over one hundred audiobook titles. She has won five AudioFile Earphones Awards, placed three times as a finalist for the prestigous Audie Award, and won the Audie for best narration in 2012 and 2013. Jay Snyder is a voice actor, voice director, and script adapter who studied acting at the Julliard School in New York City. He is best known as the voice of Yugi Muto from the Japanese manga television series, Yu-Gi-Oh! His audiobook narrations have earned three AudioFile Earphones Awards, and he was a finalist for the Audie Award for Best Fiction Narration in 2015.Lauren Beukes writes novels, comics and screenplays. She's the author of the critically-acclaimed international best-seller, The Shining Girls, about a time traveling serial killer, Zoo City, a phantasmagorical Joburg noir which won the 2011 Arthur C Clarke Award, the neo political thriller, Moxyland. She wrote the New York Times best-selling graphic novel, Fairest: The Hidden Kingdom and the Vertigo Comics horror series, Survivor's Club. She lives in Cape Town, South Africa.Dani Cervone has performed in The Children's Hour, The Sons of Molly Maguire, and a one-act festival in the New York City. She has also toured nationally with The National Theater for Children and Chamber Theater Productions. Some of her favorite roles have been the title role in Educating Rita, Sally in Charlie Brown, and Helen in The Cripple of Inishmaan. She holds a BA in theater from the University of Northern Colorado and lives in New York City.Peter Ganim is an American actor who has appeared on stage, on television, and in film. He has performed voice-over work since 1994. His audiobook narration has won two AudioFile Earphones Awards.

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