Review: The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes [Jan]

Kirby Mazrachi was gutted and left for dead, her dog died defending her; now she wants to find the others.  The other victims of the man who did this to her.  She enlists the help of Dan Velasquez a former homicide reporter now covering the sports beat.  Divorced and twice her age, he’s cynical and word weary but growing convinced of Kirby’s crazy theories.  The killer they’re tracking is Harper Curtis, who has a list of names on the wall and a House with a chilling secret.

A time-travelling serial killer.  This is a great concept I haven’t read before.  I wonder if it is based on actual events, it would explain why so many murderers are never caught.  Kirby is such a strong heroine, a survivor who doesn’t give up.  Dan contrasts with her well, someone who gave up but is willing to try once more.  The characters are lifelike and you get a view of what they are like through the glimpses of their lives before they encounter Harper for the last time.

The plot is carefully thought out and there’s a lot going on.  The story jumps around to different time periods and POVs of various characters in short chapters.  This is a story that’s chillingly addictive and fans of thrillers will enjoy it.  Lauren Beukes has written two previous books I must track down and she’s been added to my must read list.

*not strictly sf/f but a time-travelling serial killer is close enough


Title: The Shining Girls
Author: Lauren Beukes
Published: HarperCollins, 2013
Reviewer: Jan

Review: Surrender by Donna Malane [Jan]

Diane Rowe finds missing people.  Usually she works for the police finding identities of bodies found in crime scenes or washed up on the beach.  Then her little sister, Niki, was murdered.  Diane focused on pushing the police to find the killer forcefully.  Too hard, as it lost her credibility as she put it above all other cases.  It also caused the breakup of her marriage, as finding Niki’s killer became her only thought.  Her policeman ex-husband quickly found a replacement.

Then the main suspect, Snow,, turns up dead, murdered the same way Niki was and in the same place.  The new case turns up evidence of Niki’s seedy past and Diane learns things she’d rather not know.  She embarks on a journey to uncover the killer of her sister, as the police case is finished now Snow is dead.  At the same time she has been asked by the police to find the identity of a 30 year old skeleton found in the bush, her chance at regaining credibility and more work.

This story had a strong plot, believable characters, quite a bit of action, and a strong heroine who could look after herself.  Oh, and a cute but tough dog.  I really enjoyed this book, I was kept intrigued by the unfolding of the story, and it offered up a few twists I didn’t see coming.  Set in New Zealand, it won the 2010 New Zealand Society of Authors – Pindar Publishing Prize and has some glimpses of the breathtaking beauty of the bush.  The cover has an instantly recognizable picture of the lights on Wellington’s waterfront.  Definitely a must read and I plan to read more of the Diane Rowe series.

I received my copy as a paperback from HarperCollins and it seems to only be printed in New Zealand.  There is a kindle edition on Amazon.

Title: Surrender
Author: Donna Malane
Published: HarperCollins, c2010
Series: Book 1 in Diane Rowe
Reviewer: Jan

Review: The Witness by Nora Roberts [Jan]

Elizabeth Fitch was raised by an emotionally remote mother to be a perfect daughter who never puts a foot wrong.  But one night she decides to rebel.  After forging fake ids, she and a friend, Julie, get into a trendy club to party and met he owners of the club, Ilya and Alexei.  The girls leave the club with Alexei, to go back to his place, with Ilya meeting up with them after he finished some business.  They two men are Russian mafia though and the business is Ilya killing Alexei.  Julie is caught in the crossfire and Elizabeth runs, contacting the police and agreeing to testify against the shooters.  Placed in the witness protection programme, she is betrayed before the trial and two FBI agents are killed defending her.  So she must run again.

Abigail Lowery is a mystery.  Buying a house in a small town in the Ozarks, she keeps to herself and rarely goes to town, causing the residents to be insanely curious about her.  She designs security software and by hacking, keeps tabs on the Russian mafia, FBI, US Marshals, and anyone connected with the Fitch case.  Oh, and she has a fierce guard dog called Bert who is adorable.  Brooks is the police chief of the town?? and interested in knowing more about Abigail.  The subplot involved the son of the town’s wealthiest man vandalising the property of a well liked family  The father was trying to buy the sons way out of trouble and it was interesting to view his frustration and escalation as he didn’t succeed.

The beginning was interesting but the middle dragged, with the last third of the book being interesting again.  I love the ending, though it would have been brilliant to see the reactions of the bad guys as justice found them!  I didn’t like how Brooks wouldn’t take no for an answer, pushing his way into Abigail’s house and life after being told no, because he ‘knew’ what she secretly wanted.  Things worked out ok because it’s a romance book, but no means no.  I also found his mother, Sunny, to be pushy and annoying; pushing her way into the house of a woman her son was interested in.  It worked out ok but you can see she’ll be interfering in the future.

This turned out to be a good read, perfect for a lazy day.

Title: The Witness
Author: Nora Roberts
Published: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2012
Reviewer: Jan

The Axe Factor - nominate your contestants

It's hard to stand out from the crowd as an author. When there are fifty million other people all trying to make it in print, and now on their own blogs as well, how on earth do you get yourself noticed?

One way, of course, is to write something so kinkily filthy it outrages all demands of decency, plot, dialogue or character and makes a splash in the papers. Not mentioning any trilogies in particular.

The other way, of course, is to introduce a character so twisted, so monumentally and memorably evil, that it attracts an audience like a fire at the Playboy Mansion. Hannibal Lecter, I'm looking at you.

Mr The Cannibal aside, who is your favourite (or most hated) villain? Who sticks in your mind from all the nasties you've encountered? Now I read, or at least test-drive, more than 100 books a year. I really tried to squeeze my brain, but in fact, it wasn't the killers who got in my head so much as the general feeling of horror. I remember being positively sickened while reading Mo Hayder - but can I recall anything about the murderer? Nope.

Film villains are a dime a dozen. The T1000, Hans Gruber and the Joker are easy to remember, as are any of the Disney crew. No one does high camp like Disney - I can only think of the Bond villains to match them in literature. Anyone help?

Please - no spoilers if the villain's identity is supposed to be a secret!

Here are a few of my most memorable: