Broken Monsters

By Lauren Beukes

[She's never hunted a killer as deadly.

Something strange is happening in Detroit. Hybrid bodies

are turning up, half-animal, half-human. For Detective

Gabi Versado, they are the work of a twisted monster

who surpasses even 'Murder City's' most brutal criminals.

And he's only just begun...

For failed artist Clayton Broom, they are his greatest

work. Life destroyed his dreams, so now he's found

new ones. The question is, can Gabi find him before the

person she loves most is drawn into his nightmare?]

I didn't actually expect to enjoy this as much as I did. Right from the start it was darkly intriguing. 

At first I didn't enjoy the chapters jumping from character to character but, by the end, I saw how effective this was. It really enabled the story to be built up from all angles and for us as an audience to slowly put the pieces together of what was happening. 

This wasn't a book where you have to figure out who the killer was because it's stated in the blurb for God's sake; it's what he does to his victims and the way the other character's stories are interwoven. It was beautiful.

Even though some of the characters had flaws, and major ones at that, I quite liked them all which is unusual. There's normally at least one person I detest, but not with this book.

Detective Versado was a great character, a struggling single mum who is a very good cop but is struggling to balance it all.

Jonno Haim and Clayton Broom were other interesting characters along with the Detective's daughter and her best friend. 

I see now that they all had something "broken" about them, whether it be to do with something in their past or a part of their mental health. It was a very unique story.

One thing that slightly - and I mean slightly here - let it down was the ending. 

I'm not going to divulge any details (although this explanation could get very confusing without them) but it all suddenly went very surreal and almost supernatural. 

It was quite a confusing read in those last chapters but it also worked well for the stability for two of the characters deteriorating mental health. I'm sure that's what it was linked to, but other characters were affected as well towards the end which made me think the whole book had something supernatural to it.

It's not that supernatural is a problem, more that I didn't quite get what was fully going on. The whole art scene interwoven throughout touches on the surreal aspect and I think it's explained as to why the other characters were affected but even they didn't seem too sure in their closing statements.

A great read though and one I'd be sure to pick up again.

📖

The Girl on the Train

By Paula Hawkins.

Narrated by Clare Corbett, India Fisher and Louise Brealey.

I've timed this perfectly as the film was released just a few days ago, muhahaha.

All coincidence of course.

Image From Goodreads

[The debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people's lives.

EVERY DAY THE SAME Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and night. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She's even started to feel like she knows them. Jess and Jason, she calls them. Their life - as she sees it - is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

UNTIL TODAY And then she sees something shocking. It's only a minute until the train moves on, but it's enough. Now everything's changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel goes to the police. But is she really as unreliable as they say? Soon she is deeply entangled not only in the investigation but in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?]

I'm kind of a little bit disappointed with this.

Like, I don't even know if I really enjoyed it or not. I feel like I should like it more because it was so well-received by everyone else.

I started off enjoying it. I was gripped and curious for the most part.

I love the way Hawkins created really detailed characters, realistic ones at that. 

The details - or lack there of - for Rachel's alcoholic tendencies and her blackouts helped add to the whole mystery.

Although, I loathed both her and Anna pretty much throughout the entire thing - even their voices got on my nerves, so a well placed voice cast I'll have to admit. 

They were both such horrible types of people.

But I can't pinpoint exactly what made me lose my enjoyment out of it in the end. 

I just know that once I'd twigged who the killer was, I didn't care for the rest of the novel.

I liked Megan's character and her backstory, it was heartbreaking and horrible. 

Plus, there was the twist with who the killer actually was, but, yeah, I felt we found out too early somehow.

Meh, I don't know, mediocre at best.

I am looking forward to the film version though, it looks brilliant and from what I've seen of the trailer Emily Blunt looks like she'll nail the character of Rachel.

✌︎