Broken Monsters

by Lauren Beukes

[Leah]

When I spotted Lauren Beukes’ new thriller Broken Monsters on Netgalley, I desperately wanted to read it – Lauren is a very popular author since the release of her novel The Shining Girls last year and I kinda wanted to see what all the fuss was about. The reviews on GoodReads promised a scary book, possibly leading to nightmares and I was intrigued. I don’t read as many thrillers as I would like to, and when I do, I never find them scary. It’s just not in my DNA. And while Broken Monsters wasn’t overly scary, it did have my pulse going a few times…

It took me a long time to get into Broken Monsters. There are various points of view in the novel – the detective handling the case, her daughter, a fella named Clayton, a homeless man and a hipster who I loved but ended up hating and for ages the varying POVs circle each other without there being any clear reasons why – it seemed random, a bit forced to have so much going on, when really all I wanted to do was solve the case of the half-boy, half-deer that Gabi was investigating. The rest was all waffle, because it was this bizarre ritualistic killing that piqued my interest.

In the end, the novel does explode with the kind of stuff that keeps you turning the pages, and it gets a bit freaky. So freaky in fact that I’m not entirely sure what happened the last 10%. I found it baffling, and I could do with someone patiently explaining it to me in simple terms, because it was seriously freaky, seriously effed up. I probably would have preferred a regular serial killer story, if I’m honest if only because I hate finishing a novel and feeling so baffled and stupid. I feel like I missed the point, but it’s hard to discuss without spoiling it.

I am really glad I read the novel, it wasn’t as scary as expected and it took a while to take off, but it did and although a few plot points were superfluous (I’m looking at you, Jonno, you douche) and the ending was beyond confusing, it was a fascinating read. Beuekes has a freaky imagination, I’ll say that much, and I might just have to re-read it at some point to perhaps take in some of the finer details I may have missed first time around. Although, I was peeved at what she did to Sparkles, that was way cruel. I look forward to reading The Shining Girls and seeing if it’s as crazy as Broken Monsters, I’ll say one thing – it’s unforgettable!