Broken Monsters

I was intrigued enough by Lauren Buekes's last book, The Shining Girls, to give Broken Monsters a try. In some ways it's better, in some ways not so much. To further whet my appetite, it's set in Detroit, which has become the metaphor for decaying America. I didn't grow up in Detroit, but just outside it, and I'm always interested in reading about it or fiction set in it.

As with The Shining Girls, Broken Monsters is about a serial killer. He's an an artist who may or may not have been occupied by some sort of malevolent spirit. His first victim is a young boy who is cut in half, his top half glued to the hindquarters of a deer. The other two pieces of boy and animal will show up later.

The detective on the case is Gabi Versado, a single mother with a teenage daughter, Layla, who causes her no end of grief. Layla is a lot like Kirby in The Shining Girls--she's annoying and frequently unpleasant, although Beukes sees her as a hero. Layla is involved with a few subplots involving pedophiles. She and her BFF, Cas even confront on in the manner of Catch a Predator.

There's another subplot involving a blogger, Jonno, a guy from out of town who is drawn by the ruination aspect of Detroit. Beukes is calling out all those journalists, photographers, and filmmakers who come to Detroit to chronicle the sad state of affairs, wondering if they really care about the people or not. Of course, all these characters will end up in a bloody finale inside an abandoned factory in Detroit.

I think Broken Monsters would have been better had it been shorter. There are many chapters that consist of transcripts of social media comments, chats, etc. Beukes is trying to be up to date as possible, but it's just overkill. Clearly she has done her research, though. Beukes is South African, but writes like a Detroit native: "Detroit's roads are built like spokes, radiating outwards, with the miles marked off. You can follow Woodward Avenue all the way up past Eight Mile, which is the hard border of the city, and watch the urban blight transform into suburbs with rolling lawns out front and SUVs and Priuses parked in the driveways, occasionally together."

So, a thumb sideways for Broken Monsters. I'm still interested in reading what Beukes has to write next, because she comes close to hitting it out of the park.