Broken Monsters

July 28, 2014
Set in present-day Detroit, Beukes’s novel of suspense successfully combines horror, detection, and a depressing examination of urban decay. In a bizarre murder, an 11-year-old boy has been cut in two, his upper body grafted onto the lower half of a deer. The scar of a wound in the child’s armpit allows Det. Gabriella Versado to identify him as Daveyton Lafonte, who survived a “stray bullet from a gang war” at age six. Versado is the prototypical good cop working in an impossible situation—a city so overwhelmed by crime that most of her job consists of handing out “empty warnings.” As the killer continues to slaughter and mutilate in terrifying ways, the investigation draws in an immature and narcissistic reporter, Jonno Haim, who seeks exposure above all else. As she did in 2013’s The Shining Girls, Beukes puts a fresh, imaginative spin on the trope of the serial killer. Five-city author tour. Agent: Oli Munson, A.M. Heath (U.K.).

December 22, 2014
The multiple narrators of Buekes’s enthralling and totally creepy novel present a complex but ultimately satisfying listening experience. Detroit detective Gabriella Versado is investigating the murder of a young boy, whose torso was found fused to the bottom half of a deer. As more bizarre murders appear, Versado begins a dark, obsessive odyssey that will drag her, her colleagues, and her daughter to the very limits of their physical endurance and their sanity, as she chases one of the most horrifying killers in recent fiction. The five readers of this story do a sensational job of bringing this book to life, and their pacing and characterizations are spot on, offering more of a dramatic rendering than a straightforward reading. Their combined skills and talent help bring genuine chills and suspense to this genre-bending thriller, especially during the heart-stopping final minutes. A L, B/Mulholland hardcover.

Starred review from September 1, 2014
A genuinely unsettling-in all the best ways-blend of suspense and the supernatural makes this a serial-killer tale like you've never seen. Set in a crumbling contemporary Detroit, Beukes' fourth novel (The Shining Girls, 2013, etc.) seamlessly alternates between the points of view of a single mother homicide detective; her 15-year-old daughter; a wannabe journalist; a homeless man; and an artist with deep-seated psychological issues. At the scene of the crime, Detective Gabriella Versado can't remember the last time she's seen something so brutal: The top half of 11-year-old Daveyton Lafonte is fused with the hind legs of a fawn in a hideous display of human taxidermy. While it's obvious that the five storylines will eventually join together, Beukes never takes the easy route, letting each character develop organically. Versado's daughter, Layla, cautiously navigates high school in the digital age; homeless scavenger Thomas "TK" Keen warily patrols the streets; Detroit transplant Jonno Haim tries to make a name for himself by chronicling first the city's art scene and then the hunt for the killer dubbed the Detroit Monster; and sculptor Clayton Broom's creations begin to take on lives of their own. Versado's dogged pursuit of the killer, under the glare of the media spotlight, is as compelling a police procedural narrative as Broom's descent into madness and the horrors of his dream world are a truly terrifying horror story. Beukes gave us a time traveling serial killer in The Shining Girls, and the monsters in her latest tale, whether they're real or imagined, will keep you up all night.

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Starred review from October 1, 2014
Following The Shining Girls (2013), Beukes returns with another genre-bender boasting sympathetic characters, meticulously rendered settings, an unflinchingly realistic crime scene, and a distinctly horror-fiction atmosphere. Detroit Homicide Detective Gabriella Versado is barely balancing her career and raising a teenage daughter when she's assigned the wickedly bizarre case of a boy whose body was mutilated in a grotesque sculpture: the upper half of the body fused with the hindquarters of a deer. As Versado begins due diligence by interviewing taxidermists and hunters, fame-chasing YouTube journalist Jonno hounds her for inside information on the case. Gold-hearted T. K., homeless in America's abandoned city, is haunted by the odd doorways suddenly chalked all over the city, including at Versado's crime scene. And Versado's daughter, Layla, alternatively naive and wise beyond her years, begins testing her bravery through flirtations with Detroit's dark side. As more bodies fused with animal parts appear, accompanied by the creepy chalk-door drawings, Gabi's team hunts a serial killer touched by incomprehensible evil that will lure her, Jonno, T. K., and Layla toward a masterful, surreal climax. Beukes avoids predictability by leading readers to doubt their interpretations of motives and events, blending detection and atmospheric horror to court both hard-boiled mystery and literary-horror fans. Think Peter Straub meets Karin Slaughter.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

Starred review from September 15, 2014

Beukes (The Shining Girls) has fashioned Detroit into her own unique, dark dreamscape in this supernaturally charged thriller. In it, the torso of a young boy has been found fused to the hindquarters of a tiny deer, and Det. Gabriella Versado is under intense pressure to find the culprit. Gabi has no way of knowing that she's dealing with something more than human, and the case consumes her, even as it alienates her from her conflicted teenage daughter, Layla. Meanwhile, Jonno Haim is looking for the next big story, and the Detroit Monster may be his ticket to the spotlight. But the cost of Internet fame could be more than he's willing to pay, and Thomas Keene (aka TK), a homeless man, tries to protect his friends against a threat that seeks to transform the city to fit its own unearthly vision. VERDICT Detroit could easily be called the city of broken dreams, but in this highly atmospheric novel, Beukes sketches a metropolis full of hope and vigor, in spite of a monster roaming its streets. A powerful look at our fascination with social media and the transformative power of art and imagination round out this genre-defying chiller's captivating and terrifying narrative. [See Prepub Alert, 3/24/14; also highlighted in "Books for the Masses," Editors' BEA Picks, LJ 7/14, p. 31.]--Kristin Centorcelli, Denton, TX

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2015

Against the decaying backdrop of present-day Detroit, a series of horrific crimes appear to be the work of a twisted serial killer. But layered onto the story is a cynical look at the future of journalism and a big dollop of the supernatural. Beukes is a hugely inventive author, never afraid to borrow from whatever genre gets the job done. (LJ 7/14)

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.