Amy is living paycheck to paycheck in suburban Ohio, while working at the Ikea knockoff store Orsk. When the store manager, Basil, asks her to work an overnight shift to see who is sneaking in the store and messing with merchandise at night, she takes the opportunity to make some extra pay in cash. Amy is working retail as “just a job” but Basil fully believes in the teamwork and pride of working there. Amy is dreading her night shift, but there is no way she could predict how the night would end up. As she is working the shift with Ruth Anne, a loyal employee who treats everyone like family, they notice fellow team members Trinity and Matt have snuck in the store overnight to do some ghost hunting. They join up and at first, the mysterious things happening in the store are attributed to a homeless man named Carl, but the group finds that things are not as they seem.

The layout of such a mega store is meant to be disorienting to customers to get them stuck in a shopping loop, but several characters start to get stuck and turned around more often than not in the familiar-to-them store layout. As the creepy factor turns up, it’s hard for the employees to determine if it’s a person or a ghost. The plot thickens as we find out that Orsk is built on the site of a former prison, where the warden was convinced that he could cure criminal minds with forced labor. The amount of terrifying things happening dramatically increases as the “warden” takes control of the store and the inmate ghosts are torturing the Orsk employees. The warden strikes a psychological chord with Amy as he calls out her troubled spirit and aimless life. As the frightening night goes on, she starts to see why Basil values the teamwork of Orsk and learns leadership from him. She fights her way out, but Orsk corporate is determined to keep what happened under wraps. The book is left open for a follow up, which will no doubt be another great story

TL:DR- A quick to read, yet exciting horror book with a deep look at the retail world, purpose, teamwork, and leadership.

Publication Date: September 23, 2014 Page Count: 248

ISBN: 1594745269 Publisher: Quirk

The Shining Girls is a riveting time traveling serial killer mystery, based in various years of the 20th century and set in Chicago. Harper, the killer, is inexplicably drawn to the “House” and finds in his own handwriting the names of his victims: the Shining Girls. These victims are all strong and unique women that Harper stalks through time, waiting to find the perfect moment to kill them and take trophies. He takes trophies to enjoy personally in the House and to also leave with the next victim’s body, therefore creating a circle that he feels the need to complete. We get no background on Harper and why he ended up doing what he does, but it doesn’t really matter because what is happening in the moment is everything to Harper. There is magic realism in play and a conversation about free will and the unexplainable need to do something. Harper can leave the House and go to whatever time period in the future while staying in Chicago. He uses this to stalk his victims, finding some when they are young and telling them that he will be back for them. It’s interesting to see one character, Alice, look forward to him coming back having no idea what will eventually happen to her. Another character, Catherine, can’t handle the knowledge that a stranger is following her and ends up becoming a drug addict. As an adult she makes art by tearing and painting on paper saying that “destruction is a natural instinct”. This is the only feasible explanation for why Harper does what he does as a serial killer, he has no free will to stop what he is doing.

Harper’s one surviving victim, Kirby, eventually starts to look for him. She is drawn to do so thinking she has no other choice (again bringing up the topic of free will). She lands an internship at the Chicago Sun-Times with the reporter who originally covered her attack. She uses the paper’s resources to track down similar murders in Chicago and at first the span of time seems impossible, but Kirby keeps working on it. It’s satisfying to see Kirby work through the evidence to find what she is looking for. The way the story goes back and forth in perspective, especially from the victim's point of view is a real strong point of Beukes’ novel.

TL:DR- The Shining Girls is a compelling time travel mystery tracking a killer and his one surviving victim; both of them thinking they are doing the only thing they can because they have no other choice.

Reviewed by Katie Holland, who is a Chicago based artist, creative mind and bookworm.

Publication Date: June 4, 2013 Page Count: 375

ISBN: 0316216852 Publisher: Mulholland Books