Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes: a review

Steph P. Bianchini August 27, 2014 2 Comments

It’s a given: on paper, this new book of Lauren Beukes is not one I would read. Mystery and thrillers I can do if they are historical – The Name of the Rose is an example of what I like – or if there’s a lot of technology and politics involved, possibly together. So yes, Tom Clancy and Ken Follett do qualify. But something in Broken Monsters’ summary attracted my attention – maybe it was Detroit’s destitute landscape as a setting for the story or the fact that its murders oddly remind the tableaux of Dexter’s Sixth Season (I confess, I liked Dexter. Everybody has his/her weaknesses and inexplicable addictions, and this was one of mine). Whatever the reason, I have requested a copy of this book from the publisher – HarperCollins – through Netgalley in exchange, as usual,  of a honest review. I was not disappointed.

The plot is straightforward: a serial killer in Detroit who decides to mix up art with murder, imagination with nightmares, becoming very creative indeed; a detective that wants to catch him at all costs; and a few deranged characters on the side. Quite obviously, everything goes wrong and things become even more complex. I have to say I have liked the book, but more for its dark atmospheres and its compelling style than for its originality (it is not). I have also enjoyed some of its (masterfully portrayed) gruesome scenes, a few sideline sketches of the city itself, and the fact that you can safely root for detective Versado, the protagonist.

However, it had not come as a surprise to me that professional reviews have been generally better than readers’ opinions – just compare this one from The Guardian with a few comments in Goodreads. Sometimes, especially at the beginning, the switch among the different POV of the characters, killer included, may give the reader a huge headache. This technique might have now become more popular thanks to GRR Martin, but  it’s not something I would recommend to everybody – especially when the linguistic register stays the same. This is not about literature, incidentally: it is about clarity. (Later on, the killer becomes increasingly delirious, and this helps). But these are, all considered, minor points. The book is good, and if you are looking for some horror in a well-grounded crime story, you’re going to love it. And the conclusion, that many readers have criticised – I won’t say anything more precise here to avoid spoilers – in my opinion was exactly what you could expect given its beginning, straight from the cover: killers have dreams too.