And again you're left with your hairs standing on end, wondering-is this manmade madness, or magic? The fifth character is the serial killer himself, narrated variously from his own wounded consciousness and a thing calling itself 'the dream' which seems to be inhabiting him.

Layla was far and away my favorite, because sarcastic brave teenage girls are everything I love in the world, but also because the dynamic between her and her mother ricocheted from heartwarming to heartbreaking and back so beautifully. TK is a homeless ex-con approximately a thousand times more likable than Jonno, and Gabi's daughter Layla is involved in about sixteen kinds of teenage trouble. It's the bright against the blight', he declaims arrogantly at a party). Then there's Jonno, the thirty-something failed writer hoping to profit off Detroit's grungy art vibe ('This city is all about the people, who have to burn against the dark. We meet Gabi first, the slightly cliché Latina homicide detective recovering from divorce.

The narrative zooms out and introduces us to the tangled and half-broken lives of our five viewpoint characters. It's horrifying, but also alluring-anyone mythologically inclined sees a tiny, broken Pan laid out on the pavement, and wonders whether man or magic created it. The body in Broken Monsters is a poor black kid in Detroit whose legs have been replaced with the fragile furred limbs of a fawn.

Cop shows and murder mysteries all start in the same place: a body on the ground and a tough detective examining the scene. Let me get this out of the way: if you like horror or thrillers, or have ever found yourself recreationally reading the Wiki pages for serial killers-or if you've ever said to yourself, 'I like Stephen King, but wish there was a more sarcastic, slick, socially-conscious version of him'-then just stop reading this review right here and go get Lauren Beukes's Broken Monsters.Īdmittedly, it begins with a not-especially-original scene.

Zoo City by Lauren Beukes