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Broken Monsters

By: Lauren Beukes
Narrated by: Christine Lakin, Terra Deva, Sunil Mohatra, Robert Morgan Fisher, J. D. Jackson
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Publisher's summary

A criminal mastermind creates violent tableaus in abandoned Detroit warehouses in Lauren Beukes's new genre-bending novel of suspense.

Detective Gabriella Versado has seen a lot of bodies. But this one is unique even by Detroit's standards: half boy, half deer, somehow fused together. As stranger and more disturbing bodies are discovered, how can the city hold on to a reality that is already tearing at its seams?

If you're Detective Versado's geeky teenage daughter, Layla, you commence a dangerous flirtation with a potential predator online. If you're desperate freelance journalist Jonno, you do whatever it takes to get the exclusive on a horrific story. If you're Thomas Keen, known on the street as TK, you'll do what you can to keep your homeless family safe - and find the monster who is possessed by the dream of violently remaking the world.

If Lauren Beukes's internationally best-selling The Shining Girls was a time-jumping thrill ride through the past, her Broken Monsters is a genre-redefining thriller about broken cities, broken dreams, and broken people trying to put themselves back together again.

©2014 Lauren Beukes (P)2014 Hachette Audio
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Critic reviews

"Lauren Beukes has got an intriguing style of dealing with slightly surreal things in very real ways. I'm all over it." (Gillian Flynn, O: The Oprah Magazine)
"One of the scariest and best-written thrillers of the year" ( Chicago Sun-Times
"Wildly inventive" ( Entertainment Weekly)

Featured Article: Authors Like Stephen King


Best-selling author Stephen King has published a staggering amount of work, from gripping crime thrillers to epic fantasy series, winning prestigious awards. Yet King’s varied writing is united by common themes, styles, characters, and settings. King fans will recognize a book by him for elements ranging from child characters to atmospheric settings, from eerie psychological horror to New England locations. Undeniably, King’s influence is evident in many of the horror genre’s leading and emerging authors. If you're a fan of Stephen King, these horror authors should be on your radar.

What listeners say about Broken Monsters

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A disappointing mashup

Rather than being a 'genre-redefining thriller", Broken Monsters is a combination of police procedural/serial killer thriller and supernatural horror tale. The problem is these elements are barely integrated so the story builds as one type of tale, ends as another and the climax ends up feeling distinctly at odds with what preceded it. Rather than being a surprising twist, it felt false.

To be fair, there are a few hints that the story could go in the direction it eventually does but the ideas aren't unified in a satisfying way and the novel left me disappointed.

On the plus side, it is an interesting, if ultimately not quite satisfying story and Lauren Beukes can write. The characterization is solid and the narration is superb.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Creepy Fun

The story builds nicely, swerving from police procedural to dark urban fantasy.. The Detroit setting is vivid. The social media angle is reasonably fresh, wedding cyberpunk to Lovecraft. Vocal performances are compelling.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Want more like this!

I know it's interesting to me when the story enters my head a couple of times in my work day. I think I really like the multiple narrators for different story lines!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Another masterpiece

Broken Monsters is another masterpiece by Lauren Beukes. I have been entranced by everything I have read/listened to that this author has created. The narrators were amazing, the story was crazy and compelling and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. Highly enjoyed and recommend!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Wish it had been shorter...

It was a compelling idea for a story, but it dragged on for about 6 hours too long.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Serial Killer / Horror with supernatural element

This was a great book, if I was a bigger fan of supernatural horror/killers I probably would have given this 5 stars instead of 4

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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I Had to keep listening in every spare moment

A nail biting story and very topical in today's world of ubiquitous social media use

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Jane's opinion

I didn't know what I was going to think about this book because I did read some reviews on it, but I'm very glad that I did read it. It was very good and very well written. I look forward to reading more books by this author.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A Darker form of "Crash"

What did you love best about Broken Monsters?

I enjoyed how several individual, unlikely characters came together in this disturbing story.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Broken Monsters?

The antagonist expresses his creative side in quite a morbid way. It's not your typical cop-hunts-down-murderer mystery. You are aware of the killer the entire time and, in an odd way, root for him. The darker side of humanity is expressed through this engaging story.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

I truly appreciate books with multiple narrators!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

enthralling

this is how you do characters. this is how you present a killer. this is how you capture nuance. i enjoyed this book very much. the only issue i had was how the supernatual element came in: it wasnt there at all, then came all at once at the end, but this was a slight hiccup that does not preclude a 5 star rating. very good readers, great audio experience. loved it.

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