Let’s get one thing out of the way first: I’ve been reading horror novels since I was old enough to comprehend them. I picked up my first Stephen King around 10, and never looked back. So, needless to say, I’ve been engulfing myself with the terrors of the written word for a very long time. Having said that, nowadays, it’s very rare that one will terrify me in such a way that leaves me thinking about it days after I put it down.

Lauren Beukes’ Broken Monsters did just that.

I discovered Beukes by accidently picking up her last novel, The Shining Girls, and being pleasantly surprised at how refreshing it was. As someone who has read all the tropes over and over again, Girls was an interesting new take on the serial killer genre, and one that toyed with reality a bit. When Broken Monsters was announced, I was very excited to get my hands on it, anxious to see if Beukes would turn my world upside down again.

And she did.

The novel opens with police discovering the body of a young, African-American boy. Sure, plenty of stories begin with the grisly discovery of a child, but this one stands out. It’s not every day that you come across a body where its head and torso are fused together with bottom half of a fawn. With that incredibly disturbing image, the story opens with a bang, and just gets creepier from there.

The story alternates between multiple points of view of several lead characters. There’s the lead officer on the case, Detective Gabriella Versado, who is borderline obsessed with solving the crime. Then there is her daughter, Layla, a high school student who has taking up the extremely dangerous hobby of catfishing pedophiles online, to expose their identities to the world. Jonno, the failed writer and wanna-be, aging hipster, trying to find the story of a lifetime. TK, the homeless man who accidently gets entangled in the case. And finally, Clayton, an artist who isn’t what he seems, and winds up being a window into the macabre and a vessel for…something else.

As a horror novel, I almost want to say Broken Monsters is pretty flawless. I haven’t read a book more tense than this in years, and it literally had me on the edge of my seat with the pages leading up to the end. It’s clear to see Beukes is an insanely talented writer and knows how to pull in the reader. Her descriptions of crime scenes are insanely chilling, and the images of “ghost doors”, as described throughout the book, are images that stuck with me for a very long time.

Broken Monsters

On top of that, Broken Monsters presents itself as a crime novel, with the supernatural elements building up slowly, until they reach a deafening crescendo at the end. It’s never overt with its horror tone, but she sneaks it in quite well, and the payoff is wonderful.

Broken Monsters is set in Detroit, but it’s not the same Detroit you would think. This version lies somewhere between the ruin porn, filled with art made with reckless abandon, and the homeless people stuck right next to the DJs trying to make a name for themselves. To me, the city felt just as real as the characters.

I hate to compare it to something else, but True Detective comes to mind here, as both follow the same basic concept; horrific crime that winds up being supernaturally linked, something our brain has a hard time wrapping around. That said, while I enjoyed True Detective, I did enjoy Broken Monsters even more.

Beukes does a masterful job of crafting these horrific images into our brain, and having them stick with us for a long, long time.

If you’re looking for a great read that will definitely send chills down your spine, pick this one up. You won’t regret it.