Book 2 Magpie Murders and The Shining Girls

 

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz and The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes fulfilled the category “Book Becoming a Movie or TV Series in 2022” for the PopSugar 2022 Reading Challenge. Yeah, I have two titles there. I couldn’t decide.

When I made my enormous list for the challenge, all prompts had three titles listed. I jumped on to Libby and Hoopla and ordered many stories. All of December and these first weeks of January, I listened and listened and listened. I duplicated at least two categories, including the current one.

Both books work so well! I opted for a double review.

What makes a book ideal for a TV series or movie adaptation? Subplots, intrigue, cliffhangers, interesting characters, and a fantastic story. Both these titles had that, and something more.

Wait, I forgot to give you a quick summation!

Magpie Murders has a book within a book. There’s another entire whodunit inside the whodunit. Mr. Horowitz is known for his Sherlock Holmes retellings. This time he hits on an Agatha Christie theme. An agent receives a book from one of her bestselling authors, but the last chapter is missing. The writer is found dead before the agent can grab the last pages. Not only do we have to find out what happened to the dead author, but also solve the mystery of his last book.

The Shining Girls can be summed up with the phrase “Time Traveling Serial Killer.” Do I have your attention? I bet I do. In this novel, we meet a young girl who survived the attack of a strange man. Once she is well, she sets out to find the man to gain understanding and closure. She finds more than she bargained for. In her quest, she finds similar attacks all over the timeline and many objects out of time. We also hear his side of the story and about the time-traveling house he resides in.

Why are these books perfect for TV or movies? Because they’ve missed something in the telling. Each book, though well-written, misses a key plot point or an answer to a burning question. For Magpie Murders, we need more about the murdered author. Going back and forth between the novel and the real world will work great on the small screen. For The Shining Girls, the villain’s plot needs fleshing out. I won’t spoil, but I needed more motivation and back story. Plus, this book, with all the stories behind the victims, will work beautifully for a TV series.

I look at these two books and see Dexter and The Umbrella Academy. Books that were good in their own way, but the TV series enhanced the plot, characters, and story of each book. The TV shows gave us more depth, more time, more details, and more reasons to love the characters.

I can’t wait to see the shows! Magpie Murders should be out on PBS sometime this year. The Shining Girls will air on Apple TV in 2022.

Here’s hoping we get both series this year.

I give Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz Four Anagram Puzzles

I give The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes Four Tattered Baseball Cards.