Kirby enlists the help of reporter Dan Velazquez; together they uncover several decades-old cold cases of similar murders and hunt for a mysterious serial killer.

The time advances and we see the same girl, now an adult, Kirby (Elisabeth Moss), living with her mother, noting down details about her daily life, and harboring a plan to move to Florida.

He thinks that she is doing it just to raise her level of job profile, but she reveals that the girl assaulted in the case (Julia) has similar marks as hers (from the time when she was brutally attacked) and that makes her want to pursue it.

[8] In July 2020, Apple gave a series order for Shining Girls, with Elisabeth Moss announced to star.

Luisa felt that focusing on a single character's point of view made the show more compelling.

"I think Lauren [Beukes] has a very specific worldview on grief and trauma that she presents and carrying that forward was really important.

"[16] Executive producer and lead actor, Moss remarked that unlike the book, in Shining Girls Kirby and Dan do not become romantically involved.

In the show, Kirby is ten years older than in the book, and her position at the Chicago Sun-Times is an archivist rather than an intern.

[4] The shifting realities that Kirby experiences in the show, her desk at work changing position, her cat at home becoming a dog, discovering that she is married, do not occur in the book.

The website's critics consensus reads, "Shining Girls' time-bending conceit often induces a headache instead of thrills, but Elisabeth Moss' superb performance gives this mystery a riveting center of gravity.

"[18] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 65 out of 100 based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews".