Mirrorland

\”Mirror twins\” is how Cat describes her relationship with El, two sisters entangled in a childhood of trauma, fantasy, and dreams of pirates with adventures of escape and mystery. This first book of author Carole Johnstone is a tense, dramatic read, you won\’t want to put down. The story is set in Scotland, where estranged sister, Cat, had returned from Los Angeles amid her sisters tragic disappearance from a day of sailing and join the search for her missing sister. Identical siblings often have mythical relationships with closeness, conflicts, and competition, and this novel takes readers on a compelling journey filled with angst, stark revelations, and the jumbled mix of images, words, and memories from the past haunting Cat, while she struggles for answers to her sister\’s mysterious disappearance. Told as Cat\’s first-person account of suddenly reentering her estranged sister\’s life after years of absence is both traumatic and convoluted at best. Who can Cat believe among all who try to help, console, and even warn her? Can she even believe herself? Adding to Cat\’s challenges is Ross, husband of missing sister, El, who was both sisters\’ childhood friend, confidant, and romantic rival. The author\’s chilling storytelling creates a neverending series of psychological events filled with truths, half-truths, and too many uncertainties. This densely written suspense takes longer to read that you might think because it takes time to process and untangle the web of conflicting facts and surprising revelations. This book took me at least twice as long to read as similar length novels, but I kept pressing forward wanting to know more. I found the book intriguing and engaging, although the author did not always delineate Cat\’s present from her past, forcing readers to experience all events, past and present, in a single real-time flow. This was the book\’s unique strength and weakness, warping time into a twisted storyline. Everything stays mixed up, until the unexpected end, where truths emerge slowly, finally making sense. As such, this is a one-time read, where the reading experience is motivated primarily by the unknown and living through the novel\’s engrossing tale. The Audible narration was both a blessing and a curse, as the Scottish narrator\’s often thick brogue added local charm and personality but was at times challenging to understand, especially at the beginning. Coarse and salty language colors dialogue and internal thoughts, potentially distracting and perhaps offensive to some readers because of its frequency. Overall, this imaginative plotline and story came together well. Certainly a suprising debut novel many will enjoy.

It\’s all subjective so I\’m not going to say you won\’t like this book, but I sure as heck didn\’t. Found the characters to be unlikeable and one-dimensional. Most everyone they had connection with was long dead. Story itself was just plain boring and the writing was simple, un-engaging. A big fat who-cares-burger. It was zero like Gone Girl, which I\’ve read it compared to in some online mentions.

This is 5 plus hours I will never get back. Rambling ridiculous plot. I think King likes it because it refers to his finest work so often. Almost stopped reading several times but thought it will live up to the reviews. For me it never does.

4 ⭐️ First impression: This is another anticipated read of mine and I’m nervous because I’ve seen mixed reviews. I almost gave up 50 pages in because there’s so much imagery and I don’t have a strong suit for that sort of thing. It’s one of the main reasons I don’t read fantasy books. Halfway point: Things are getting more interesting for sure. I’m curious to where this will go and I’m glad I didn’t give up as planned. I have a couple different theories forming and I’m curious if any of them are right! I don’t try to be a sleuth, but I cannot help myself ???️‍♀️! ? Final impression: My theories can be thrown right out the window ? it picks up after the second half and I could stop turning the pages! Towards the end, I did find myself rolling my eyes a few times, but I think overall it did play out very well! I think this was done and had a twist I didn’t see coming! Definitely some messed up stuff going on in this one! If you can get past the slow build up, I think you’ll enjoy it!

This domestic thriller earned 3.5 Stars from me. The unique way the past and present were mixed created a dreamlike feel which was both intriguing and, at times, confusing. I had to lower my rating from 4 stars to 3.5 stars because the time shifts were not clearly marked and I was often confused. SUMMARY The book opens with twelve year old identical twins, \”El\” Ellice and \”Cat\” Catriona appearing at night on the docks of Edinburgh, battered and covered in blood. Claiming they had run away from home, they asked a ships captain for passage on his boat. The captain called the authorities and they were taken into custody of child services. They refused to ever give anyone any more information on their background other than the fact that they were sisters and had run away from home, and no matter how much they searched, child services could never figure out who belonged to. Fast forward twenty years later. The sisters had a rift and had not spoken in twelve years. Cat, living in LA, receives a call from Ross, El\’s husband, telling her that El is missing. She left on her sailboat and seems to have been lost at sea. By the time Cat arrives back in Edinburgh, El has been missing for several days. Odds of her survival in the frigid North Atlantic that long are very slim, yet Cat cannot allow herself to believe El is dead, they have that identical twin connection, wouldn\’t she feel it? As the story progresses, the twins background is slowly revealed. Growing up in an oddly dysfunctional house with their mother and grandfather, El and Cat created a rich fantasy life where they spent hours pretending to be pirates. They were so fully immersed in this ongoing play acting that, years later, Cat wasn\’t sure exactly what (or who) was real or pretend. As the search for El continues, Cat is forced to face the reality of their childhood, how they ended up on the dock twenty years ago and all the reasons her relationship with El went awry.

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