Mirrorland: the dark and twisty fiction debut from 2022's new voice in psychological suspense

Product Information

That this is the only thing about America that I won't miss makes me feel more tired, more pissed off.

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. We also get to meet El through flashbacks, though these are told from Cat’s POV and so are slightly skewed, but we also get to read a little of her POV through diary notes and letters that she has left for Cat to find round the house. Instead of making our main character Cat a beaten down and depressed drunk whom no one trusts, Johnstone instead created a character that is both fragile and strong. Then back to the harbor, its bobbing round buoys and long pontoons and white sailboats with rattling masts.Book Description: With the startling twists of Gone Girl and the haunting emotional power of Room, Mirrorland is a thrilling work of psychological suspense about twin sisters, the man they both love, and the dark childhood they can’t leave behind. The main reason I suggest this is because the book moves back and forth between the present and the past, something that is very difficult to tell when you’re listening to the narration. I’ve run across so many dead/murdered/missing sister books in the last few weeks that I’m beginning to get pretty concerned. 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. This book took me at least twice as long to read as similar length novels, but I kept pressing forward wanting to know more.

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. As an only child, I find novels about the intricate mix of love and jealousy that occurs between siblings fascinating – and Carole Johnstone coveys the tangled web of affection. 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? Front and center among those are the endless hours the pair spent with Ross and a host of imaginary friends in Mirrorland, their name for the secret covered alley next to the house that was the setting for their childhood adventures on the high seas, in the Wild West, and at the prison from The Shawshank Redemption. As an avid reader, I often find myself reading a book description and not being able to remember whether I’ve read it before.

Paired with twists and turns I didn't see coming, readers will certainly be in for tons of surprises. But then something happens that tears them apart and sends Cat across the Atlantic Ocean to America. To access your ebook(s) after purchasing, you can download the free Glose app or read instantly on your browser by logging into Glose. 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. I’m so glad that I got onto this blog tour, Cat and El’s story is one that is going to stay with me for a while after reading and I can see Mirrorland making more than one venture into my dreams.