Name: megan adlam's review of Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone
Item: Mirrorland
Rating: 5
Author: megan adlam

Carole Johnstone

“Dark and devious... Beautifully written and plotted with a watchmaker’s precision.” — Stephen King “A dark, twisty, and richly atmospheric exploration of the power of imagination” —Ruth Ware, author of One by One and The Woman in Cabin 10 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. Cat lives in Los Angeles, far away from 36 Westeryk Road, the imposing gothic house in Edinburgh where she and her estranged twin sister, El, grew up. As girls, they invented Mirrorland, a dark, imaginary place under the pantry stairs full of pirates, witches, and clowns. These days Cat rarely thinks about their childhood home, or the fact that El now lives there with her husband Ross. But when El mysteriously disappears after going out on her sailboat, Cat is forced to return to 36 Westeryk Road, which has scarcely changed in twenty years. The grand old house is still full of shadowy corners, and at every turn Cat finds herself stumbling on long-held secrets and terrifying ghosts from the past. Because someone—El?—has left Cat clues in almost every room: a treasure hunt that leads right back to Mirrorland, where she knows the truth lies crouched and waiting... A twisty, dark, and brilliantly crafted thriller about love and betrayal, redemption and revenge, Mirrorland is a propulsive, page-turning debut about the power of imagination and the price of freedom.

Mirrorland

Ellen Chisa

megan adlam

very confusing mystery at the beginning but it gets so so good with the twist
-i love not being able to tell what the end is/twist will be and it takes a very well written mystery to surprise me
-very dark but i loved it

A thrilling work of psychological suspense with the startling twists of Gone Girl and the haunting emotional power of Room, Mirrorland is the story of twin sisters, the man they both love, and the dark childhood they can’t leave behind. Cat lives in Los Angeles, about as far away as she can get from her estranged twin sister El and No. 36 Westeryk Road, the imposing gothic house in Edinburgh where they grew up. As girls, they invented Mirrorland, a dark, imaginary place under the pantry stairs full of pirates, witches, and clowns. These days Cat rarely thinks about their childhood home, or the fact that El now lives there with her husband Ross. But when El mysteriously disappears after going out on her sailboat, Cat is forced to return to the grand old house, which has scarcely changed in twenty years. No. 36 Westeryk Road is still full of shadowy, hidden corners, and at every turn Cat finds herself stumbling on long-held secrets and terrifying ghosts from the past. Because someone—El?—has left Cat clues all over the house: a treasure hunt that leads right back to Mirrorland, where she knows the truth lies crouched and waiting... A twisty, dark, and brilliantly crafted thriller about love and betrayal, redemption and revenge, Mirrorland is a propulsive, page-turning debut about the power of imagination and the price of freedom.

Jemima Scott

I get why people probably love this book and it was good, however, I found it very predictable and the pace a bit slow

Alexis Aumagamanaia

I had to DNF. I tried so hard with both the audio & physical, but it wasn’t happening. I’m sad bc I was really excited and thought I’d be into it.

Candyce Kirk

2.5 stars

When I read the synopsis of Mirrorland I was really intrigued. I've been enjoying this genre more and I was hoping to be sucked right in, but unfortunately that didn't happen. At first the story felt slow and even though I liked the darker setting nothing was pulling me in. Once I started understanding a bit of how things all came together things made more sense and when I thought we were at the ending I still had 20% to go and it kind of went downhill from me from there. Things just felt too unrealistic and too inconvenient.

Ruby Huber

I think if you reference Gone Girl or Room on the back cover.... that counts as a spoiler. This was actually a very well written thriller but I hated the characters and the imagination stuff and the memory stuff like it was just not my jam in any way it turns out but it IS a good book technically speaking!!!!

‘DARK AND DEVIOUS’ Stephen King ‘UTTERLY ENGROSSING’ Daily Mail ‘TWISTY AND RICHLY ATMOSPHERIC’ Ruth Ware ‘TIGHTLY PLOTTED AND UTTERLY GRIPPING' Sarah Pinborough ‘A HAUNTING THRILLER’ Women’s Weekly ‘TOTALLY ABSORBING’ T.M. Logan

Pam Sartain

Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone has Cat travelling back to Scotland from her life in L.A. after her twin sister, El disappears on her boat.  

Cat doesn't think El has died, she's positive she's still alive, but to find her she has to confront the past, at their old house, where they had Mirrorland, a place of makebelieve.

This is a thriller, where things Cat remembers from the past isn't always what happened, which means you don't always know if what you're reading is true.  I enjoyed the story, and the surprises.

 Mirrorland  was published on 1st April 2021, and is available from  Amazon ,  Waterstones  and  Bookshop.org .

You can follow Carole Johnstone on  Twitter ,  Facebook  and her  website .

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to  HarperCollins .

Courtney Swanson

I really enjoyed this book! I found it very confusing in the beginning, but once I got into it, I couldn’t put it down! 

Kerri McDonald

Thank you to Dave @ The Write Reads, Scribner, and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

You know that feeling when you pick up a book and, within the first few pages, you know you’re doing nothing else for the rest of the day but reading? When a book grabs your imagination so fiercely that you can’t imagine setting it down before you’ve read the last page? Mirrorland did that to me!

This is the story of Cat and her long estranged identical twin sister, El. Cat and El had a bizarre childhood, but the thing that made it less bizarre was the magical world they created in their family home: Mirrorland. They always had Mirrorland, with is magical and slightly threatening denizens, and they always had each other. Children grow up though and, sometimes, grow apart. After a particularly bad falling-out, Cat hasn’t seen or spoken to her twin for the last twelve years. Then she gets a frantic phone call from El’s husband telling her that her twin has mysteriously vanished. Now Cat must return to her childhood home, and Mirrorland, to try and unravel what exactly happened to her sister.

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve read a thriller that so completely pulled me into it’s world! This book was a marvel, from the unsettling tone that permeates the entire story, to the way the whole, twisted story of not only the past, but the present is revealed. It had me on the edge of my seat the entire time and I loved ever second of it! I do want to warn folks to please check trigger warnings on this one, though. There are a lot of dark and uncomfortable topics that are explored, not least of all physical abuse, so I don’t want someone who might be sensitive to those to go into this one without knowing what’s up. I think the author does of good job of weaving these darker topics into the story without it feeling like they’re solely there for the shock value, though. But definitely be warned!

My favorite aspect of this book has to be the look at the relationship between Cat and her twin, El. It’s not a perfect relationship. In fact, it is rather messed up, but it’s a fascinating look at the sibling bond. The flashbacks to their time as children, their imagines of Mirrorland, honestly made me think of when I was a kid and had fantasy worlds I made up with my brother. Those worlds were our places to really be ourselves and be kids and you can definitely get that feeling when you read about Cat and El in Mirrorland, though their imagined world was much darker than ours. I dunno, I just thought that the author captured that sibling relationship so well and I loved it!

I also thought she did an incredible job with pacing in this novel. The twists and turns were expertly piloted and kept me guessing from jump! Did I guess some things before they happened? Yes. Did I still really enjoy the execution? Absolutely! It’s been awhile since a book had the ability to keep me up until 3 in the morning, and this book accomplished that because I had to know what was going to happen next! This was plotted so well and I loved going along for the ride.

Final thoughts: It’s been awhile since I’ve been so captivated by a thriller! This book delivers all the things I love in this genre: a perfectly paced plot, compelling and flawed characters, and an emotional punch that caught me off-guard. Definitely check trigger warnings for this one before going in, though, because this story gets dark. And, though the execution is incredible, you may seem some of the twists coming. Overall, though, this was a fantastic story that had me in it’s clutches from page on until I finished the epilogue. If you’re a fan of thrillers that feature family drama, lots of dark secrets, and loads of mystery, I think you’ll enjoy Mirrorland!

Ellen Chisa &
Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone

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