"I wasn’t anywhere when my sister died. Because she isn’t dead."

I don’t know how to begin to review Mirrorland. I’m still not even entirely sure what I just read. What I do know is that I haven’t had a case of the mindfucks like this since reading Verity.

"I know how this goes. How it’s always gone. This is a treasure hunt. She has the map. And I have no other choice but to wait until she gives me the next clue."

In Mirrorland, twin sisters Ellice and Catriona invent a fantastical make-believe world, filled with pirates and witches and clowns, as a way to mentally escape from the abusive, traumatic environment they are being raised in. Decades later, Ell is missing and presumed dead, and Cat must return to her nightmarish childhood home to uncover what has happened to her sister. In the process, she’s forced to reckon with memories she buried long ago and acknowledge horrific truths about her past.

"There was never a time when Mirrorland didn’t feel real; when we couldn’t feel the wind and rain and wonder of it, or smell the sea and smoke and sweat and blood of it. But sometimes, Mirrorland felt very real, and those were the times when we were clever or cruel or afraid."

Based on the description, I went in to this book expecting the domestic thriller version of The Night Circus - something fanciful and imaginative, with a good twist or two thrown in for good measure. In reality, Mirrorland ended up being much closer to horror, with a touch of magical realism. It felt like a mashup of The Girl in the Mirror (twin sisters with a boat, where reality isn’t what it seems), The Family Upstairs (a troubled, traumatic childhood, spent in a creepy house), and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (an impressive degree of mental escapism). And, yeah, there’s a little Verity in there too (a series of postmortem letters leaving you entirely unsure of what to believe).

"This house and our mother and her stories turned our imagination into a melting pot, a forge. A cauldron. And, I’m beginning to realize, I can trust nothing that came out of it."

Mirrorland is creepy, unsettling, horrifyingly traumatic at times, and goes above and beyond “thriller” in genre. And it’s not really fantasy, either, despite all the pirates & clowns. Most of the book left me feeling terribly sad for the twins, and angry with their mother for allowing such a life for them (and even angrier at another character who later chose to prey on them because of their embedded weaknesses). Lots of sick, twisted people & situations in this book, but not in a fun way.

"I don’t know what he’s going to do, but I know it won’t look like murder. Because he was born to be a pirate."

The book is well-written and engaging; I couldn’t put it down. If we’re rating the author’s ability to create tension, suspense, and true horror, it’s a 5-star experience. But based on the way the book made me feel - mostly cringy and uncomfortable - 3 stars feels generous. So I settled somewhere in the middle.

"Any escape is better than none."

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A huge thank-you to Carole Johnstone, Scribner, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

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Love, love, love this book! I am always excited when I find a book that is very different from so many that are out there and trust me this one is! Cat and El are mirror twins who grow up in a toxic environment, so in order to ease the almost daily trauma of their everyday life they create Mirrorland under the stairs where they are pirates, clowns, or cowboys. They become estranged after they become adults and Cat moves to LA but is called back to Scotland when her sister goes missing.
For me the only thing I didn't care for was all the fantasy and make believe because it was hard to know what was real and what was not. However, the author did a stellar job tying it all together at the end. I will be watching for more from Ms.Johnstone.

Thanks to Net Galley for allowing me to read this amazing arc for my honest review. I highly recommend!

What an incredible debut! Mirrorland has it all-drama, thrills, twists, tragedy and beautiful sisterhood. However, the absolute best part of this book is the imagery. Johnstone is masterful at setting each and every scene.
Catroina and Ellice are identical twins with a dark past. Once inseparable, yet they haven’t spoken in 12 years. When El goes missing, Cat is forced to return home and face the past. With so many delicious twists and turns, I fell in love with this novel.

I received #Mirrorland as an ARC courtesy of #NetGalley and #simonandschuster in exchange for an honest review

Woah! What a wild ride! Mirrorland is a mind-bender above and beyond your typical psychological thriller.

As kids, mirror twins El and Cat lived in a world full of imagination, adventure, and invisible friends in Mirrorland - a sort of ‘club house’ they built in the basement area below their home in Scotland. They play-acted cowboys and Indians, clowns, prison guards, and pirates with their neighbor Ross.

When they are 12 years old, El and Cat are forced to run away and start their ‘second life’ after something unspeakable happens in the house. As they age, the girls become estranged - Cat moves to Los Angeles and El marries Ross, moving back into the old family home.

When El goes missing, Cat returns to Mirrorland, which along with clues left by El, forces her to recall suppressed memories about their ‘first life’, sort out fact from fiction, and decide whether El is dead or alive. She’s unsure who she can trust - Ross, El’s new friends, even herself.

Pay attention when you’re reading this one, because you never know if Cat’s playing make-believe in Mirrorland or living in the present. Some reviewers said this makes things confusing, but I think it truly draws you into Cat’s altered view of reality and her fragile mental state.

I thought the book went on a bit longer than it needed to force its ending. I thought it was going to end maybe 4-5 chapters before it did. It would have ended more strongly without the unofficial “part 3”. But it was still a creepy horror/thriller that I’d recommend!

I loved the premise of this story--twin girls creating a magical world in their play area in order to escape the harsh realities of their abusive childhood. I really enjoyed how in-depth a world their imaginations were able to create.

At times, on audio, the shifts between fantasy and reality got a little bit confusing. I feel like reading a hard copy would be able to follow, since you would more easily be able to flip back a few pages to sort out what was going on. I haven’t read a lot of magical realism.

The investigation into El’s disappearance was interesting, and I was eager to figure out the twist. I didn’t find any of the main characters to be that likable, though, so I had trouble connecting with their stories. Overall I enjoyed the ending and was certainly surprised.

The beginning of this novel, that is to say the first half, is slow going and a bit dull and confusing at times. The second half is when things really start to happen and we actually get answers to the questions that didn’t seem to interest us much in the first half. There are twists, turns, and revelations but they are not handled as deftly as they could have been and there were so many that they lost their punch. A couple of well timed OMG unexpected twists would have been magnificent. Five all bunched together is simply tiresome. A somewhat entertaining thriller with lots of disappointments.

I've got to be honest - this one kind of lost me.
I think it really needs to be marketed as fantasy/heavy magical realism. Though I'm not a huge fan of those, a lot of folks are - and I think they would really enjoy this story!
I think the writing was very good and the story picked up (for me) toward the halfway mark. I do look forward to seeing what else this author writes.

My brain is on fire after listening to Mirrorland. There’s nothing like a good audiobook for a slow work night.
Cat is out unreliable narrator and she tells a creepy, twisted, complex story set in a claustrophobic, bleak house.
Twin sisters Cat and El created a world called Mirrorland until that world nearly devoured them. Twelve years later, Cat is called back to Scotland from her new life in LA when El disappeared and is presumed dead. Cat thinks El is still alive. They hadn’t talked in ten years, and yet Cat believes that if El were really dead, she would feel it.
This book is crazy. I seriously don’t know how to even talk about it. I had to pay attention (which means I had to go back on my audio a few times) because there is so much detail, layering of the stories, twists and turns in this house of horror.

Book Review for Mirrorland
Full review for this title will be posted at: @cattleboobooks on Instagram!

This is an as advertised twisty thriller. Even when the twists were somewhat unexpected, they still happened in unexpected ways. In the beginning, the children's make-believe portions were a bit tough to remain interested in, but they definitely served their purpose in the long-term of the novel. As everything started to come together, it made for a particularly captivating backend of the story and a strong novel. This anticipated thriller is likely to meet or exceed expectations.

I was hoping for a dark tale going into Mirrorland and Carole Johnstone delivered just that and more. The novel is immediately sinister but it's also one you need to take your time with. Johnstone frequently switches between the current time period as Cat deals with the fallout of her sister El's disappearance to the their childhood and what went on then.

There's a lot of information and detail, especially in the sections taking place in the past. Growing up, the twins seemed to live in their imaginary world Mirrorland. I found this addition equal parts fascinating and heartbreaking. You can tell early on that this imaginary land was a product of some form of trauma they had or were experiencing. Mirrorland was a place where they could be strong, free, and in charge.

I'll admit I wasn't the biggest fan of Cat. I did appreciate getting to read her inner thoughts as Johnstone did an amazing job of showing you her thought process. But there were still times I wanted to tell her to open her eyes and see the red flags she was ignoring.

This book ended up being darker than expected. At one point, I thought I was going to cry at all that had been revealed by the end. Mirrorland is being compared to Gone Girl and it's the second book I've ever read to meet that bar and possibly exceed it. It's a heavy novel that will get under your skin and leave you reeling. I can't wait to see what Carole Johnstone does next!

Such amazingly vivid story telling from a debut author that I am looking forward to reading more from. This story touched me on several levels.
Catriona 'Cat' is estranged from her twin sister Ellice 'El'. When she gets the news her sister is missing she returns from Los Angeles California to Edinburgh Scotland. She arrives at her childhood home and has to unravel her memories of the past. Things she has deliberately forgotten and are entwined in the memories of the elaborate Make-believe world she had her sister had created for escape, Mirrorland.
This story had me on the edge of my seat, especially in the final chapters.

Thank you to Scribner, Carole Johnstone and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this e-ARC.

At first and for much of the book, I didn’t follow what was going on. The story was very convoluted. There was too much description of childhood Mirrorland and way too many memories. It read like a bad dream, or maybe a nightmare.

But then, it all starts to make sense; all those invented fantasies finally made sense.

There are some pretty good I-didn’t-see-that-coming moments leading to an ending with a twist. All in all, I enjoyed this debut novel.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Mirrorland. I liked it.

A great suspenseful thriller, that was well written. Mirrorland focuses on twin sisters. When one goes missing, the other must recall their childhood and find the clues. Different, but good.

This one was a DNF for me. The storyline in the beginning is very confusing and super vague as to what is going on. I did appreciate the atmospheric writing though.

Carole Johnstone's suspense, thriller Mirrorland was an amazing book. Mirrorland takes you on a twisty ride through the past and present lives of twin sisters El and Cat. The twins grew up in Scotland, but as you discover have been separated with no contact for over twelve years. Suddenly El goes missing, and Cat must return to Scotland to find out what has happened to her sister.

Cat is the narrator of the novel, and we come to find out is an unreliable narrator (as they often are in suspense novels like this). The story slowly unfolds, and we learn alot of detail about the fantasy play of the twins when they are young girls. As children they invented an imaginery world called Mirrorland where they would escape the realities of their lives. We see them grow apart, and bit by bit learn how and why that occurred (love triangle?) Just as you think you have it figured out....you don't.

I love how the author wove in details of other literature, and paid homage to other authors with this novel. The story is very detailed, and you have to pay attention to the detail in order for it all to come together in the end. Beautifully written, suspenseful, loved it! Can't wait for the author's next novel.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC.

Carole Johnstone hits every note just right in her psychological thriller Mirrorland. Mysterious, atmospheric and twisty. Not always easy to read, but I could not out it down.

Recently I haven’t come across with a book that was able to explain trauma and physical abuse this indirectly yet this strongly. Mirrorland instantly became one of my top books this year so far. I was able to guess few things at the beginning of the story but what came after and depth of story made sit tight and finish the book even though the clock showed 2:31 am. This was the plot I needed; this was the story that made me say “oh wow!” with every page I turned.

El and Cat are identical twins. They lived in a house where every room had a name and purpose. Every room had its own secrets. They didn’t have many friends except for Ross and their imaginary (maybe not?) friends from the Mirrorland. They dreamt of reuniting with their father one day whom they believed to be a pirate with his own beautiful island off of Caribbean. One day El and Cat left their home expecting a ship to pick them up. Their mum and grandpa were dead and they were placed in an orphanage. When they came to age, they chose to part ways even though they promised never to do so.

Years later, El is missing. Cat is back in Scotland to find out what happened. The days after El’s disappearance and events unfolded after was the one private journey Cat and El hoped to have when they were wee girls. What we discovered though.... that’s a nightmare fuel

Such a great read! Mirrorland is a psychological thriller full of mystery and startling twists that make it quite the page-turner. The story is dark and suspenseful, and often left me wondering what was real and what was not.

Mirrorland is about twin sisters, Catriona (Cat) and Ellice (El), and is from the perspective of Cat. We find out quickly that Cat and El have not been on good terms or spoken to each other in 12 years. When El appears to be missing and presumed dead after she does not return from a boating day trip, Cat travels back to her childhood home and the world of Mirrorland. Cat believes El is alive and purposely missing, but is she? As Cat faces her demons and troubled childhood in the home where it all began, she starts to question what she knows and believes.

Carole Johnstone describes everything so well, breathing life into the house and Mirrorland in a way that they too feel like one of the characters. I could fully imagine the dark and spooky atmosphere of 36 Westeryk Road. One of the things that made Mirrorland so hard to put down was that Johnstone keeps you in the dark and only reveals things to you as they are revealed to Cat. It made me want to keep reading because of how well the pieces of the puzzle are put together a little at a time. Plus, the twists kept me on my toes and continued all the way to the end, which finishes great. I also really like how Johnstone manages to weave in love and redemption in an otherwise dark thriller. It made for an overall, really beautiful story. I definitely recommend Mirrorland for anyone who enjoys psychological and suspenseful thrillers.

Special thanks to NetGalley, Carole Johnstone and publisher Scribner for the advanced copy of Mirrorland.

A complex psychological thriller with surprising twists, exploring how exceptional the human mind is, especially a child's mind, repressing memories to cope with trauma. Mirrorland is a dark and atmospheric tale centered around twin sisters, Cat and El, and the magic land they created in their youth called Mirrorland. As adults, the sisters become estranged but when El disappears, Cat returns home to seek answers. The story jumps from past to present as Cat reflects on her childhood memories and can be hard to follow but stay with the story, the conclusion wraps up nicely.