Pitched as Gone Girl meets Room, Mirrorland tells the story of identical twin sisters Cat and El, who survive a bizarre, insular childhood in Edinburgh by inventing Mirrorland, an imaginary, Narnia-esque world that lives under the pantry stairs. Years have gone by and now we follow Cat, who’s estranged from her sister and living in Los Angeles, until she gets a call from El’s husband, Ross, begging her to return to Edinburgh as El has gone missing, which involves returning to the house they grew up in, as Ross and El are now living there.

That this is the author’s debut novel is very apparent; most of the problems are with its poor pacing and its inexpert synthesis of the mystery and childhood trauma narratives. Flashback passages are shoehorned into the present-day narrative with an abruptness that almost feels deliberate, almost feels like a commentary on trauma, but which mostly ends up feeling poorly written. These flashbacks were so detailed and so repetitive that I mostly found myself skimming them as they failed to advance the characterization or the present-day narrative in any way; they did, ultimately, contain clues that tied into the mystery, but I ended up guessing most of the twists anyway, even without giving large segments of this book my full attention.

I’m struggling a bit to rate this one as I weirdly did enjoy reading parts of it — once it really got its momentum up, around 50-60% in, I couldn’t put it down — but the negatives far outweigh the positives of this reading experience. I’d skip it unless there’s something unique about this premise that appeals to you.

Thank you to Scribner and Netgalley for the advanced copy provided in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this book - but it was a did not finish for me. The characters were not relatable and I did not enjoy the story. It was little too much fantasy for me.

I wasn’t a fan of this one at all. There was too much magical realism for me with this one. I’m sure other people would like this though.

e I’m a sucker for dark thrillers.

Dark and twisty from its opening to the end, Mirrorland is a page-turner. When Cat returns to her old family home after her twin sister’s death, she’s forced to confront painful memories she moved across the globe to suppress.

Cat’s convinced her sister El is alive. This disappearance just is more of her scheming.

Cat is pulled into a treasure hunt as mysterious emails lead her to decades-old pages of El’s diary, directing her to their imaginary play places in Mirrorland. But the clues lead to more mysteries rather than answers and unexpected friends of El’s come forward with warnings.

Johnstone’s writing pulls you into both the present and past, reality and make-believe in the old, gothic house and the brutal, creepy world of Mirrorland. You’ll also be pulled into Cat’s wrenching emotional journey. The story is fast-paced and twisty. It will keep you guessing to the very
I received a free advanced reader copy of Mirrorland in exchange for an unbiased review.

As children, my brother and I created a fantasy world complete with a colorful cast of characters that we embodied whenever we wanted to add a bit of fun and imagination to our day. Therefore, I can relate to the fantasy world presented in Carole Johnstone’s new novel, Mirrorland, although it should be said that while my own childhood fantasy world was innocent and light-hearted, Mirrorland is the complete opposite, as is revealed throughout the pages of this dark, insidious suspense novel.

Cat’s identical mirror twin has gone missing, so she returns to their childhood home in Scotland to investigate what happened to her sister El. Estranged from her twin for many years, Cat hasn’t returned to their childhood home, where El now lives, in 20 years. It was here that Cat and El created Mirrorland - a fantastical world full of clowns, witches, and pirates that they used to escape their dark and dreary lives. As Cat searches for the truth behind what happened to El, she is confronted with a series of clues that force her to return to Mirrorland, digging into her past, and seeing her childhood through new eyes.

Mirrorland is an ominous tale of repressed memories and sinister secrets - it is filled with the sorts of terrors best left in the past. Murky and dark, Mirrorland starts as a novel being told primarily through the eyes of the child, and we as readers experience Mirrorland alongside a young Cat and El. As the novel progresses, we learn more of the truth behind Mirrorland and find that everything in the twins’ past isn’t as it seems. This book is gritty and unsettling, and quite frankly, hard to enjoy.

I listened to an audiobook production of Mirrorland, and found it difficult to comprehend what was happening in much of the novel. The descriptions of Mirrorland are confusing, and I had trouble distinguishing what I was expected to believe was real, and what was a childhood fantasy. I often felt as if I was missing something, and found myself wishing I had some sort of reader’s guide to lead me through this convoluted tale. It reads kind of like a “you had to be there” story - where to fully understand the book, you would have needed to live it right alongside Cat and El. Because much of the first half of Mirrorland is presented this way, the book lost me in the very beginning, and I never recovered. I found myself plodding through, further lost in this delirious world created by the twins, unable to separate fantasy from reality.

On the other hand, this novel is filled with several gratifying twists, and some jaw-dropping secrets, but they are delivered so late and unexpectedly in the book, that the pay-off is low. By that point, I no longer cared or even could keep track of the story enough to enjoy the dramatic effect of the twist. I believe that this mixed bag of a book will be enjoy and disliked in equal parts, so consider your own personal preferences when deciding whether or not to read it - don’t just go off of the rating.

Thank you to Scribner, Carole Johnstone and Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Mirrorland is the story of estranged identical twin sisters living oceans apart. El has gone missing while out sailing her boat. Cat comes home to Scotland to help her brother-in-law (also her former boyfriend) search for her. After a few days when El can't be found everyone believes she died at sea and moves on, except for Cat. She believes she would know if her sister was dead. What really happened to El? Did she drown or was it something more?

Mirrorland sounded so good that I couldn't wait to read it - a mix of magical realism and thriller. I love when books are a mix of genres. When I started reading though, the book wasn't what I was expecting. It was a little slow, but more than that there was so much talk of Pirates! Pirates! Pirates! I was at about 20% and ready to give up on it, when I decided to give it one more try. OMG I am so glad I did. As I was reading I just kept thinking to myself - "And you almost didn't finish reading this!" I would've missed out on a moody, dark, atmospheric novel that explores memory. The storyline is thought out well, it's only after you finish that you can see the whole picture full of double meanings. The story flows so seamlessly between the time when the twins were 12 years old and the present, that at times it can be a bit hard to figure out what's going on - which is intentional. Once they start, the twists and turns just don't stop. Mirrorland is unlike anything I've ever read before. There is a lot of talk about pirates - but it is so worth it. I will definitely read more from Carole Johnstone in the future. Highly, highly recommended for fans of thrillers, fantasy, magical realism,  psychological suspense, fiction, women's fiction, action, treasure hunters and sailors.

This book definitely surprised me..in a GREAT way! It was so whimsical, yet dark and deep and sad. I found myself so lost inside Mirrorland because it seemed very real and that is a sign of awesome writing! Carole Johnstone, well done! I really loved the cafe room! :-)
I highly recommend this with 5 stars from me!
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for my arc in exchange for my honest review.

First of all, thank you to Dave at TheWriteReads and the publisher for providing me with an ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I am in the biggest reading and life slump at the moment, and honestly, reading hasn’t been much of a priority for me. But this book sounded really fun, and twisty, and I think thrillers are the best books to get one out of a reading slump, so I dived in hoping it’d do so for me.
Although the premise of this book isn’t anything special or unique, considering it is a debut novel, I thought the concept was fairly well thought out and still interesting. Domestic thrillers can be done in so many different ways, they don’t always have to be very unique in plot to offer something new.
From the get go the story was a little bit confusing. The way it is told, with the past and the present mixed together was disorienting at the start, but I definitely got used to it pretty fast. And the mystery was enough to keep me reading and engaged until about halfway through.
I felt very lukewarm towards all the characters. The mystery took over any character development, sadly, and I had no idea what to make of the main character, Cat, and as the story progressed, I liked her less and less. I have no problems with unlikeable characters, but when the whole story is full of them, it becomes a bit of an issue.
I found Mirrorland extremely atmospheric and quite well written, especially for the author’s first novel. So, although some things didn’t work for me, the writing and the uneasy feeling the book gave me, definitely made me want to read and find out more. But I do have to echo one thing that has made its rounds on everyone’s review, regarding the writing… what the hell is a Poirot?
I think, overall, Mirrorland was a mixed bag. It had things I enjoyed, and things I thought needed more attention. The book could’ve ended 20% earlier. The ending felt drawn out. But the mystery kept me reading and I did like the writing. Sadly, though, the reading slump is still very real.

Let me tell you that this book had me stuck on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading it. I read it so fast even I cannot believe it! It completely blew my head away! I COULD NOT put it down.

Just a fair warning, it is a pretty dark book.

As you read along and the story unfolds you can tell that something sinister is just around the corner. You can just.. feel it... And then it hits, BOOM! It hits you hard once, it hits you twice and it just keeps coming! When it first hit me, I found my self being completely flabbergasted. I just sat there staring at the wall. It was just simply amazing.

The book is about so many things at the same time. Its about loss, grief and revenge but also about finding yourself. The writing flows and despite the descriptive nature of some parts, the storytelling is crafted in such a way that you just glide through the pages. While reading I felt that I was standing at a corner of each scene of the book watching it unfold. I felt each tear that Cat shed, felt her anger and her grief. Felt it all and had goosebumps so many times that I lost count.

I absolutely loved Mirrorland.

This book completely surprised me, especially since it was very different from my usual read. I will admit that at times I did feel a little lost and that the book oscillated between dragging and gripping. But (and it's a big but), in the end it was really worth it.

I read about eighty pages and gave up! Too much in-depth description, hardly any dialogue and no action.

Mirrorland is thrilling work of psychological suspense about twin sisters then men they both love and the dark world they can't leave behind.

Cat lives in Los Angeles far removed from the imposing gothic house in Edinburgh where she grew up with her estranged sister El. El currently resides in the same house in Edinburgh with her husband.
Cat received a call that her sister El has vanished. She has to return back to her childhood home. A place where her and her sister invented an imaginary world called Mirrorland full of witches, clowns, and pirates under the pantry stairs.

While searching for her lost sister, Cat stumbles upon clues left in every room that leads her back to Mirrorland.

A slow beginning that picks up to page turning suspense.

I struggled to get through the first 60% of this book, after that it picked up for me. I would not classify this as a horror book. The things that happen are horrific but that doesn't classify it as horror. The ending seemed to go on and on. I loved the parallels between Mirrorland and Stephen King's Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.

“Because stealing someone else’s air is how you breathe.”

It’s hard to review Mirrorland because this is such a multi-layered story that one misstep could spoil things for other readers. Cat’s memories are so imaginative that you find you’re not sure you can trust her version of her childhood. The further into the story we get, the more we realize how true that is.

This story takes us perfectly into Cat and El’s childhood through Cat’s memories. We’re not entirely sure if those memories are exactly accurate. That’s what makes the novel so brilliant. Mirrorland is so well-written and so lushly descriptive, I could see the house, the yard, and each of the rooms as if I was right there beside the twins. Mirrorland is a true thriller, it’s twisty and intense, and it has you furiously flipping pages as you read to get to the truth. A wonderful and addicting read!

I was so excited for this one but then I saw so many DNFs. When I finally picked it up, I had decided I would finish it even if I had to switch to audio (which I did pretty immediately). I felt bored at times, and confused at others. I found the main character frustrating, but I was actually quite happy with the super twisty ending!

If you want a dark psychological thriller that centers around the imagination and resilience of children persisting into adulthood, look no further than Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone. This is one of those books that is intricately layered, and one that creeps up on you and sinks it’s claws in without you ever realizing until the truth is unraveling so fast you’re left positively dazed.

Not my cup of tea. Too many twists and turns that do not add enjoyment or wonder to the storyline. I am also not keen on fantasy books, especially this one as the fantasy elements were woven in very poorly.

Carole Johnstone has a pretty great writing style, she created a very vivid world in Mirrorland and the level of suspense that was created was just perfect.

Read my interview with Carole Johnstone HERE.

The plot of this story is a little difficult to talk about as it is a thriller novel with some extremely dark themes (check out the content warning below)

There was so much happening in this story from the very start, we begin at the Airport where Cat is just about to go back home after her twin has gone missing and after she arrives back to her old home, we follow her solving the clues left behind by her sister to figure out what happened to her.

The first half of the book is kinda slow though part two was where the book is where the book really started to get interesting as things start falling into place, with the truth of the girls past life is being revealed.

It is heart breaking to see what they and their mother went through in the past and you just kinda wanna keep reading to be sure that things will be fine for Cat.

I really enjoyed the treasure hunt since as the Cat keeps on solving the clues things from her past are revealed and we see what the sisters’ lives were. Mirrorland was also such a fun place full of the girls’ imagination and was their safe haven.

The ending was so messed up but I liked how things went down and as much as I liked the ending the very last reveal didn’t make that much sense to me.

Cat, was a broken character you could see that in her given the trauma of her childhood and everything that went down with her sister she is in a lot of mental turmoil, she is also emotional stronger than she is given credit for and I really liked following her perspective.

Overall this was a great thriller to read and kept me turning pages, I finished the 70% of the book in one day.

I would recommend it to anyone who likes to read thrillers but please be aware of the content warnings

Content Warning:
Domestic abuse, Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Sexual Assault, Emotional Abuse, Manipulation, Emotional Manipulation, Incest, Parental Abuse, Murder, Suicide, Death of a Parent, Death of a Sibling, Drowning.

Mirrorland perfectly captures Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Catriona’s persona. Since she narrates the story, the audience witnesses how the mystery unravels from Cat’s addled mind. She takes us with her back to the place where her trauma is the strongest, reliving painful events and then disassociating herself using her fantasies. Through the limitation of the first person point of view, the identity of the antagonists is perfectly hidden, and only through connecting Bluebeard and Blackbeard to the characters’ behavior can readers distinguish fantasies from reality.

I had a hard time with this book. I loved that fantasy aspect in it but at the same time it felt a little strange with the thriller tied into it. I also was not prepared for the abuse in the story. I guess that is what happens when you go into a story blind