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.

Wow. This blew me away. When I read the premise, I knew that it sounded interesting and was excited to pick it up to read. Now that I have turned the final page, I can honestly say that this is a winner. It lived up to all my expectations and then some. This is my favorite thriller of the year so far.

I will say that the style of this one takes some getting used to. It is not an easy read because the narrative style flashes forward, flashes backward, and also flashes into a character's imagination at a moment's notice. I can see this being frustrating for some and so I want to prepare you, future reader. This style may not be for everyone, but I loved it. I am very much game for a little magical realism thrown into my thrillers and, if you are too, then this is the book for you.

I think one of the most interesting aspects of this one is how it plays with a child's imagination and how imagination becomes a coping mechanism (and a learning mechanism) for the characters. It is so intriguing and it works. The descriptions are also so vivid, especially the descriptions of a house that holds much mystery and an imaginary world inhabited by children. I was transported to this imaginary world and I felt the blurred lines between reality and imagination that the story was trying to convey. It made me question everything happening as a reader. It was such a brilliant technique and I was sometimes blindly guessing each step of the way.

This was a thrilling, tense, dark, and imaginative read and completely sucked me in as a reader. I will be raving about this one to others and truly believe you need to give this a go. If any of the above appeal to your reading tastes, I think you will not be disappointed.

I received an arc from Scribner and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Scribner, Dart Frogg Communications, Carole Johnstone, and NetGalley for providing me with both a physical ARC and a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

El and Cat are mirror twins. They grow up in a beautiful old house with a nice grandpa and a sometimes-mean mommy. Fueled by such tales as The Count of Monte Cristo, Crooked House, and Treasure Island, the girls turn their house into a fantasy called Mirrorland. After a turn of events, Cat and El are forced to start a different life. They leave Mirrorland, they grow up (and apart), and lead separate lives. One day, El goes missing on her boat, and Cat is forced to return to their childhood home to put the pieces together again.

I don’t think any description of this book can do it justice. It is part fantasy, part thriller- an unconventional and brilliant pairing. The story alternates between Cat and El’s childhood, specifically their adventures in Mirrorland, and Cat’s quest to discover El’s fate. I loved how much detail went into the creation of Mirrorland. Reading about it gave me serious Erin Morgenstern Night Circus/Starless Sea vibes in the best possible way. The fantasy element helps the reader to buy in to some of the twists and turns that this plot took. I was so willing to suspend my disbelief for this one, and it paid off.

In addition to being beautifully written, Mirrorland proved to be a fast-paced, page turner. I couldn’t get enough of it and read the last two thirds of the book in one night.

This is Johnstone’s debut novel, and I am so looking forward to whatever she does next! Mirrorland is available from Scribner on April 13, 2021.

Thank you to Scribner, Carole Johnstone, and NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for my honest review!

GoodReads synopsis- “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...”
——
This book is a whimsically frightening story, with great twists and turns. It was as if Stephen King teamed up with The Brothers Grimm to write “Gone Girl”. I loved every minute of it! Johnstone’s writing is magical and deep, while still propelling the plot forward. I couldn’t put it down and thought about it often when I wasn’t able to be reading. Highly recommend this to those who enjoy great writing, thrillers, and mystery.

This is an amazing fantastic debut!!!!!!!!!! It was so dark I could only read it in the daytime!!!!!!! I highly recommend this book

Based on the cover and description, I was expecting more of a classic gothic tale, but much of this book leaned heavily into fantasy. I don't usually love fantasy, but I am a fan of Child Escapes To Fantasy Land To Compartmentalize Trauma, a la Alice in Wonderland and Pan's Labyrinth, so I stuck with it. What a wild ride. I'd recommend it to readers who enjoy a dark fairytale/mystery, and don't mind doing a bit of work. A very cool debut.

I really tried tried with this book, but I didn’t enjoy the flashbacks or all the discussion of mirrorland. I have also read several books about sisters and twins recently and I just think it’s played out a little.

DNF at 65% I won’t be reviewing this on my Bookstagram.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner Publishing for this advanced reader’s copy. I appreciate it.
#NetGalley #Mirrorland #CaroleJohnstone #Scribner
The premise of this book is very intriguing. Cat and El are identical twins. As kids, they are super close. They have a falling out as adults, however, and Cat flies to LA and makes a life there. When El goes missing though, Cat comes back to their childhood home where El and her husband, Ross now live. When she gets there, she is reminded of Mirrorland, the fantasy world, that she and El created when they were girls. From there, she’s pulled into Mirrorland through clues given to her by someone.
This book is full of twists and surprises. It’s beautifully written. Unfortunately, the beginning is very slow and the characters are difficult for me to care about. The second half picked up and was interesting enough for me to hang in there but, as a whole, this wasn’t an easy read. Cat herself wasn’t particularly likable. We found out very little about her and what we did learn made her hard to like. Even more so for El and Ross. Character development is key to a good story. I cannot help but have trouble getting through a story if I don’t care about the fate of the characters.
I hope this author continues to put out books. Ms. Johnstone is a talented writer.

MIRRORLAND was a trip, and I loved it. This book combined all the best parts of surreal horror and a gripping thriller! What a wonderful read. It was a wild mystery, thriller. I put money on you will not figure it out. Whew. A solid book that everyone needs to get.

What in the world did I just read? This book is crazytown. Pirates? Clowns? Fantasy? Thriller? All of this rolled into one book.

El and Cat grew up in such an abusive home that they created a fictional Mirrorland in which to hide. There were large chunks of the story where the reader doesn’t know if what’s happening is real or imagined, which characters are real or imagined and even the protagonist seems to have blurred her memories from childhood and can no longer see reality. There are twists and turns throughout.

The psychological thriller portion of the story kept me completely engaged. I got lost during the fantastical portions simply because that’s not my preferred genre. I would highly recommend this to a reader that likes dark, atmospheric, thrilling novels sprinkled with magical realism.

MIRRORLAND was a trip, and I loved it. This book combined all the best parts of surreal horror and a gripping thriller for a read that quite literally kept me up at night.

I found the first half of this book to be a bit of a trudge, overloaded with details about El and Cat's imaginary world. I started getting more interested towards the middle of the book once Johnstone dug into the basis for the twins' childhood fantasies. Overall it was an okay read, but probably not one that will stick out as I think back on my 2021 reading.

Wow! This is one amazing book! I feel like I need to take a long walk and decompress! I predict that "Mirrorland" by Carole Johnstone will be one of the most talked about books of 2021 and will make every list of top thrillers. The story is complex and clever, with unreliable characters written so you don't know who to trust at all. Everyone is a suspect! What is real and what is imaginary? Just when I thought I had it all figured out...BAM...another twist that I didn't see coming! It's definitely a slow burn, but that's what makes it so good! I don't often reread books, especially thrillers, but I will read this one again to see if there are clues that I missed the first time around. Five out of five stars!

So many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the privilege of reading an advanced digital copy of this marvelous book in exchange for my honest review.

I was provided a free copy of this book by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book was not what I was expecting. I thought it was going to be a thriller, but the fantasy aspect was off-putting. This would be a much better Young Adult book if toned down a bit.

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book! I will be posting my review on social media, to include Instagram, Amazon, Goodreads, and Storygraph!