Mirrorland is less a mystery of who-dun-it and more what-in-the-heavens-is-happening?
Mirrorland dances through present and past events of the main character, Cat, with precise skill from the author. While Cat is trying to figure out what happened to her missing twin sister in the present, she is also reawakening the complex memories of a unhappy childhood. The book has themes of trauma and abuse, and reading from the perspective of a character who has mentally repressed memories was unique.
While the book is packed with plot devices and twists that kept me entertained, some of the surprises felt weak or ill executed, leaving me to scratch my head and wonder at the choices several characters made.
All in all, Mirrorland kept me turning page after page until its very satisfying end.

Fantasy created in childhood, haunt the girls in adulthood. Twists and turns keep the reader reading.

What a ride this was! The story follows twin sisters Cat and El who created "Mirrorland" when they were children. As adults they became estranged but Cat is forced to come back to their childhood home and Mirrorland when El goes missing but leaves behind clues to her disappearance. This was quite a ride and a bit uneven. The first half of the book was kind of slow for me and I found it hard to get into the story. However, when Cat starts following the clues, more and more strange things happen that tie back to their fictional world of Mirrorland and a host of questionable characters show up, it got really interesting. By the second half of the book I couldn't put it down and stayed up til 2 am to finish it. I would describe this The Thirteenth Tale meets Gone Girl. This is one you have to stick it out to get to the good parts but its worth it.

After seeing the blurb from Stephen King, I was immediately intrigued by this novel. Unfortunately, I found it to be a pretty standard, stereotypical thriller.

This is a story about a girl with a mirror image.

I was hesitant going into this, because I had seen comparisons to The Girl in the Mirror which was really not for me... but I’m glad I read this! The characters weren’t immediately likable, but I think that was intentional & the author still found ways to make them compelling. I also loved that the numerous twists & turns totally threw me off!

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Also, the audiobook narration was A++

Thank you Netgalley & Scribner for this e-Arc!

“Because in Mirrorland, anything—everything—is possible. In Mirrorland, you are safe. Fear is never to be feared, horror is only make-believe, and escape is inside every bone and vein and breath and brick. And all it asks for in return is one thing. Only ever one thing. That you have to be brave.”

El and Cat are estranged twin sisters, one living in America and the other in Scotland. When El mysteriously disappears, Cat travels to Scotland to help with the investigation. After returning to her childhood home where El and her husband Ross still live, Cat finds clues that lead her on a treasure hunt. She must remember the past and Mirrorland in order to figure out what happened to her sister.

I absolutely love everything about this debut psychological thriller. It is best to go in blind and lose yourself in the magic of Mirrorland. You will meet a mouse, pirates, cowboys, Indians, clowns, the tooth fairy and a witch. While I have to admit I was confused for a good third of the book, the reveal was everything and more. Just when you think the twists can’t get any better, they do...and then again and again...and again! It’s so surprising that you want to go back and reread the book with new eyes to see what you missed. There are very few books that I want to reread, and this is one of them! While it can be compared to Gone Girl, it also reminds me a lot of The Girl in the Mirror. I cannot recommend this book enough. It’s clever, disturbing, fantastical, mysterious and very surprising. Please experience Mirrorland’s unique magic, you won’t be disappointed!

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner publishing for the ARC of Mirrorland in exchange for an honest review.

5/5 stars

Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone is a tale of psychological suspense that will keep you guessing until the very end. The novel centers around the lives of two mirror twins, Cat and El who though once inseparable as children have now lived completely separate lives for the past 12 years. Cat returns home in the wake of El's disappearance and is immediately drawn into a whirlwind of childhood memories that threaten to upend Cat's recollection of the events of the past.

As children Cat and El developed an elaborate fantasy world called Mirrorland in which they would pretend play with their neighbor Ross and other make believe characters. The memories that call to Cat are creepy and chilling as it becomes readily apparent that not everything about Mirrorland is as it seems. Cat must come to terms with her feelings for Ross, El's husband, and solve the mystery of her sister's disappearance while sifting through her childhood memories that muddy the waters between reality and fantasy.
Though I found myself a bit confused at times with the abrupt jumps back and forth in time in the middle of a chapter, I think this was the author's method of contributing to the eerie sense of unreliability in Cat's narration of the story. I recommend this book for readers who enjoy thrillers and psychological suspense. Look for this title on April 20,2021 from your favorite bookseller. Thank you to Scribner Books and NetGalley for the early review copy in exchange for my honest review.

Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone

El and Cat are identical twins that found escape from a traumatic childhood by turning room in their house into make believe worlds. At some point they had a falling out and now El is missing. Cat must return to her childhood home to find out what happened to her sister.



I hate to say this but I’m conflicted by this book. The first 30% or so was pretty unreadable for me. It’s spent in El and Cat’s make believe world called Mirrorland, and very little of it makes sense. If you can make it past this to the point where Cat begins remembering her childhood the book does get better. If the portions devoted to Mirrorland had been condensed I think it would have been a better book because the actual story is good, as is the ending. Major twists that I didn’t see coming.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Publishing for letting me read and review “Mirrorland.” Warning: A couple of little spoilers that don’t actually spoil anything, promise.

First let me start by saying...this was an incredibly interesting thriller. There were a couple twists that after reading I kept smacking myself, “How did you not get that!?” There were a couple of twists that fell a little flat. And then there was one twist that was so outlandish that no one could have ever seen it coming (these are twists that I don’t love because the reader is always at a disadvantage).

I felt a lot of different things about the main character, but mostly her lack of disregard for her “dead” sister’s feelings. Aka sleeping with her husband the week after her sister goes missing. I don’t care what kind of falling out you had... there was no internal conscious telling her it was wrong. She also didn’t seem to want to listen to anyone else, no matter what proof they had, which seemed very short sighted.

I felt that the author skirted over how violent her grandfather was, though it added to the twist later on, I felt that I didn’t really get the whole picture.

As for Mirrorland itself, what an incredibly creative and magical escape for two sisters. Their imaginations could literally run wild and I really appreciate how the author could make them happy on one given day, or cruel to each other during a different adventure. Because kids really can be cruel, without realizing just how deep they are cutting others.

Though the author did an exceptional job exposing the outline of the space and including a floor plan at the beginning of the book, I still couldn’t quite imagine what it looked like, which to me was even more of the magic. Mirrorland is whatever you want or need it to be.

I stepped away to digest and then came back to this one. There are some fantasy elements that I wasn’t ready for, taking the story on a bunch of different twists and turns. Very dark, but strong debut!

"Mirrorland" opens with 12-year-old identical twins El and Cat found at the Granton docks in Edinburgh, in search of a pirate ship to join. Years pass and the two eventually become estranged after a falling out. Cat escapes to the US, while El marries their childhood friend, Ross, and remains in Edinburgh.

After El goes missing, Cat is forced to return to the place she'd never come back to and their childhood home. There, Cat finds herself falling back into memories of their childhood imaginary world, known as Mirrorland. Mirrorland is full of clowns, witches, pirates, elaborate adventure and imaginary friends. They turn to this fantasy place in an attempt to escape the violence, isolation and sadness of their own home life.

Cat is convinced her sister isn't dead and a series of elaborate clues and warnings only strengthens her beliefs. As she remembers more and more of her past, El finds herself faced with the question of what exactly happened to her sister and whether she herself is now in danger.

The premise of "Mirrorland" was intriguing, but it just wasn't for me in the end. I had to trudge through the fantasy" portions of the girl's childhood adventures. These sections were just too detailed and dragged on and on. My interest had waned by the time we finally reached the "thriller" portion to the point where I just didn't care. The twists were layered on top of each other that, by the climax of the novel, I simply didn't care.

I feel like the plot was good but the style of writing and the talk of pirates didn’t feel like a mystery or felt like a fantasy and I am not a fan of fantasy at all. Sorry I would rate it 2/5.

Wow, this book gives me Ruth Ware meets Stephen King vibes and I am here for it. Carole Johnstone really woke up one day and decided that this book was it and I am glad she did. This is the kind of book you don't want to read at night because you may have nightmares. Excellent.

Mirrorland is about identical twin sisters, El and Cat, who had a dramatic falling out over a decade ago but when El suddenly disappears without a trace, Cat returns to the place where she grew up to help El’s husband, Ross, and find her sister.

I have really mixed feelings about this book because while it was good enough that I finished it, the writing was very challenging... the first half I was so confused and then I actually enjoyed the second half when everything started to make sense. Most of this book is Cat in the house she grew up in and reliving all of the terrifying and magical memories she and her sister had in this very extensive world they imagined.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the opportunity to read an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Small spoilers...
The whole book is like a fever dream, stuck in Cat’s head as she’s working through her past trauma and remembering the magical world she created with her sister in ‘Mirrorland’ to protect them from the horrific things happening in their life. It’s creepy and claustrophobic and really hurt my brain... clowns and pirates and witches and the tooth fairy and Bluebeard and Shawshank redemption

TW for incest, assault, and physical abuse

The best way I can describe reading this book is by comparing it to watching the movies Big Fish or The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus. It is bizarre, it is creepy, and it is wholly unpredictable. In fact, rating Mirrorland feels like an impossible task, because it's one of those books that you just have to be in the mood for. It's complicated, twisted, and quite frankly, very dark and disturbing. The magical realism is done quite well, I certainly couldn't guess most of it, but it felt like such a heavy read for me and lacked the redeeming moments I often like to have in my sad and darker books.

Narrator Cat is as unreliable as a funhouse mirror. She and her twin sister, El, created a world all their own as children. Now, returning as adult to help locate her missing sister, Cat must go back into her memories, back into Mirrorland and the darkness it once helped them hide from. It's difficult to like her as a character, because she's just not very nice and holds onto a lot of contempt from her childhood. However, as you begin to understand how the children were raised, what Mirrorland protected their minds from, and the truth about what really happened, it starts to click and you feel sympathy for her. The mix of reality and fantasy is written very well, Carole Johnstone created a unique thriller, so much so that I can think of no other book like it, but it is a slow read that, again, is quite heavy.

A psychological thriller through and through, Mirrorland has just the right amount of fantasy mixed into it to keep it interesting. The unique setting, unreliable narrator perspective, and development of the scenes is done very well. If you like your reads to be a bit confusing, a lot unsettling, and highly gripping, Mirrorland is for you.

I struggled a lot reading this book and was not a fan of the “fantasy” elements. It was too descriptive for me so I found myself skimming and going back to reread the last page I read often. I don’t think the book was “bad” - it just wasn’t for me.

I honestly almost gave up on this book several times. I was so confused on what was real and what was the make believe world. Pirates? Not really my thing, but ok. The second half was better and made things a little clearer regarding what happened during the twins' childhood and why Mirrorland existed. Overall, not a very satisfying read, but thank you NetGalley for the opportunity.

Mirrorland is a wonderfully crafted and unsettling story of twins who create a whimsical world full of magic and wonder in order to escape their dark and abusive childhoods.

Between the beautiful lyrical prose and the blur between fantasy and reality, this story really captivated me. It was such a wonderful and unique reading experience-Like a dark fairytale.
It was reminiscent of Pan's Labyrinth and Neil Gaiman.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Such a dark thriller. I enjoyed this book very much. Kept me interested until last page!

Thanks to publisher and NetGalley for this read!

Pub date:4/20/21

Highly Recommend! Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone is a "slow burn" that I greatly enjoyed. At the start, Cat is returning home to help search for her "Mirror twin" identical twin sister Elice. As the story unfurls you learn that the twins' childhood differed greatly to others in terms of a full floor of make believe ships, castles and foreign lands. It wasn't until 60 % of the book was read before the story took off like a rocket and you suddenly realize that many aspects of the twins' history are missing and as you fill in the blanks you are drawn deeper into an engaging twisty story..

My favorite books are those that you cannot guess the ending and of course the ending is believable. Mirrorland has this and so much more. Highly recommend if you like slow burns, suspense, mysteries and of course stories of the magic of twinness.