What if you could walk away from your life for a year with no repercussions (or so you think), get paid $10 million, and then return to your life as if you had never been gone? That is the deal Jeremiah Adams makes in The Mirror Man by Jane Gilmartin. The book is a page-turner both in the look at its ethical issues and in the specifics of Jeremiah's story. Without a spoiler, I will say that I love the ending! At that point, I wish the book kept going to see what happens next to all the characters. A sequel perhaps? I would read it.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2020/10/the-mirror-man.html

Reviewed for NetGalley and a publisher's blog tour.

Wow, what an thrilling science fiction read! It was interesting to see how the author differentiated Jeremiah from his clone and Jeremiah's reaction to being part of the experiment. The action really ramps up in the second half of the novel. I loved the twists. I can't wait to read more books by this excellent author!

A story of cloning, secrets, and murder, The Mirror Man is a fascinating look at our future.

Jeremiah Adams works for ViMed Pharmaceutical managing PR for their breakthrough Meld, a drug that allows one person to connect with another person's mind. There are great scientific uses for the drug, but Jeremiah is fielding assertions that it's not safe after a rash of suicides. Then one day he was presented with an amazing offer: for 10 million dollars, he will allow himself to be cloned and live separate from his life for a year. At firs this seems perfect: his life at home isn't great. His teenage sons ignore him and things are tense between him and his wife/ Jeremiah hangs out n a plush apartment and his only job is to watch his clone and make sure he does everything correctly. This paid vacation quickly turns sour as Jeremiah sees himself from the outside. But then his mother dies and everything he knows changes and he is met with his biggest challenge yet,

I really enjoyed the philosophical side. There is more here than just the idea of whether cloning is ethical or not. Jane Gilmartin looks at how we view ourselves and what it would be like to see yourself from the outside and how we might react to that third-person knowledge. As the book unfolds, Jeremiah is not fond of himself, and the reader wonders would they have the same reaction? It's a stirring thought.

The book is well written. The author paces the story well. It never gets old or boring. Seeing just from Jeremiah's view traps the reader just like the character and you feel his anxiety and wish yo knew more than he did.

The ending has a fun twist. The reader is waiting for the other shoe to fall and it does. It's satisfying and keeps the finale exciting. The twist is handled a lite too quickly but that's the one fault I can find with this tale.

Gilmartin manages to give a fresh look to an old story making her tale stick out when others are just the same story over and over. The Mirror Man is a good read and I would recommend to all my sci-fi fans.

I've been looking to branch out a little and read some different things.

I really enjoyed this book. I read it in about a day and a half. That is the quickest I have read a book in a while.

Although part of that is because I haven't had time to sit and read a whole book that quickly in a while, the fact that this book immediately sucked me in and made me want to keep reading to see what happens next.

This book's release also had really good timing. Lots of people are in quarantine right now, which made it a little easier to empathize with the main character, who was stuck in the apartment, watching his clone live his life on the television.

The author did a great job of keeping things suspenseful. A couple of times, I thought I knew what was going to happen but ended up being wrong. I love it when authors are able to surprise me like that.

Thank you to the author and the publishers for inviting me to participate in this blog tour!

I loved it! Intriguing…suspenseful. Even the slow moments held my attention.

The premise of the story is that Jeremiah must allow his clone to replace him for a year. No one can know about the clone. He can have no contact with his wife and son for a year. But at the end, he receives $10M. Quite the deal!

As Jeremiah observes his clone interacting with his family, he begins to see himself differently. He recognizes the mistakes he has made with his family and wants to do better when he is with them again. At first. I saw Jeremiah as man who placed money ahead of his family. I didn’t like him at the beginning. But as he began to see himself differently, so did I. His character development was gradual and realistic.

It also sets off a series of ethical dilemmas for him. What makes one human? Quite the philosophical question, especially as today’s scientists continue to experiment with cloning.

Brent was my favorite character. At first, he seemed so inconsequential, so I was surprised by the development of his role in the story. I loved seeing a friendship develop between Brent and Jeremiah. And Louie – I loved Louie, the family dog.

When I reached the last few chapters, I was holding my breath, wondering what would happen, afraid to learn the outcome.

Thank you to Emer Flounders at HarperCollins for including me in their blog tour.

ViMed Pharmaceutical asks Jeremiah to be part of an illegal cloning experiment, which seems to be the perfect escape from his life. His mind is copied to the clone, and he's able to vicariously experience everything the clone does while he's living in luxury. But as he watches, his prior life spirals out of control and ViMed won't end the trial. They're willing to do anything to preserve their experiment, so Jeremiah has to save his family and confront himself.

Jeremiah knows from the start there are hinky things about Meld, the medication that allows people to share thoughts. It's what allows his memories to be copied into the illegal clone that was made, and the memories can be altered or reset however the doctors want. He's essentially in a gilded prison with no contact outside of the apartment, so he's allowed to watch his clone or anywhere else that drones are capable of capturing for his vicarious interest. Creepy and already a somewhat menacing aspect of the experiment; he really wasn't given full disclosure or ability to consent because he was their public relations manager and already knew too much about Meld. And this is all within the first two chapters!

As we progress through the novel and time goes by, there are more clues that things aren't what they seem. Jeremiah is too isolated, with too few avenues to exert influence or escape. This heightened tension when stray comments are interpreted as someone knowing that the clone is there, and further issues with Meld come to the surface. It was actually nerve-wracking to read Jeremiah grieving and planning an escape, then to pivot and change at the last minute.

Overall, a very tense situation for the characters, and one with a conclusion that I was surprised by, but satisfied with.

**3.5-stars**

The Mirror Man is a fast-paced, Sci-Fi Suspense novel that explores the ramifications of a near future, illegal cloning experiment. Our protagonist, Jeremiah Adams, works in the marketing department for ViGen Pharmaceuticals.

He’s surprised when he is offered the opportunity to take part in a top-secret scientific experiment, for which he will be generously compensated. We are talking ten million dollars. What does he have to do?

It’s pretty simple, he agrees to allow ViGen to create a clone of him that will then go out and live his life, while he is secluded in a luxury apartment for a full year. Just to be clear, this means, the clone, who will have Jeremiah’s memories basically uploaded into its head, will then go and live at Jeremiah’s house with his wife, Diana, his teenage son, Parker and their dog, Louie.

Jeremiah agrees. He’s been having a rough go of it at home lately, anyway, and could use a break. As part of his agreement, Jeremiah will be required to watch the clone go about his life for a minimum of 4-hours a day, via carefully placed video cameras.

Another employee of ViGen, Brent, is to be his companion during these viewing sessions. They’re trying to determine if the clone veers at all from Jeremiah’s normal pattern of behavior. He also must meet with a psychologist to discuss how the whole process is making him feel. Other than that, his only contact is with the two heads of the experiment, Doctors Scott and Pike.

I flew through this one really quickly. The narrative style is addicting and the concepts are easy to understand. I was impressed with how quickly the action kicked off. There’s no pages of background filler on the lead up to the experiment to get through. The opening scenes are the clone getting its finishing touches before heading out into the world, and just like that, Jeremiah is enclosed in his room. It’s mere moments before you can feel a sense of dread starting to seep in. Like when Jeremiah realizes the exterior door of his apartment doesn’t have a handle on his side.

He is literally a prisoner at the mercy of the few ViGen employees who are actually privy to the experiment and know of his whereabouts. As you continue turning pages, the true sinister nature of the story begins to reveal itself. I loved the relationship between Jeremiah and Brent. Brent brings a lot of much needed humor. Although some of the plot is predictable in a 1990s-Techno-Thriller way, it was still fun to read.

As we get towards the end however, it loses all of its danger. It’s like the baddies just give up. It just didn’t make sense and ended up way to neatly for the protagonist. I didn’t get that choice. He should have had to fight harder or something. There were also a few plot holes that I thought could have been improved upon significantly. I’ll admit, I was let down by the way it ended.

Overall though, it is an interesting story that would translate well into film. Perhaps they could add a bit more suspense towards the end. I think this would be a great read for someone just getting into Techno-Thrillers or SciFi in general, as the concepts are all easy to understand.

Thank you so much to the publisher, MIRA, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review. I appreciate it!

When Jeremiah signs up for a cloning experiment he thinks it will be an easy way to make some money, but as he watches his life fall apart he begins to question everything he has been told…

I always love reading a good sci-fi novel and The Mirror Man intrigued me from the off – clones and drugs that let you see into people’s minds and influence their thoughts made for a great premise. However, I have to admit I was a little disappointed with the end result. Although The Mirror Man is a really interesting look into one man’s life and the lessons he learns as he spends a year watching his clone interacting with his family, I did feel that it missed the opportunity for some really great plot points.

The whole plot for me could have been a lot more sinister; we do get a bit of a glimpse into ViGen and the darker underside to Meld with it’s (unproven) side effects of making the users commit suicide however this isn’t pushed far enough. The drug in general really intrigued me but it seemed the author couldn’t quite decide what it did - it starts off giving users just a brief glimpse into another person’s mind – you get flashes of memories, shapes of feelings etc. However, this is the same drug that is used to completely implant all of the fully formed life-time memories of Jeremiah into his clone so this seemed a little inconsistent. We also hear very early on that it has been blamed for several suicide attempts, however our main character takes it a lot (twice in one day at one point) and yet doesn’t seem to suffer from a lot of the symptoms – his crisis is mainly down to watching his clone and the decisions it makes on a day to day basis, rather than the impact of the drug.

We also get a glimpse into the shady corporation Jeremiah works for – ViGen and the motivations behind starting this experiment. However, again I felt this was a little underdeveloped. I liked the idea of the reasoning behind the experiment and the rush to get results but I would have liked to have learnt more about it. Similarly when things start to go wrong I would have liked to have known more about how certain events came about and who orchestrated them (I actually had a more sinister idea of the clone being at fault for most of the story but this is not explored.)

I was also *really* hoping for a proper shock twist at the end and had some really nice ideas as to where I hoped the ending would go. When it comes to fully sentient clones who think they are the human original there are some nice twists that almost beg themselves to be written. Although the book started in this direction towards the end, it was then resolved and the ending itself felt too lacklustre.

Overall, The Mirror Man was a bit of a disappointment for me – it’s a great premise but isn’t explored or constructed to a far enough degree for my taste. Thank you to NetGalley & Harlequin Mira for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Mirror Man is being billed as a science fiction thriller. But I feel that Gilmartin spends more time addressing the moral dilemma of human cloning. Jeremiah has the benefit of being an outsider looking into his life. He sees a lot that he does like and grows to understand how his circumstances and his limitations are the result of his own decisions. As time passes he becomes more judgmental of himself while learning to be more empathetic towards his clone and his family. Unfortunately, this moment of reflection comes after he has experienced irreversible losses. Kudos to Gilmartin on a debut that not only has a dynamic plot but also probes humanity and ethics. I also would like to give a special nod to Louie and his infinite wisdom.

This is an excellent sci-fi techno-thriller, fast paced and gripping.
It's also a story full of food for thought as it talks about cloning and it's implication on the life of a person.
I don't agree with all the ideas of the author but I loved how she deals with all the moral issues.
The author is a talented storyteller, the world building and the character development are excellent and I appreciated Jeremiah and his character ARC.
The technological and sci-fi parts are fascinating and I don't think there's a lot of stories that deals with cloning.
This story kept me hooked till the end and turning pages fast.
It's an excellent and interesting read that I recommend.
Many thanks to MIRA and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I don't normally gravitate toward science fiction like Mirror Man. But the synopsis sounded interesting. I had to think for a bit about whether or not I enjoyed this book. I loved the premise of the drug Meld and being able to have a clone live your life for you. Or perhaps putting your mind into a healthier version of yourself. It made me wonder if I would really want to do that.

So, the premise was cool, but the execution was lacking. Jeremiah isn't that interesting of a person. He was able to take a look at himself through watching his clone and realize what changes he needed to make. Other than that he was pretty dull. I can only wonder if he really changed in the end. I found the rest of the story fairly predictable. There were two twists that I predicted would show up in the book, definitely showed up in the book. I was hoping for something different. It's not a bad book, it just wasn't what I was hoping for. I still think it's worth trying out.

While human cloning isn't currently possible, it's not so far-fetched that the scenario presented by The Mirror Man is completely unbelievable. Jeremiah Adams is unhappy with his life. He feels disconnected from his son, and he suspects his wife is cheating on him (but doesn't have the guts to confront her or work to improve his marriage). So it doesn't take much to convince him to step off-stage for a year to take part in an ethically and legally questionable experiment and earn a cool $10 million while his clone takes his place. Sounds like a great deal, doesn't it? Let someone else deal with the hassle of your daily life, and you just sit back, observe, and collect the money at the end of the experiment.

But it doesn't take long before Jeremiah starts to realize how uncomfortable it is seeing "himself" from an outside perspective. And when he figures out that there's a sinister undercurrent to the experiment, and that ViMed will stop at nothing to make sure it is completed, he also realizes that he will do whatever it takes to protect his family. Suddenly, that life he was so disenchanted with is worth preserving.

Jeremiah wasn't a very likeable protagonist at the outset. He slouches through his life, putting work first, not investing a whole lot of time or emotional energy into parenting or his marriage. He struck me as a very selfish person at the start. It's all about what benefits Jeremiah first, everyone else a distant second. But as I read and watched him watching himself, saw him realizing what he had been missing out on with his family, it became easier to feel compassion for him. I liked him a lot more at the end of the book than I did at the beginning.

The Mirror Man hits hard and makes you think. What kind of person can leave behind family - the people he's supposed to love the most - for filthy lucre? Even if they don't know he's gone, still, Jeremiah basically said money counted more than living his life. How far will we go when push comes to shove to protect the people we didn't think we had a solid bond with? How well do we really know ourselves and what we're capable of? And what makes us, well, "us"? The clone had all of Jeremiah's memories. But did that make him the same as - indistinguishable from - the original Jeremiah? Read the book and find out.

This is a horror book for people who don't think they like horror, a suspenseful sci-fi thriller that doesn't rely on jump scares. No gore, no slasher bits - just a well-told story that pulls you along on a ride that gets faster by the page and moments where you are well and truly horrified at the lengths to which some people will go to accomplish their desires.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin - MIRA for an advance reader copy of The Mirror Man and the opportunity to take part in the blog tour. All opinions here are mine, and I don't say nice things about books I don't actually like.

this really was a unique scifi read, I really enjoyed getting to know the characters and going through the story.

Would you trade your life for a year for ten million dollars? That is the decision that Jeremiah Adams had to make and that is exactly what he did. He agreed to be cloned for a year. His clone would live his life. Go to his place of employment. Live and interact with his wife and teenage son. However, this was a cloning experiment, one not even legal. What is more is that Jeremiah would have to watch the clone for several hours each day as the experiment would continue. The duration was a year. Would Jeremiah be able to live silently away from his life and family for the entire time?

However, the experience is not only secret, it is nefarious. Would Jeremiah and anyone else connected one way or another be able to see the danger in time? How separated would Jeremiah be from his clone and from how long? It may take a while but Jeremiah starts to see cracks forming in the plan. The challenges now facing him might cost him everything.

I thought The Mirror Man was a well-written, intriguing story. Cloning is something that is pretty much far-fetched, but who knows where the scientific world will lead. However, this is fiction, and I thought it was quite good. What made this even more thrilling than the science fiction aspect of the story was the mystery that threaded between the pages, especially when danger was an all-time high.

Then, the conclusion! I couldn't tap my Kindle fast enough as things were happening at a breakneck pace. I didn't worry about the morality of cloning, especially where danger was concerned. What I wanted and got was a good story that kept me riveted to my device from beginning to end.

Many thanks to MIRA and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

I was provided an ARC of this from the publisher via Netgalley book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this sci-fi/medical thriller. I really enjoyed the creative use of science in a modern day setting paired with impacts on the human condition. This deals more with the ethics of science and the consequences of the experiment, so it doesn't have a ton of twists and turns from the thriller perspective. The pace was good considering it is not a super action packed book. It held my attention which is often hard to do in a more character focused story.

This doesn't have any romance or sexual content, so if you are looking for a good sci-fi or thriller that doesn't have a romantic subplot this is a good one. It also doesn't rely on gore or horror elements either. There is one scene towards the end that is a little bit gruesome, but this horror reader feels it is really tame compared to other thrillers out there. I feel that the author did a great job using the psychological and scientific aspects to really move the plot along nicely.

On to the plot, this follows Jeremiah Adams, marketing director for ViMed, who on the surface seems to have it all together. He and his wife have been married for quite some time and they have a teenage son. Jeremiah is successful at his job and they don't seem to want for anything. Underneath, things aren't perfect and when his company offers him and exuberant amount of money to participate in a year long experiment he accepts and sees it as a way to get away from the day to day stress he's been living. What he doesn't realize is the amount of stress being cloned and watching his clone live his life will have on him and his psyche. He also doesn't realize what lengths his company and their investors will go to to ensure the experiments success. The longer the experiment goes on and the more he learns about himself, he realizes that his decision to replace himself in his life may not have been the right one.

My thoughts
Rating :4
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 352
Pub date:October 20,2020
Publisher: MIRA
Would I recommend it? Yes, But only to the ones I know who loves Science Fiction .
Would I read anything else by this author ? Maybe
First off like i do each and every time i want ti thank MIRA- HARLEQUIN – Trade Publishing (U.S. & Canada) for the invite to read and review it as well as the invite to join their blog tour as well as a thanks to NetGalley .
Now on to my thoughts about the book: As soon as it I know it was something that I might read and enjoy which I did , one of the things I liked about it was the darker aspects of the story about wither or not cloning was a good idea or not, it brought to life that we was already experiment with cloning and wither we should be or not. Twists and turns that will keep the reader's interest though out the story, page after page. and all the time your reading it you get the feeling that maybe this type of science is best left alone because once you cross that doorway and open it you might never be able to close it.

Thank you so much to #Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

First I loved the whole idea of the book. Taking part in a cloning experience to have a clone live your life for you for a while?? Genius.

However, there is such a sinster undercurrent to the book, its insane! Of course its not a surprise, when someone /something offers you 10 million dollars to take part of something but to also keep it sort of on the DL, there are never NEVER good intentions, and it almost always will destroy someone's life.

The other thing that really kept me reading in this was the character. Here is Jeremiah, a middle aged man who is completely unsatsified with his life and he agrees to be cloned! He is able to watch his life and then he was able to watch it fall apart. While as sinster as it is, he's able to learn a lot about himself. and its a journey of self discovery that I liked as well .

I'm surprised there aren't more people talking about this book!

The Mirror Man

The Mirror Man is a sci-fi thriller that will have you looking at yourself and those around you in a whole new light.

What I Loved

I loved the fast pace, the thrills, and all the sci-fi elements. I adore a book that can keep me on the edge of my seat and The Mirror Man did just that and more. A company doing ethically questionable things mixed with the US military makes for a good dose of intrigue, deception, and dangerous situations.

I also am intrigued by the underlying theme of self-discovery. Considering the main character, Jeremiah is middle-aged, I suppose you could call it a look at the events leading up to a mid-life crisis and what Jeremiah saw when he looked in the mirror. Being able to be on the outside looking in is an eye-opening experience for Jeremiah as it would be for us. It caused me to wonder what I would think of what I saw if I could be an observer of my life.

I also loved that this story is character-driven. Jeremiah’s growth and increasing awareness move the story forward and create a uniquely complex character, with layer after layer of a shell built up around him, threatening not to let us in. But those layers come down slowly and thoroughly until the man standing before us is not the same man we are introduced to in the first chapter.

The story is written in the third person though it is limited to Jeremiah’s point of view, which gives it the intimacy of a story told in the first person while still allowing us to see little peeks into the periphery. This approach helps to create the suspense that kept the pages turning faster and faster for me.

To Read or Not to Read

If you love sci-fi or thrillers, this is a book that you will enjoy from beginning to end.

To be honest, I don't read a lot of science fiction, but the blurb for The Mirror Man just made this one too hard to pass up. The book started out a bit on the slow side, but it didn't take long before I was hooked by the main character and the possibilities. Cloning is a thought-provoking topic anytime but take that a step further. What if you agreed to step away from your life while a clone stepped in? And what makes it really intriguing is that we get to 'watch' Jeremiah as he watches the clone live his day to day life. Some things about the story were predictable and some weren't, at least not for me. As I mentioned, I don't read a lot of science fiction, but I do love a good thriller, and the very idea of this one is pretty chilling when you think about it. All in all, The Mirror Man is an intriguing debut, and I'll be interested to see what Jane Gilmartin does next.

What begins as a straight forward science fiction thriller quickly becomes a deep exploration of what it means to be a human in our world. Jeremiah is offered $10 million to let a clone take over his daily life while he lives a life of solitude and luxury. At first, it was fine, even a little exciting, but as time goes on, Jeremiah realizes that his clone is becoming more disengaged from his wife and child. As his family begins to fall apart, Jeremiah sets out on a plan to take his life back.
Interesting and thought provoking, The Mirror Man is an exciting new sci-fi thriller from Jane Gilmartin.


Thank you to Netgalley and MIRA for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own.