Rating: 3/5 stars.

“Mirrorland” by author Carole Johnstone is her debut novel, a psychological thriller centered around unravelling the tragic past of two identical twin sisters. I was very excited to read this book based on the premise of the novel, especially after seeing so many rave reviews from other sources and from some of my favourite authors. Sadly, I was rather disappointed.

I am always excited to read and enjoy a twin thriller. I love seeing how different authors handle such a simple concept in extraordinarily different ways. This author certainly had a unique spin on the twin theme, but several other facets of the novel left more to be desired.

The majority of the plot is rather confusing and muddled. The first two thirds of the novel are chock full of reflections leading to a very passive plot. There is very little action, instead focusing on describing the house that is the main setting of most of the book, and the characters who once lived there. The main draw of the novel, not being able to tell who or what is real or imagined, was also its downfall for me. With so many characters and names just getting thrown out left and right, it was overwhelming and confusing to try to put all the pieces together. Had the main character been more likeable, it probably would have been easier to follow her trains of thought, but despite her tragic upbringing it was hard to sympathize with her current plights. This unlikeability of the characters, paired with the confusing nature of the story, made it really hard for me to get through and finish the book.

The last third of the novel was focussed on reveal after reveal, with a few big twists. However, instead of feeling relieved and having those “ahah” moments that I usually love in thrillers, the twists and reveals just seemed too far-fetched. Overall, I was fairly disappointed in this book, but can see and understand how it might be very enjoyable to diehard fans of psychological thrillers, especially of ones that dabble in magical realism.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book on NetGalley and have provided an honest review.*

4 STARS

Mirrorland is a thrilling work of psychological suspense about twin sisters, the man they both love, and the dark childhood they can’t leave behind.

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Wow. MIRRORLAND is a wild ride. Part magical realism, part childhood imagination, it will keep you guessing until the very end.

I must admit, it took me a while to really "get" into the story - the first 1/3 is slow to start and (a lot) confusing. However, I'm so glad I pushed through because it was so worth it! Once the plot really took off I could not put it down and stayed up super late to finish it.

Full of dark family secrets and so (so!!!) many triggers it's definitely not going to be everyone's cuppa, but it was exactly what I was hoping for. Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for my ARC! MIRRORLAND is out now.

Pub day: April 20, 2021
Thank you to @simonschusterca and @netgalley for the gifted ecopy

Cat and El are mirror twins who have been estranged for 12 years. When El goes missing, Cat returns home to Edinburgh to help find her and face the mysteries and traumas of her past.

There are a lot of layers and complexity to this one. It’s atmospheric and beautifully descriptive, focused on the dark elements of family and the power of memory.

It took me a bit to get orientated into the fantastical elements of Mirrorland which is both the title of the book and the name of the imaginary world the girls create as children to cope with their home life.

But once I was situated and the book moved more into reality, I was engaged and flew through it. It’s dark, gothic and layered. This is a book where the unreliable narrator shines and adds to the story. The fantasy elements came together for me as the book progressed and truths were revealed.

This is a very unique thriller and will appeal to readers who are looking for something different. Think thriller + gothic vibes + magic realism. And a few clowns.

Thanks NetGalley, Simon and Schuster Canada and Carole Johnstone for this ARC. This book was a good read but not great for me. It was too much fantasy for me but I pressed on and read. Mirrorland is about real and the fantasy land of pirates, clowns and evil tooth fairies ( :( ) that they grew up in. The book was a bit drawn out. It could have been a bit shorter. The premise was good but I do not feel it was activated in the book. I do not want to leave a run on review because I may give too much information.

Thanks!

El and Cat are estranged twin sisters living worlds apart. After El goes missing in Scotland, Cat is forced to return from her new life in the States to help search with her sister’s husband, Ross. Cat is surprised to learn that El and Ross have purchased their childhood home and that’s where they have been living. Their house didn’t contain good memories, as they had a very traumatic upbringing and they were forced to create a dark fantasy world they named Mirrorland to cope with their lives. The longer Cat spends in their house, the more the line between reality and fantasy blurs.

I started off really not liking this one. HANG IN THERE. The first half is really confusing and strange, but the second half really brings it all together and when it started I was ADDICTED. I had to binge the second half in one afternoon when the first half took me almost a week. It is positively creepy (clowns are involved eek) and soooo dark and twisty. To be honest, downright disturbing in some parts. To be honest again, that made me like it even more. It reminded me of Gone Girl with the amount of twists and once you get over the start, you will not be able to put this down.

El & Cat are twin sisters who have not seen in each other in twelve years. Growing up they had been inseparable but after a tragic night Cat decided to leave and go to America.

Fast forward to today and El has suddenly gone missing and Cat returns home to try and find her sister. Cat is strong in her belief that her sister is alive but all the evidence indicates otherwise.

When Cat starts receiving strange clues she is forced to investigate her sister’s disappearance herself and what she discovers is completely unexpected.

I was initially attracted to this book both based on the cover and some of the reviews I had seen online. The book turned out to be something very unexpected. I have to admit that the first third of the book was somewhat odd and I found myself confused at times. However, the last two thirds were fast paced and really cleared up a lot of questions. I’m not completely sold on the ending but it provides a plausible explanation for what took place during the story.

OKAYYYYY Let us discuss this absolutely magnificent rollercoaster of a psychological thriller, a book that completely devoured ME, and was impossible to set down.

There are about a million reasons to love this story; for one, it is one of the most uniquely twisting plots I have read, probably ever. I loved the layering of Cat’s repressed memories coming to the surface as she grappled with what happened to her twin. I loved the creative mastery of Mirrorland itself - the characters, and magic lands and stories - and once you start to peel away Cat’s past, the way it all comes together is just 🤯💣💥 good.

Two, I LOVE, L-O-V-E an unreliable narrator. Honestly, I don’t WANT to know what’s going to happen in a book. I don’t want to guess. I don’t want to have an inkling. Unreliable narrators, when done this well, are the exact thing to keep me guessing as a reader. There isn’t anything more satisfying in a book then being genuinely shocked by twists. I was shocked, more than once. It was incredible.

Three, this is the kind of popcorn read, edge of your seat, addictive page turner that grabbed me. It was so easy to read and once I started, there was no pausing. I had to know. I wanted the full unravelling of the chaotic and obviously tragic past and what it meant for Cat’s present.

Oh man, it was good.

Personally, this is a must read recommendation from me - trust me when I say suspending belief and going along for the ride is worth the payoff. Thank you, MANY times over, @simonschusterca for sharing this piece of magic with me. One more for the Best-Of list!

Mirrorland is a fantasy world created by identical twin sisters El and Cat while growing up in a large, gothic house at 36 Westeryk Rd, Edinburgh. Mirrorland served as an refuge and escape during their childhood, away from their mother and grandfather. Ross, the boy next door was one of the only other members allowed to enter and play a part in their fantasy world. 12 years of living apart and estrangement between the twin sisters, Cat returns to 36 Westeryk Road after Ross, her sister El’s now husband informs her that El has mysteriously gone missing.

Although parts of this book were sometimes confusing and fantastical I really enjoyed the ride. It was a dark and twisted story that kept me guessing! The bridge between childhood fantasy and the grown up mystery of this story was believable and engaging throughout. The twin connection between El and Cat was fascinating to me, even with the fracture in their relationship their connection to each other was evident and bonded.
The story was an interesting insight into trauma and suppression (especially childhood) and the effects throughout one’s life.
Looking forward to other works by this author!

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for a copy of this book.

Unfortunately I really struggled with this read. Originally it sounded right up my alley, but I think it is too “fantastical” in nature for me. I really struggled to get into it. Of course i want to know what happens to El, so I may try to push through it, but at the same time, it may have to wait a while. . .

Thanks NetGalley for allowing me an advanced copy in exchange for my review

I wish to thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Mirrorland in return for my honest review. When I read its description, I thought this would be a book I would enjoy. I regret to say that was not the case. I plodded through until the end. I think the concept was good, and the twists were surprising and unforeseen. It was a mixture of several genres. It was a mystery, a crime story, a psychological thriller, crossed with a large fantasy element.


For me, the fantasy part did not seem well integrated with the rest of the plot and seemed convoluted and disjointed. I can understand why it was part of the story but found the fantasy detracted from the rest of the plot's flow. I found the Mirrorland (fantasy) sections overwritten and overblown. The secret rooms were given overly detailed descriptions, but I had difficulty visualizing them even with the accompanying map. The fault may be entirely my own. I regret that I struggled to maintain my interest, although I was baffled about how this would all play out by the end.

Twin sisters, Cat and El, spent their childhood years in a gloomy old house in Edinburgh. It was a house with many rooms where they carried out their games and fantasies and a secret room under the pantry they named Mirrorland. Mirrorland was a place to hide and escape a miserable childhood. Much magical thinking permeated their games, including pirates, witches, clowns, and the tooth fairy. The twins had a close bond, but after they escaped the Gothic home, they had a huge falling out and have had no contact for years.

Cat moved away to California and never wanted to return. El married a clinical psychologist, Ross and in the meantime, they bought and restored the old home to its former appearance. Cat reluctantly returns to Edinburgh and the childhood home when El is reported missing while sailing during bad weather. El's distraught husband, Ross, believes El is dead, but Cat feels strongly that her twin is alive. As an identical twin, she would be aware if El had died. The police are involved, and a body is eventually recovered. Cat identifies the body and realizes she was wrong and that Cat is, in fact, dead. This is confirmed by DNA analysis.

Cat narrates the story. She is an unreliable witness with repressed memories. She starts getting messages and clues that she thinks may have been written by El, but she is suspicious of everyone. This leads her back to explore the old rooms where once they played out their fantasies. Her narration shows anxiety, dread, and even verges on hysteria. I felt the story was overwrought, over-written, and longer than necessary. While exploring the old rooms, some of her blocked memories start to return, but are these reliable? The police think El either committed suicide or was murdered, and Cat is determined to learn what really happened. Ross insists El would have never resorted to suicide, but who murdered her?

The truth about their grim childhood is eventually revealed, and why the twins fled from the house. The final twists were so over-the-top and incredible that I believe many readers will be surprised and enjoy the shocking conclusion. I feel the author has a good future in writing twisty crime stories with stunning endings but needs to tone it down a bit for my liking. Prospective readers should not be deterred by my misgivings but should refer to the many positive reviews for this book. It just wasn't for me.

Mirrorland is unsettling, through and through.
Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for my eARC for review!
Cat has returned to her childhood home in Scotland after the disappearance of her "mirror twin" sister, El.
The twins haven't seen each other in 12 years for undisclosed reasons, and the house is now owned by El and husband/childhood neighbour Ross.
It's a house in which they lived amidst clowns, pirates, witches and evil tooth fairies. And a secret basement area known as Mirrorland.
It's evident early on that we are to consider the house as a character of sorts. Lengthy explanations of the setting, as well as pet names for each room are referenced, and frequently.
It's disconcerting, and we are not privvy as to why. Is it the unreliable memory of childhood, or repressed events turned into fantasies for survival?
This read was uneven for me. Interesting thriller elements with layers of clues and riddles are interspersed with the childhood house imagery a bit too frequently for my liking. Do check it out if you like a unique suspense tale!
For release on April 20.

I really loved the mix of fantasy and fairy tale vibe alongside the classic murder mystery. It made it feel like you really were going back to Cat and El's childhood in the way Carole Johnstone described Mirrorland and all of the fantastical beings within. As Cat begins to remember more you could almost feel the fog and rose-coloured glasses fading away to the dark truth underneath.

The End was the one part of Mirrorland that I found myself a bit frustrated with. It just seemed to keep going in order to add on another twist and then another. Some of which I saw coming and some that I didn't. I don't know if we needed so many surprises. They could have removed some things without losing the feel of the book.

I know that a lot of books compare themselves to Gone Girl, but Mirrorland was the first time where I felt that comparison was real and well earned. When the truths start to be revealed you see the story in a new light. Carole Johnstone makes sure that you keep peeling back layers right until the very end.

This book was super trippy and such an atmospheric read!

It was very complex and I found myself quite confused for the first half of the book as there were a lot of fantasy aspects to the story. I didn’t love this. If you stick with it, it definitely gets better and the twists start dropping like there’s no tomorrow! They were shocking and unpredictable, so that was a huge plus!

Although I did really enjoy the plethora twists and turns, unfortunately this book just wasn’t for me.

“The most dangerous stories are the ones we tell ourselves...”

My thought throughout this book was that this book will be a FANTASTIC movie. I believe it’ll be immensely popular and will be adapted to a movie. But aside from that, the book switches between present day and past (when the girls were children) and the flipping was kind of confusing to me. That was one thing that really bothered me. But aside from that, this book started off really slow but did pick up towards the end. In fact the end was really shocking and I wished the author spent more time on that, compared to the backstory. It was suspenseful in terms of how the case rolls out but also predictable in terms of who is accused. What I liked the most was that Mirrorland was not just a random part of their childhood, towards the end of the book, we see that it has a significance in the girls’ story and I applaud the author for being able to create that narrative.

4.5 rounded up to 5

Holy moly, well that was a little bit of a mind f*@k!

Catriona and Ellice are identical twin sisters who live with their mum and grandfather in an old house in Edinburgh, full of hiding places. They create an alternate universe for themselves - Mirrorland - where they hide out and create the world as they want it to be, full of adventure and pirates and witches, and is a safe place just for them.

Fast forward to adulthood, Cat and El are now estranged, and Cat lives in California trying to leave their old life in Edinburgh behind. She gets a call that El has gone missing with her boat and is presumed dead, so Cat returns to Scotland - and Mirrorland - determined to find her, certain that if El had died she would know it. She assumes that El is just playing one of her games and is hiding out somewhere.

I loved the characters and the fantasy elements in this book and the twists and turns were not wholly unbelievable. My only real complaint was that I wish there had been a bit more info on certain events and about Ross's involvement in the girls' childhood.

All in all, I think this was a great book and I will definitely be looking for more from this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC :)

Just finished reading MIRRORLAND by Carole Johnstone. Official publication date is April 20th, 2021. Thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada for my #gifted copy.

🏴‍☠️🚢🪞🤡🧙‍♀️👭
Cat and El are mirror twins and have been estranged for 12 years. When El goes missing on her sailboat, Cat leaves her life in Los Angeles behind, and heads back to their creepy childhood home in Edinburgh.

As girls, they invented Mirrorland, a dark, imaginary place under the stairs full of pirates, ships, witches, and clowns. It's been years since Cat has thought about her time there. But the house seems to want her to remember every detail, cause at every turn Cat finds herself stumbling on secrets from her past. What dark secrets lie in her repressed memories and how will they help her figure out what happened to El in the present?

Mirrorland will leave you questioning the power of your imagination. This one was dark, twisted and I definitely didn't see the ending coming. I would be interested in checking out future works by this author.
(⭐⭐⭐💫/5)

Oh how badly I wanted to love this book. It sounds so cool and I was immediately intrigued thinking, this is a book for me! It has a lot of amazing reviews, so I think this is very much my own issue and perhaps it's a timing thing as well, but unfortunately this one didn't work out the way I had hoped.

The magical realism and fantasy like quality of MirrorLand didn't work for me. Often, I found myself confused. I found that within each chapter, the author went back and forth between the past and present so abruptly, that I wasn't always sure what was going on. Just from reviews alone, there is clearly a large audience of people who loved this book, so please be sure to read other thoughts before you turn away from this one. Unfortunately, it was not a favourite of mine.

TW: mental illness, abuse

First of all, I love when a book features a map! Or in this case, a floor plan.

I found myself not liking any of the characters and had a hard time rooting for any of them. Towards the end I started to feel better about them, but still no characters I loved.

It did take quite a bit to get into the book. For quite a bit of it, I was really confused to what was real, what was memory, what was imagination, and how things fit together/the relevance. There is a lot going on in this book, and found it start jumping into a fantasy genre?

The ending was good but it got to the point where it was almost too many twists. You think you have it figured out then, boom, another twist. Felt like a lot was added for shock value. However it does tie up all of the loose ends.

Overall, a pretty good read, but some skimming will definitely happen.

A page turner. Lots of twists and turns, interesting characters, however, I was not a fan of the made up world that the author crated for the children to escape to and it actually was a bit confusing. There were also some parts that seemed a bit farfetched.

Atmospheric and mysterious

The premise of this book was really interesting, but in the end I thought it was a tedious read... This one just wasn't for me, but I still enjoyed some parts. I would be ready to try the next books of this author and see if they are a better fit for me.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the ARC!