A heady, twisty mind game of a book in a sultry setting. Loved the main character and her quest to figure out her deceased father

That was really good and easy to follow. It is also very chilling. I really couldn't put the book down and was annoyed at interruptions like work and sleep. To know this could be so real. Like you know there are people out there who do assist and could easily create situations like this. I was able to get the audio from the library and the narrator, the author was good with English and American accents. Do not skip the epilogue!! Thank You Netgalley, Catherine Steadman, and Random House for the ARC digital copy.

I really enjoyed this book! The escape rooms were interesting and I loved how it all came together. Highly recommend! 4 stars.

Nina, single, academic, is close to her father and is devastated when he passes. Having never known her mother, this is natural, so nobody is more surprised than Nina to find out that her father has a home in the Virgin Islands and not just any home but a beautiful state of the art mansion.

Completely shocked and befuddled, she decides to go and check it out for clues as to why her father would keep it a secret.
I’m really glad I went into this one blind; it is twisty and unique with a premise that is staggering! It reminds me a bit of a movie series I’ve seen but I’m hesitant to say which because it would be spoilerish and not entirely accurate because the book, while a bit like the movies, took a different turn that I loved.

This is a suspenseful, tense story and I loved the varying POV which gave a unique insight and increased the tension.
Catherine Steadman will remain on my top favorite author list!

My thanks to Random House for this gifted DRC.

Catherine Steadman became a must read author for me as soon as I finished her debut novel, Something in the Water. Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read Look on the Mirror in advance! If you e read Steadman’s previous novels, I’d say this one is closest to The Family Game in terms of what type of story it is, while still managing to be completely unique and fresh. If you’re new to Steadman, this is a must read if you love well written mysteries or psychological thrillers!

After her beloved father dies, Nina finds out he owned an extremely valuable house she never knew existed in the British Virgin Islands. The house was left to Nina along with the rest of her father’s estate, so she travels to see this mysterious secret vacation home and to decide whether to sell it. As soon as she arrives, strange things start happening and she receives mysterious messages warning her away. Nina is focused on trying to understand what this house meant to her father and why he left it to her but kept it from her when he was alive, and had no idea how much danger she’s in. The chapters shifts between Nina’s story and the story of another young woman, Maria, who has arrived in the islands for a new job nannying for a wealthy family. Soon after she arrives, Maria senses that something isn’t right, but the reader soon learns that, like Nina, Maria makes a huge mistake by not following her intuition and leaving immediately. These women are both highly intelligent, but neither could never have imagined the reality of what’s really going on in these beautiful, expensive houses- despite the scenery, paradise couldn’t be further away. The mystery here was fantastic- creative and well plotted, I was shocked again and again as the book took more and more shocking turns, but it never became outlandish or unbelievable. I was also invested in these woman- Steadman develops their characters so the reader relates to and cares about them. This is a must read!!!!

Catherine Steadman has written some of my favorite mystery/thrillers and appreciate that she always has unique premises. The mystery/thriller genre can feel so oversaturated with the same storylines, but I can always count on Catherine Steadman to have something unique and intriguing. Look in the Mirror started out so strong, but unfortunately it lost some momentum for me after the halfway point. I didn't love some of the reveals of what was *really* going on and a certain death really shocked me in a negative way for the trajectory of the story. The ending felt a little lackluster as well. It was still engaging and easy to read, but ultimately not my favorite. However, I will continue to pick up everything this author writes!

This might be the end of the road for me and Catherine Steadman unfortunately. It really saddens me to say that, because I loved the idea and initial setup of this book. In the aftermath of her father’s death, Nina learns that she has inherited a luxury property in the British Virgin Island. It comes as a shock to Nina, as she never knew that this property existed. She begins to wonder what other secrets her father has kept from her over the years...

My main issue with this book was that I felt like the synopsis hinted at one type of story but we ended up getting something completely different (if that makes sense). Things took a very odd and unexpected (to me at least) twist fairly early on. I just ended up not really enjoying the type of story we got in the end. And that's not the authors fault, since no author will ever write a book where 100% of readers agree with the creative direction. but maybe I'm just not the correct audience for a book like this.

This isn’t any fault of the author per say (no author will ever write a book where every reader is 100% in agreement with the creative direction), but I just ended up not really enjoying the type of story we got in the end.

Such a good read that I enjoyed! I'm so glad that I got the chance to read it early and will definitely be recommending it to multiple people who enjoy these types of novels. I enjoyed the characters and especially enjoyed the writing by this author. I'm excited to see what the author comes out with next as I'll definitely be reading it! Thank you to the publisher for my early copy of this book!

Thank you for allowing me to read this book as an ARC.
Wow what a Rollercoaster and thrill ride. I have loved this author's other books but this one was so original and over the top, I absolutely loved it.. I could not put it down and kept on reading.
The storyline is original and I never would have guessed the outcome/ending. At first I was a little confused how the 2 main characters fit together but it soon came clear. It was so well laid out and unpredictable imo..
The main characters were likeable and made you feel for them on what they were going through. They descriptions were vivid and made you feel like you were there seeing with your own eyes.
Amazing book and a 5 🌟 for sure!

This was an entertaining, suspenseful thriller that kept me wondering what the heck was going on with the house. It was fun at times but also a bit dull.

I never really connected with any of the characters in this one. I kept waiting to figure out how the two leads were connected and the answer just kind of made me shrug. On the bright side, the story is fast-paced and self-contained. It just didn't completely click for me.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

Nina's father is her world. After her mother died, it was just the two of them and he did his best to teach her everything he could, involving her in his puzzles and work. When he dies, Nina is lost. He was all she had, and now she has nothing. After all is said and done, she receives an odd letter stating that her father owns a home in the British Virgin Islands. When she speaks with the lawyer on the island, he states that he will organize her transportation so she can come visit her new home. While her father was well-off financially, he was not incredibly wealthy. So how on earth can he own this house? Curious, and at loose ends as all the funeral events have completed, she hops a plane to BVI.

Maria is a nanny for the über rich. After a year of med school, she dropped out because she was making so much money as a nanny. Why not wait to finish med school when she could afford to pay for it? But her new assignment is odd. She's positioned in a house on an island...with no kids to watch. Her contact keeps promising her they are coming, but where are they? Then there is the weird room in the basement that she has been explicitly told not to enter...

It's unusual that I read a book that I can't figure out, but for a large part of the book I could not see how Nina's and Maria's stories converged. But don't worry, fellow readers, we find our answers. And boy, are they surprising!

Every book I've read by Steadman has been a wild ride, and this was no exception!

Steadman is my queen of smart suspense. "Look in the Mirror," is loaded with tension and page turning intensity. Told by two narrators at two different times, the story takes place somewhere in the British Virgin Islands. When Nina's father dies, she finds to her astonishment, that he left her a home on the BVI. She sets off to learn more about both the house and her father. The second narrator, Marie a woman looking for fast cash, accepts a temporary job at the same house. Nothing is as it seems for Nina and Marie. What starts as a slow burn, quickly turns roller coaster. Avoiding spoilers here, enough to say that "Look in the Mirror," was a page turner for me. I did not predict the ending and was releaved to come to finish the book so I can catch my breath.

This was my favorite Catherine Steadman book so far. A father left his daughter a mysterious house on a secluded island. A nanny shows up for work at a home and the clients never come home. The house comes alive and starts creating puzzles to solve. Couldn't wait to find out what happened and it kept me on the edge of my seat. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I was a fan of Catherine Steadman’s The Family Game so I was excited to get into her new release. I was hooked in to the first 30% but then the pacing started to feel off to me and I lost steam. Not my favorite but I think many readers will enjoy!

This was an exciting thriller. The main character, Nina inherits a high-tech house in the BVI from her deceased father which starts the mystery. From there the story is told from different points of view of the other characters that are part of the house in one way or another. This book definitely keeps you on the edge of your seat. Thank you to Netgalley, Random House, Ballantine Books, and the Author, Catherine Steadman for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love that Catherine Steadman is veering off into the more Horror-adjacent end of the Thriller genre. This is incredibly fun and propulsive and scary and tense without ever tipping over into anything icky.

The Family Game was a better book in terms of quality, mostly because the “why” of it all was far more interesting there. Here the lack of a real “why” makes the ending a bit of a letdown, but it’s still a tremendously fun ride getting there.

I don’t know that escape room, but for real is a wholly original concept, but Steadman did a terrific job if employing it, and the pacing of this is so, so good. It’s very hard to stop reading because the suspense and intensity never flags once it gets going. I hope Steadman sticks with this particular breed of Thriller, as she’s quite good at it.

This book was fast moving and captured my interest from the start. This is the first book by this author and I really enjoyed it. There was enough thrill and mystery to keep me guessing and keep me wanting to read.

This is a new to me author, but I will definitely be looking for more of her works This was a very intense story, had you on the edge of your seat and wondering what’s gonna come around the next corner? I would recommend this story to anyone who enjoys being pulled in at the very beginning and never let go until the very end.


I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

I really enjoyed Catherine Steadmans other books and this one was just as good. I loved the house in the book and thought it enhanced the whole mystery. I thought Nina and Maria were both interesting characters and wanted to spend time with them.

Catherine Steadman is back with another suspense win! I was a big fan of Something in the Water, mostly because it was so unique from other books I had read. Look in the Mirror fits the same bill with a dystopian vibe!

As she is grieving the loss of her recently buried father, a well respected Cambridge professor, Nina is contacted by a law firm in the USVI leading her into a world of secrets and an unimaginable double life that her father supposedly led. She is now the sole owner of a villa in Virgin Gorda. All she has to do is name the date she is ready to travel, and she will be whisked down there first class to view her inheritance for the first time. When she arrives, she quickly discovers that this home puts the idea of a modern smart home to shame. All commands are voice activated and the home seems to take on a power of its own, controlling who can and cannot enter the property seemingly at whim. Just as she begins to wonder about the mysterious locked door on the lower level that isn’t included on any of the architectural plans of the home, she receives the first note: You need to leave. Now.

Enter Maria, a nanny for the super rich who has been given a 2 week fill in assignment for a new family. When the family never shows, she is left to luxuriate in the stunning panoramic views of the Caribbean Sea from the private secluded beach and stunning infinity pool. She just has to lay back, relax, and collect her massive payout in just 14 days. That is if she can follow the one house rule: Do not go in the locked room in the basement. As the house loses power one night, the room is suddenly unlocked. Will she be able to resist the temptation?

Someone is always watching…but at what price?