Mirrorland

De: Carole Johnstone

Narrado por: Katie Leung

“Unnerving.” —People

“Unsettling...unlocks its mysteries slowly.” —The New York Times Book Review

“A dark, twisty, and richly atmospheric exploration of the power of imagination” —Ruth Ware, author of The Woman in Cabin 10

“Beautifully written and told with a watchmaker’s precision” (Stephen King), Mirrorland is a thrilling psychological suspense novel about twin sisters, the man they both love, the house that has always haunted them, and the childhood stories they can’t leave behind.

Cat lives in Los Angeles, far from 36 Westeryk Road, the imposing gothic house in Edinburgh where she and her estranged twin sister, El, grew up. As kids, 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 hasn’t 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: a treasure hunt that leads them back to Mirrorland, where the truth lies waiting...

A brilliantly crafted story that “feels like the love child of Gillian Flynn and Stephen King” (Greer Hendricks, #1 New York Times bestselling author), Mirrorland is a propulsive, gripping debut about love, betrayal, revenge—and the price of freedom.

©2021 Carole Johnstone. All rights reserved. (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

Started out great

I really enjoyed the first three quarters of the book, but then the story bogged down. I think it should have ended at least 2 hours before it did.

Meh

It drags A LOT. I often found myself wanting the story to get to the point. I think to create more suspense it holds its secrets for too long. There are lots of interesting scenes and interesting writing but it all adds up to MEH.

Very enjoyable

I enjoyed this story so much. I think that it dealt with intense life trauma respectfully and gave power to women who had so much going against them. The story was intriguing and heart breaking and heart warming. The narrator brought the characters to life wonderfully. She was the perfect choice. This is one of the best books that I have listened to in quite a while!

Beautiful

This book is beautifully written. The performance is spot on. The story is fascinating. Get this book.

Loved it.

At times in the beginning I found it a bit confusing, but once I untangled it, it was very enjoyable. Very imaginative and different.

3 Lifetimes, 3 segments. Scary, Lost, sad/happyish

The story as a whole is good, it is well told, and crafty. For me the beginning was a bit long and a little confusing, but by the middle the confusion was gone, then started to pick and at the end made sense why the long beginning needed to be told.

It's really very sad. It shows the "real" scary monsters in our world which makes it even more saddening.

Good ideas, but overall didn't work for me...

In a nutshell I found that the plot was contrived, clunky and confusing. The flow from the past to present didn't translate well at all through a narrator. Maybe it's more clear when reading the actual book, but I kept having to back up multiple times to figure out where in time I was. I couldn't for the life of me find the appeal of Ross, and the protagonist was uneven and wishy washy. I think this book started out with a great idea for a story, but the follow through didn't work for me. The narrator had a beautiful voice, and did a wonderful job.

Really good

Sometimes I struggled to follow the storyline because of the technique used to convey the story. I could listen to it again and pick up parts I missed, I’m sure. The narrator was fantastic! I couldn’t stop listening. Would recommend!

Definition of psychological

Okay here’s the deal. This is not the most perfectly plotted mystery novel of all time. If that’s what you are after, you may find some enjoyment here, but that’s not where the magic lies with this novel. This is an exploration of childhood, of trauma, of the creative ways the brain conjures to categorize, make sense of, and protect itself from what it cannot accept or needs to hide from itself for the sake of self preservation. I found this book utterly enthralling. It is long. It is slow paced. None of that matters if you find yourself in for the ride, and I was in for the ride. The mystery here is what lies hidden in our main character’s mind, far more than what comprises the facts of current events in her life. The novel has total gothic vibes, the descriptions of the old house are effectively atmospheric and foreboding. There is a lot of really brilliant layering and foreshadowing that goes into this. It truly is a treasure hunt. And so sad, at the end of it all. An actually really tragic story. Anyway! 5 stars. I’ve not listened obsessively to an audiobook the way I did with this one in quite some time. Worth the listen, tho it does take some commitment to get into. Writing is good, never annoying, often admirable.

Convoluted

I love twists and turns. This story was so convoluted that by the time the big reveals came, I didn’t care. The “Francophone” and “Eastern European” accents sounded like someone who has ill-fitting dentures. Not saying I could do better, but i found it distracting.