Mirrorland by by Carole Johnstone Blog Tour

 Books can take us to strange and glorious worlds.

They allow us to escape reality and jump into places unknown.

Sometimes these stories are so realistic that they become terrifying, whilst others blur the lines of real versus imaginary, making us question what truly exists.

The latter is exactly what Carole Johnstone's novel Mirrorland has to offer and before I even begin my review for this stop on the blog tour, let me tell you this, this is a whirlwind of a tale that you will become lost in for quite some time!

Cat lives in Los Angeles, far away from 36 Westeryk Road, the imposing gothic house in Edinburgh where she and her estranged twin sister, El, grew up. As girls, 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 has scarcely 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 in almost every room: a treasure hunt that leads right back to Mirrorland, where she knows the truth lies crouched and waiting...

This is a story about two sisters, identical twins.

In the beginning it seems as though they live a fantasy life, children with unique imaginations, able to conjur up the strangest of places in their minds.

We are introduced to their alternative world, Mirrorland, just as they are apparently leaving on a pirate ship, abandoning the home they've always known.

As the reader, I was immediately confused but in a good way. What was authentic and what was made up. Both seemed to overlap, combine so where one ended the other began.

With the startling twists of Gone Girl and the haunting emotional power of Room, 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.

Fast forward a few years and these sisters, who were once so close, have a broken bond, now one is missing and the other is embarking on a journey through her past life to try and find what once was lost.

Mind-bending and deliciously dark and delusional.

Cat (the more fragile twin) doesn't believe that her sister is missing, she is sure that this is El playing games but in the place she once called home danger seems to lurk in every corner. What's less clear is whether the danger is more physical or mental.

A twisty, dark, and brilliantly crafted thriller about love and betrayal, redemption and revenge, Mirrorland is a propulsive, page-turning debut about the power of imagination and the price of freedom. 

Not an easy read.

You need to pay attention to the detail but for your efforts you will be rewarded.

This is like visiting a house of horrors, weaving your way through a labyrinth of fears that never want you to escape.

*Trigger warning* this novel does cover subjects of both mental and physical abuse as well as scenes about suicide. 

This is no fairytale!

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.

Mirrorland is a smart and atmospheric book.

A story that draws you in slowly, each chapter intensifying, the level of panic increasing with each turn of the page. 

Seamlessly combining the genres of fantasy and thriller.

With an ending that will leave you shocked, surprised and strangely satisfied.

Join the rest of the blog tour for more reviews and thoughts on this twisty tale: