“Mirror twins” is how Cat describes her relationship with El, two sisters entangled in a childhood of trauma, fantasy, and dreams of pirates with adventures of escape and mystery. This first book of author Carole Johnstone is a tense, dramatic read, you won’t want to put down.
The story is set in Scotland, where estranged sister, Cat, had returned from Los Angeles amid her sisters tragic disappearance from a day of sailing and join the search for her missing sister. Identical siblings often have mythical relationships with closeness, conflicts, and competition, and this novel takes readers on a compelling journey filled with angst, stark revelations, and the jumbled mix of images, words, and memories from the past haunting Cat, while she struggles for answers to her sister’s mysterious disappearance.
Told as Cat’s first-person account of suddenly reentering her estranged sister’s life after years of absence is both traumatic and convoluted at best. Who can Cat believe among all who try to help, console, and even warn her? Can she even believe herself?
Adding to Cat’s challenges is Ross, husband of missing sister, El, who was both sisters’ childhood friend, confidant, and romantic rival. The author’s chilling storytelling creates a neverending series of psychological events filled with truths, half-truths, and too many uncertainties.
This densely written suspense takes longer to read that you might think because it takes time to process and untangle the web of conflicting facts and surprising revelations. This book took me at least twice as long to read as similar length novels, but I kept pressing forward wanting to know more.
I found the book intriguing and engaging, although the author did not always delineate Cat’s present from her past, forcing readers to experience all events, past and present, in a single real-time flow. This was the book’s unique strength and weakness, warping time into a twisted storyline.
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Mirrorland
