The Girl in the Mirror Book Review
Hi bookworms! Boy oh boy do I have a book review for you! I have the perfect summer thriller for you to read, it is called The Girl in the Mirror by Rose Carlyle. This will be a spoiler free review so it's going to be a shorter review as well. But I just don't want to give away all the good stuff; you'll have to discover that on your own if you read it!
The Girl in the Mirror is about twin sisters, identical on the outside, but on the inside they are mirrored. Meaning that Summer is a perfect, beautiful woman, and Iris is a beautiful woman as well, but her organs are flipped to opposite sides because of how delayed their egg split in the womb. I looked this up when I first read the book and this does actually happen! I was amazed! So the book is from Iris's point of view. She kind of has a vulnerability and chip on her shoulder that her sister is the "perfect one" and she, Iris, is not. All her life, she has viewed Summer as the good and perfect one and Iris has tried to emulate her.
The sisters grew up with a father who was not a good man, let's just say. He cheated on their mother, left, had more children, and then died fairly young. He left a will behind saying that of his children, whoever is pregnant and births an heir first, then they get all of his money. Iris learns of this fairly young and becomes determined to be the first one to be pregnant, to be wealthy. The twin's brother Ben is out of the running because he is gay and has little to no interest in having a child. So, it's just Iris and Summer...and their half siblings who are much younger than them.
Iris grows older and has a boyfriend and they try and try to get pregnant, but to no avail. Meanwhile, Summer becomes a nurse, marries a widower who has a baby himself, and then she becomes pregnant. Iris discovers this when she is called to Thailand by Summer (the twins are from Australia). Summer had been sailing the family sailing yacht to Thailand with her husband and the baby Tarquin. Tarquin had a medical emergency, so the father is staying with him in Thailand while Summer employs the help of Iris in sailing the yacht back to home in Australia.
Now, the whole family have been trained and taught how to sail Bathsheba, the yacht, by their late father. He loved sailing and Iris loved it just as much too. She became sort of an expert on how to sail and could easily sail alone, if she didn't need the sleep. Summer had less interest and aptitude but she was still good too. So, together the twins start sailing back to Australia. It's not until Iris goes to sleep one night and wakes up groggily to find her sister missing. Not only missing, but presumed dead after viewing the video footage on board the yacht. Summer hit her head on one of the wooden posts on the sailing yacht and fell into the ocean, presumably to drown and die. Or get eaten by a shark.
Iris is beside herself, it's her twin after all. A part of her. She searches and scours the nearby sea, she spends days searching, losing weight and being attacked by the elements. She starts to lose her mind a bit. Iris is scared that she'll be charged for Summer's death. That it seems so odd, that people might think she murdered her. Iris decides to take over Summer's identity. She cuts a scar into her leg that Summer had. Iris is just in a really bad and insane place. But she's now determined to take over Summer's perfect life and live it. Iris has always been jealous and now it can be hers. She feels it's more humane for everyone to believe Iris had died, not Summer, because she thought no one cared about Iris as much.
The story goes on from there! I won't spoil the rest, but let's just say there's lots of twists and turns. It isn't entirely unpredictable and some moments are just unbelievable but it all makes for such a good and thrilling story! I love the author's writing of the twins and their twisted relationship. The side characters are somewhat fleshed out, depending on who they are. The setting is lovely, luxurious Australia, and a bit of time in Thailand and the Seychelles Islands. Character development is rampantly wonderfully written, the twins are fully fleshed out by the end of the story. And oh my goodness, the very last sentence haunts me!!! It really packs a huge punch to the gut. I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. I just wish some things had been explained a bit more regarding the twin's mother and Virginia's disappearance. If you read this and have any insight into those topics, I'd love to know!
Overall it's a thrilling ride, or should I say a thrilling sailing excursion? Either way I think newcomers to thrillers would LOVE this book and thriller experts would enjoy this too, even if they guess everything before the end. Considering this was Rose Carlyle's debut, I'm extremely impressed and dearly hope to read more by her. She did a great job!
So, if you're looking for something to end the summer with that is a quick, easy, fun, and thrilling read, I highly recommend this book! I do hope you enjoy!
Alette
Comments
Post a Comment