It took me a very long time to get into this book - the Mirrorland scenes didn't really grab me. But I'm glad I persevered as I enjoyed the second half (which reminded me of Gone Girl) a lot more.

Mirrorland is one of those books that grew on me slowly. At first I found the descriptive writing too dense, the flitting between present, past and imagination too confusing, the first person present (my absolute least favourite tense) too meandering and self absorbed as it so often is (hence my least favourite tense). But, much like Mirrorland itself, the book grew on me until I was absolutely absorbed and the second half of book was unputdownable.

Cat is an exile in LA. She left Edinburgh twelve years ago, doubly heartbroken when the man/boy (late teens) she loved chose her twin sister El and El made it clear Cat was in the way and very much unwanted. A jobbing writer, Cat moves from rented condo to rented condo, fling to one night stand, one drink after another, a half life lived without her mirror twin until hearing El is missing presumed drowned she reluctantly returns to Scotland. She hasn't felt El's death, so believes her sister is pulling a dramatic stunt, just as she did when they were teenagers.

But when she gets back to Edinburgh, she finds her sister and husband live in the house she and El grew up in, a house of nightmare and make believe, a house they fled when they were twelve - and the house looks almost exactly the same as it did back then including their make believe land of mirrorland in the basement. And Cat's attraction to Ross, her sister's husband is as strong as ever...

But as Cat learns more about her sister's seemingly perfect life more and more questions demand answers. Was El's marriage as happy as it seemed? Why do El's friends think she was being abused? Who is emailing Cat and sending her on a treasure hunt around the house leading her to pages of El's own diaries, opening up long buried memories and taking her back into the heart of Mirrorland itself?

Darkly imaginative, and full of twists and turns, Mirrorland is a high octane compelling debut.

Ok so I am a rare four star reviewer ,as it takes something truly unique or original ,clever and imaginative .
This is unique it is original it’s clever and so imaginative .
Now don’t get me wrong it has clearly and unashamedly been inspired by so many ,mainly Stephen king but also of themes from childhood like pirates that we all envisage and draws what’s in our imagination so well and old fairy story’s . I was super impressed how the mirrorland was conjured up and created in that house and recalls ones own dens with boxes and blankets .I was so moved and almost in admiration for the mother for creating such a land to escape to and feel safer in though there may be other choices she did her very best to ensure they had a world of their own .
It’s very good ,I was completely drawn in to their world ,I was scared of blue beard , the tooth fairy and prayed for the clown room to give them a retreat ,ran with them to the ship and through the tunnels ,I too rocked on the boat with them and was flung side to side on the deck as the sea tossed us to and fro .
I felt I was one of them or with them ,I was invested and I am very exited about this authors next one .
It’s not a Donna tart or a literature wow ,it is though so incredibly imaginative the world she’s created I was just like this is brilliant .
Oh and at it’s heart is a sad scary tale and truly frightening controlling villains that haunt the pages as you flee with the girls .
I was almost breathless going through the tunnels with them desperately trying to escape from the terrors
It’s not gratuitous like some can be but u feel the peril ,u feel their excitement and joy they have in their sacred mirror land and are along for the adventure ,aware there is something lurking afoot and along with them throughout and therefor you .
Thank you netgalley and publishers ,I love taking a risk with new authors and I will for sure be looking out for the next one .
It’s a rare four stars for a moving involving story with a magical land created .smoke and mirrors in mirror land

Beware! Spoilers ahead!

This is the story of Cat and El, identical twins. Cat and El have been estranged from each other for 10 years when Cat is called back to Scotland following the disappearance of El.. Ross, El's husband, is distraught and both he and the police believe that El is dead. Cat, on the other hand, is convinced that El is still alive and just doing what she always does - manipulating people to get what she wants. Cat is bought back to the house she last left as a child, a place of memories, a place that she doesn't particularly want to be.

On the surface El and Cat were happy children who lived in a fantasy land called Mirrorland. This is the space beneath their house where they could live out their fantasies, playing in a pirate ship, walking through The Shank, and looking for pirate treasure accompanied by their imaginary crew; Annie, Mouse and the clowns from the clown cafe. However, as the story progresses we learn that their childhood was not so happy - they lived in fear of The Witch, The Toothfairy, Bluebeard and Blackbeard. At first these seem like more imaginary characters but as Cat slowly recovers her memories of the childhood she has repressed we learn that these frightening people were very real, and very close.

Soon Cat is remembering what happened the night she and El last left this house to run away from the horror within.....and then El's boat is discovered, with a body in the cabin. Cat's world is turned upside down and she and Ross cling to each other for comfort. But something isn't quite right. The lady from the corner shop warns Cat that El was afraid, and a kindly neighbour is posting warning cards through the letterbox to Cat...warnings that disturb and worry Cat, and just why does she always feel so tired and spaced out all the time?

This is definitely a book of three parts: The first part, covering Cat coming back, the police hunting for El and Cat beginning to remember what happened in the past is very confusing. The flashback style of the memories was disorientating and odd and I almost stopped reading. The second part starts to shed light on the past as this covers the aftermath of El's body being found and Cat starting to piece together the shards of childhood memory to reconstruct the night that she lived through. This helps to make sense of the first part and I was just about ahead of what was being revealed.

The final part of the story covers what happens during the court case following El's murder, and while there were things that needed wrapping up in this section there were parts that I felt were a step too far. For example, I get that Cat had to visit Ross to have her final say with him but I felt that following Cat to scatter El's ashes only to accidentally discover El alive, well and living a new life a stretch too far only for this to be followed by the revelation that Mouse was actually their other sister and that they had been triplets to be stretching credulity too much and this ruined what had been up until that point a powerful story of domestic abuse and neglect.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Twin sisters retreat into a world of their own to escape a bad abusive childhood . Their world consists of pirate ships , Indian Tepees and other things decorated from their imaginations . They have 2 friends play with them. Ross and a girl called Mouse . One of the girls , marries Ross and her sister moves to America . They are not in contact for many years until one of the girls disappears later in life on a yacht she has bought . A number of of clues are left in the childhood home leading to an unexpected outcome .

Thank you to Harper Collins for the exclusive invite to read Mirrorland in exchange for an honest review.

This debut by Johnstone is beautifully crafted and detailed. It is reminiscent of THE ROANOKE GIRLS by Amy Engel, and THE LIGHT OF THE FIREFLIES by Paul Pen. I would say that this is not a book for people who don't like to stay in the dark, or don't like to keeping all the metaphorical juggling balls in the air. Johnstone does a good job of keeping you on your toes, as Cat is a good example of an unreliable narrator. Johnstone-through-Cat sabotages your every guess which makes for a delightful thriller and invigorating read.

The beginning can be really disorientating and confusing, especially if you aren't a fan of magic realism. Johnstone moves between reality and the dreamworld of Mirrorland within sentences and it is up to you as the reader to try and figure out what's happening now, what happened in the past, and whether this is all in Cat's head or out in the open. Personally, I really enjoyed this, but I can see how this could irritate some readers who might want to have these shifts more explicitly gestured towards.

The pacing of the whole story was brilliant for a thriller. While Cat might be an unreliable narrator, I felt like we were getting the right bits of information at the right time. When I read thrillers/mysteries, I tend to keep track of all the threads in a notebook so I can double check everything has been answered, and Johnstone does indeed answer everything by the end. There are definitely several twists and turns that took me by surprise and I personally didn't find it predictable. Even if you have your doubts and you find everyone suspicious, there is no clear answer really.

The novel itself deals with a lot of trauma, and Cat's grief is palpable. However, the only thing that stopped me from giving this 5*s is the ending which (I won't spoil) felt a little bit cliché. Despite this, I did like the final touches and appreciate why Johnstone ended the story in this way, so this is a personal reading preference.

Overall, the prose was sharp, lucid, and exciting. While the movement between Mirrorland and reality, flashback and present day, were disorientating, I found it added a lot to the experience and I loved exploring Cat's world!

This book draws you in to the fantasy world of the twins right away- Mirrorland- full of pirates and cowboys, all kinds of games and fun- although all is definitely not as it seems.
The story dips between times as Cat, now grown returns to her childhood home, occupied by her sister and brother in law and apparently unchanged in decades, when her twin sister El disappears. Seemingly trapped between reality and her memories Cat discovers more and more about her childhood that had been buried deep within.
This is definitely a story that would lend itself well to screen adaptation - Mirrorland is already so vivid that it would be easy to make it real!

Full of twists and turns, misdirection and mystery this is a really compulsive read from start to finish.

An intriguing book with a great twist at the end. However, I really struggled to get into the book and had to persevere for the first 60% of the book before it became much clearer.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an unbiased view of the book.

Cat lives in California. She returns home to Edinburgh after an absence of twelve years when her identical sister El is reported missing. El and her husband have been living in Cat and El’s childhood home.
As she waits for news, the barely changed house awakens vivid memories of their childhood.
Mirrorland is a stylishly written thriller,where the lines between fantasy and reality are blurred. The complexity covers both plot and characters, entangling the reader just the way El and Cat were as children. The narration too, is unreliable ,and clever as this is, the detailed descriptions of the make believe life at times felt bewildering and over long.
The characters, unlikeable as they were, were well drawn, and I loved the emotions flitting over faces, decisions on whether the truth or fiction would be spoken. The reveal was not the strongest part but the climax leading to it was well done.
Mirrorland is a rock solid debut thriller.
With thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK.

From the start I was concerned about this book, mainly because I could not see the plans of the house clearly on my kindle. Ah well, what could it matter? To be honest it didn’t really matter but it did make it confusing as it appears to be the layout of a house – but without the usual designation of bedroom, kitchen, lounge etc. So off on the wrong foot I set into a strange land of pirates, clowns, distant islands, jungle. Mix in a variety of disparate characters, situations, siblings – twins no less, mice (yes, mice or to be exact Mouse) and you have one very confused reader.

Not really my bag, all a bit Angela Carter for me.

Except it is so brilliantly written, so beautiful in a dark, creepy psychological way that there is much more to it than my words can convey. So it does seem amazing that this is a debut novel and credit must be given to Ms Johnstone. My hesitation is purely mine own – it was hard work wading through it and would leave it there but for one thing. The ending, well, I never would have expected that and I was left feeling as though I had pulled a rabbit from a hat… Pure magic? Yes, indeed – but I’m just not into magic. If you are though – you are in for a real treat.

With apologies for the mixed message but thank you to the author, publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

El has disappeared, but twin sister Cat refuses to believe she's dead. After all, she's leaving Cat a treasure hunt to follow...

This was a truly sensational read, switching seamlessly between past and present, certain and uncertain, real and make-believe. It keeps you on your toes and makes you work - can you believe the story you're being told? Which aspects are real, and which are imagined? Do you ever have all the facts? And who should you trust?

The twists unfurl one after another, like a deck of cards, and there's always something else that you've not uncovered, or another layer you've yet to reach. The writing is wonderful too - beautiful, but commercial and readable enough to keep you gripped - and the storytelling gets more and more ambitious. It's hard to talk too much about Mirrorland, the twins' imaginary world, without revealing something you may want to work out for yourself, so all I will say is that this is a brilliantly-plotted, inventive and moving story. One of my top reads this year.

4-5 stars

36 Westeryk Road, Edinburgh contains Mirrorland, the escapist world of mirror twins Ellice (El) and Catriona (Cat) Morgan. Now in their thirties El leads Cat on a treasure hunt to unlock their shocking reality and discover truths.

It took me a while to get into this but its draws you into the original and creative plot and ultimately it becomes very difficult to put down. It is a very atmospheric tale, super creepy in places and the author fuses the childhood fantasy Mirrorland brilliantly into the nightmare of the present day. At times it feels so claustrophobic that it’s hard to breathe and as the truth emerges it’s shock after shock and some of it is brutal. The final twist is excellent and ends the book positively. It’s a novel about the root causes of their childhood fantasies and its impact on adulthood, family sacrifice, deception and extremely clever subterfuge and becoming free from the iron shackles of the past. It’s grippingly tense and harsh in places but overall is a corker of a psychological thriller. Take a deep breath and dive in.

With thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins, Harper Fiction for the much appreciated arc for an honest review.

This thriller is so addictive as soon as I finished I wanted the next or to start again. What happens when you hear that your twin has gone missing, I'd have a shock as I don't have a twin but Cat does or is that did.
So Cat comes home to Edinburgh where the story is set from America where she fleed after a pain filled episode or is that another part of her pain filled life. There are some twists and a few major twists that as you'd expect change the story completely or it's direction.
There are a few strange characters to add some flavour or is that texture who cares they bring something else but the 3 main folk are Cat her missing twin El & Ross. Well also there's Mum and Grandpa they are quite major. One question is who are Mouse, Anna, Marie and Roy what is their true part in the story there only one way to find out? The thriller had 2 parts the first life set in Mirrorland the childhood land of imagination very captivating and the second part is based on the time Cat returns and the missing El. This is a thriller that I hope you enjoy and can lose yourself in as I did, you may guess bits of it but not the majority or rather I didn't but so i recommend it yes completely.

Mirrorland was an excellent psychological drama, imaginative and cleverly twisted it is an absolute page turner of a story.

Mirror twins, an imaginative world of escape, sets the scene for when one of those twins goes missing...is she dead? Is she hiding? What exactly happened all those years ago. Perhaps Mirrorland holds the answers...

Tense, twisted and with some highly engaging characters, Mirrorland takes you on a brilliantly atmospheric journey towards the truth with a beautifully written narrative that holds you enthralled from first page to last.

Highly recommended.

It took a long time to get in to this book but it was worth it. This was really something different and I throughly enjoyed it. I will certainly look out for other books by this author.I apologise if this seems a little brief but I prefer to give my opinion rather than a synopsis of the story.
Thank you Netgalley, Carole Johnstone and Harper Collins UK for giving me the opportunity to give my unbiased opinion.

I found this book a slow burn, but once i got into it , it picked up pace. I struggled with the flashbacks and the flitting back and forth but i enjoyed the second half of the book and the ending was great.
Thanks to the publisher, author and NetGalley for my arc in retune for a review.
I would recommend.

Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone is a book that will stay with me. Not at all what I expected this novel had me gripped from the start. With twists and turns it read almost like the fairytales that the twins lived in as children. If you want to see if it all ended happily ever after you’ll have to read it!

This is an intriguing book about twins and their fantasy childhood world of mirrorland. Memories submerges with reality which has to be addressed when twin Ellice goes missing. Lots of twists and turns in this gripping and unique thriller which made me have to read on to find out what was happening next. An impulsive read. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me review this book.

A fantastic novel, full of twists and turns that kept me guessing till the very end. I won't spoil it for anyone but this is WELL WORTH a read for fans of psychological/crime thrillers.

El and Cat are really well written and their childhood is described in such vivid detail that I felt I was watching the events rather than simply reading them. On that note, this plot would make an excellent TV series!
Another reviewer had mentioned the genre 'magical realism' to categorize this novel and I would have to agree.

The 'magical' elements are as realistic as they are dark. At times I found this confusing as I couldn't distinguish reality from make-believe. However, this made the events of the final chapters even more engrossing - I think the author WANTS her readers to feel just as confused as Cat is.

All in all, a fabulous read! My thanks go to Netgalley and Borough Press/HarperCollins for the e-ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

This is my first book by this author and will not be my last!

This is a good books the story is about identical twins El and Cat, Who like to escape to a place called Mirror world which is make believe. this story has a few twists and turns I didn't see coming. it is kinda creepy in places, but it will suck you in. The writing is great loved the plot. So different from anything I have read before.