I needed this book in my life.

The storylines, characters and world is perfect. I read it in one sitting.

A true plot twisting , mind bending unique story. At first a parallel narrative set on different continents, becomes an intertwined detective story before delving into the realms of AI and an elegy to literary storytelling. Brookmyre has created a truly beautiful book that seamlessly carries the reader alongside the narrators, Penny and Johnny, switching points of view per chapter. Almost cinematic in scope the world created by Brookmyre thrusts the reader directly into the action as the protagonists are flung into a world far from that which they are used to.

I can not recommend this highly enough.

It's a cliche to describe a writer being at the height of their powers but in the case of The Cracked MIrror it really is true. I've followed Brookmyre's work from his early crime/comedy hybrid novels through his Ambrose Parry historical/medical thrillers and this book feels like the culmination of everything he's learned along the way. I won't talk about the plot except to say it absolutely delivers as an unputdownable thriller, and the voice embraces the conventions (and cliches!) of crime fiction in a way that is affectionate and arch without being sneery or dismissive. Bravo.

The Cracked Mirror by Chris Brookmyre is a delightful dichotomy between two very different characters whose worlds collide in a most unexpected way

Penny Coyne, little old lady from a little village
Johnny Hawke, dynamic detective from the mean streets of LA

Two people who should never meet, but make for an incredible crime-solving team

So very much fun! Cozy meets action/adventure, smashes through police procedural and careens across a good old mystery in a book that I literally devoured! A delight for mystery lovers

Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown Book Group UK | Abacus and Chris Brookmyre for this ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

This was a fun read - one that I went into blind so there were a few pleasant surprises.
Johnny Hawke is a homicide detective with LAPD, who works hard to seek the truth. Penny Coyne is a little old lady who has solved multiple murders in her village in Scotland. Their worlds are about to collide when the murder of a writer in LA leads Johnny Hawke to a wedding in Scotland. A wedding that Penny Coyne received a mysterious invite to. A wedding where another murder takes place.

💭 I felt like I was reading two different books in the beginning - amateur sleuth and action packed LA (which is a testament to the fantastic writing). Some of it was OTT but it didn’t take away any of the thrill. I was quickly engaged and ended up ignoring anything else to finish it. The narrative was funny and clever, with lots of twists. The ending was quite complex and I ended up putting the book down until my brain was refreshed. It was a jaw dropped - a unique twists that wrapped up the story nicely.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this. I look forward to reading more from this author.

An appealingly inventive idea done well.

An enjoyable read.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

I'm a big fan of Chris Brookmyre and I am very grateful for the opportunity to read The Cracked Mirror. The book's twin viewpoints has perfectly pitched styles for a Miss Marple/Murder, She Wrote vibe and for a hard-boiled Michael Connelly slant so this was cleverly done by, It is also very funny in places, typical of Brookmyre's style. Unfortunately on this occasion I found I was struggling to keep up with who all the characters were and I think some of the details went over my head, leaving me a bit confused. Thank you for the copy of the book.

It begins with Penelope Coyne, an elderly figure, who becomes aware of a murder in her small Scottish village—a man has been strangled in the church confessional booth. Despite her peculiar claim of having solved numerous murders in this quiet locale, Penelope is determined to involve herself in the investigation.

In contrast, Los Angeles police lieutenant Jonny Hawke wakes up with a headache in an unfamiliar room next to a woman he struggles to remember. Known for his maverick methods that have led to a series of unfortunate partner deaths, Jonny is soon summoned to investigate what appears to be the suicide of a male writer. Though it seems straightforward, his boss insists on a thorough investigation.

These two seemingly disparate threads—an old-school murder mystery and a contemporary hardboiled detective story—merge into a unique and original narrative. The plot's distinctive nature makes it best approached with minimal prior knowledge.

http://thesecretbookreview.co.uk

In the quiet Scottish village of Glen Cuthar, 80-something Penny Coyne has a reputation for solving crime. In Los Angeles, police officer Johnny Hawke has his own way of doing things. Bizarrely their two worlds collide at a society wedding and the two of them are thrown together to solve a series of suspicious incidents. However as they investigate things become weirder and weirder and nothing seems to make sense.
It's really impossible to try to describe what a ride this book is for a reader. Beginning as a mash-up between two genres of crime fiction - the hard-bitten gumshoe and the little old lady cosy crime-solver - it takes a number of crazy twists which swerve into science fiction. Honestly I would just recommend reading this book, it's worth it!

I’m ambivalent about this.
Ever since being scooped in by the title “Quite Ugly One Morning” I’ve enjoyed Chris Brookmyre’s novels hugely and I was really looking forward to reading “The Cracked Mirror”. And I did enjoy it quite a lot.
His writing style rollicks along without giving me too much time to criticise. Still, I was taken aback by the juxtaposition of a Miss Marple kind of character with the hardbitten LAPD Detective type and at first the contrast in styles jarred a bit. But when he got them together it all became much more believable and if the multitude of murders was confusing it was in a good way. And the action was fast and furious and the plot was very interesting. The interactions between the elderly Scottish Miss Marple lookalike and the tough but tragic LAPD type were brilliantly worked out and developed and very satisfying.
The twist though; (It’s hard to say much about this without spoiling) because of the kind of material I often read, this became obvious to me about halfway through the story and after that I was waiting to see if I was right and also if and how it was going to work and if it was going to be as surprising as the book had been this far. And, well, I was right and it did work and now I’m not sure if my very slight dissatisfaction with the whole book was just because I wanted what I was used to or if it was actually all a bit fragmented and unconvincing (Which, in fact, I think it was supposed to be) and, once it became clear that I was right about the twist, not very surprising. Or maybe it wasn’t fragmented and unconvincing enough?
Well, I’m ambivalent about it. I enjoyed reading it but I was a bit disappointed with the final denoument. But that could be because it’s attached to a trope I’ve read an awful lot of. And while I think Chris Brookmyre is one of the absolute best at slightly broken and twisty detective characters this just wasn’t as good as the best of the particular genre that came with the twist. And it could also be because it wasn’t the Brookmyre I was expecting so probably my failure not his.
I recommend it anyway because it’s definitely different and I think a lot of people would enjoy it.

Thanks to NetGalley, publishers and author for an ARC of The Cracked Mirror.

This story follows three main protagonists with what seems to be three separate stories, until they're not. An enjoyable mystery and storyline, my only negative is regarding the high volume of characters to keep track of. If reading again I would take more care and possibly take notes!

Recommend reading, I will be looking for other works by this author.

DNF at 31%
I got so bored of this book. There’s literally nothing to keep my interest and attention in it.
I liked the initial idea for the book but it’s taking waaaay to long for some action to take place for this sort of book.

Hands up - I am a huge Christopher Brookmyre fan and have been for decades, so maybe I am a tiny bit influenced by my fandom. Being as objective as possible, however, I really loved this book! The relationship between Penny and Johnny was believable and enjoyable. The plot was intricate and intriguing. I must confess I was wracking my brains trying to figure out the connections between the different families but I could not have guessed what was really going on. I think if the writing hadn’t been so entertaining and gripping I may have lost my way and got a bit bored, but the author keeps the pace going and develops all the characters so well. There are a lot of characters to keep up with! I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves a thriller with humour, and likes to expect the unexpected!

As usual in my reviews, I will not rehash the plot or publisher's blurb - but instead highly recommend that you read this for yourself if (like me) you are fan of convoluted mystery stories!

This book has gone straight to the top of my favourite reads this year. I was initially mystified by what was going on - as there are several different threads and stories taking place at the same time...

The characters are well written - the main protagonists being effectively stereotypes in the classic "Miss Marple cosy spinster sleuth" and a "Bosch style" maverick American detective. If you've read any novels featuring those types of characters before, you feel as though you already know them. There's also an interesting and wide-ranging cast of supporting characters running through the strands - some of whom exhibit eerie similarities...

Just when I thought I'd figured out what was going on, the story twisted, then twisted again, with a final twist that left me wondering... (though I'd kind of vaguely picked up on earlier in the book, but in that "back of my mind" way!)

In short, I really enjoyed this novel - recommended for fans of twisty-turny tales! Now planning to examine the author's other works...

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC. All opinions my own.

Of course, the plot is twisted and almost beyond credibility, but the two characters who come together- a Miss Marple type, older prescient woman who can read every clue and every face for the truth, and a tough LA cop/detective with the requisite heart of gold, despite illegal ways of getting at the heart of the matter by any means - meet up on what turns out to be the same case - and that encounter is what makes this book unusual. Told with wit and quick allusions to the stereotypes of the characters makes their working together authentic. It work seamlessly in fact. We kind of discover why in the final twist [I won’t reveal but it has to do with reality] so the plot is overly complex, and keeps evolving until the last sentence - but it’s hard to follow eventually - {and I finally just gave up] - I just focused on the characters and that was sufficiently engaging. A good exercise in character exploration of distinct types in world of detective fiction - and that was fun in itself. He’s ver adept!

If you’re looking for a crime thriller with a difference, The Cracked Mirror is definitely it! I’m a fan of Scottish author Chris Brookmyre and his unique and humorous approach the crime novels. The Cracked Mirror absolutely ticks those boxes while throwing an extra surprise into the mix.

I’ll start off by saying that you need to pay attention! As well as there being three very separate storylines (that merge together eventually) in play, there are a lot of characters in the mix and when some of them are not who they seem / who you first think they are, things can get confusing!

So, our main characters are… Ms Penelope (Penny) Coyne from Perthshire, Scotland and Johnny Hawke from LA, America. They are representations of the two distinct types of detectives that pop up in fiction and seeing the way their relationship develops is a truly lovely part of this read.

The Cracked Mirror is a perfect title for this book as the plot does splinter in many directions. For starters, The Cracked Mirror is a novel by a character in the book, and that level of reference sets the scene well.

It was an intriguing but confounding novel in which each chapter seemed to belong to a completely different book.

I can’t go into the many plot details here but things are kicked off when Johnny notices a pattern of apparent suicides that he thinks are, in fact, murders. His path crosses with Penny’s at a society wedding at Crathie Hall, in Scotland and from there, things ramp up.

From the unexpected suicide of a bride, to a mysterious screenwriter no-one can track down to a tech whizz-kid with a secret, there is a lot happening but its all so cleverly done and weaves together in a brilliant way you will not see coming. Which is the very best feeling.

The blending of the two (opposite) detective types is done so well, I loved all the nods to both sides of detective fiction – the gritty and the classic. The Cracked Mirror is a truly clever, funny, engrossing read – definitely a breath of fresh air in the crime genre.

A long and very cryptic book, told from the POV of 2 crime solvers, one in the US and one in Scotland. The links are not apparent until well into the book. There is lots of action and quite a few people end up dead, the reasons for which ar quite complicated. I was all for not finishing this book, it did not really hook me in until about half way through the book. At almost 500 pages, that is a lot of reading ! I was intrigued about what was goging on though and did not expect the outcome. There are a lot of characters to keep in your mind, though I did get to the stage where I concentrated mostly on the main ones in the plot, this to avoid too much confusion about who was who.
Not a bad read, but not an easy read either. Perhaps slightly more LA police dept rather than Agatha Christie.
Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC

What happens when a hard-bitten LA cop and a little old lady who solves murders in her small village collide? Well, a completely brain fuddling murder mystery that's what - and I mean that in a good way. The Cracked Mirror of the title is a screenplay, which seems to have lead to several deaths, which the authorities think are suicides, but Johnny Hawke and Penny Coyne are not convinced and end up investigating their separate cases - which soon collide. And lots of other things are colliding in this too - it's really hard to explain without giving too much away, but I did enjoy it, once I had time and brain space to concentrate on it so that I could follow what was going on. But it is definitely not a straight-down-the-line crime or mystery novel and I know the blurb says that, but I really cannot emphasise that enough.

2.5⭐️⭐️⭐️



✨Mystery
✨ Psychological thriller
✨ slow paced



✨ I got to admit. I don’t like the story.
Everytime I put my time and effort to read, it makes me confuse . I then tried to download the audiobook and it makes me confuse even more.
I guess it’s a good book to others but this is not my cup of tea.

✨ Thankyou for the opportunity to read this arc for a honest review .


🫶🏼shaye.reads

A thoroughly enjoyable whodunnit with a unique twist. If you imagine Marple meets Bosch you’d be on the right lines. Quality writing with a very clever plot. This was my first Brookmyre novel that has immediately led me to his backlist. Great stuff.
My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own unbiased opinion.