The Girl in the Mirror is the debut novel from Rose Carlyle. Summer and Iris are identical twins, but Iris has always lived in her twin’s shadow. While Iris is cynical and rather insecure, Summer seemingly has the perfect life and is loved by all. When their philandering father dies he leaves the majority of his vast fortune to whoever is the first of his many children to bear a child and continue the Carmichael line. While Iris and Summer both outwardly commit to wanting to marry for love and not money, are they both being honest; is a multi-million pound inheritance worth a compromise? When a sailing trip goes disastrously wrong, Iris has the opportunity to have the life she has always envied, and maybe the opportunity to ‘win’ the inheritance.
I read the ‘sneak peek’ of Girl in the Mirror and found it enthralling. However I was quite disappointed by the full novel. The plot has a passing resemblance to Sarah Michelle Geller’s less famous TV series Ringer, with the dialogue being of about the same quality.
I enjoyed the basic premise of this psychological thriller; twins who are identical on the outside, but very different inside, but it failed to deliver as a whole.
The start is a little slow, but necessary to give the reader the twin’s family background. I also liked having Iris as the sole narrator. While this means you only get to know Summer through Iris’s eyes, I enjoyed this aspect and trying to work out just how reliable Iris was as a narrator. However, at times the plot becomes totally unbelievable. While it can be argued many plots are unrealistic as, after all we often read to escape, there is a limit to how far disbelief can be suspended. The dialogue is also frequently quite clunky, and there is little character development with some being mere cliches. There is one character who at times I imagined twirling a big moustache like an archetypal villain. I did however like the use of young child Tarquin to give hints as to the truth of the tale
Rose Carlyle states that she is a huge fan of sailing and that is clear in the novel. However, the level of detail used, while adding authenticity to how Iris is handling the yacht, can take the reader out of the actual story as the detail is often far too technical.
Nevertheless, despite all the flaws, the end of the book totally threw me. While I had found the plot quite predictable throughout, the final chapter turned it all on its head and improved the rest of the book immensely.
I read the ‘sneak peek’ of Girl in the Mirror and found it enthralling. However I was quite disappointed by the full novel. The plot has a passing resemblance to Sarah Michelle Geller’s less famous TV series Ringer, with the dialogue being of about the same quality.
I enjoyed the basic premise of this psychological thriller; twins who are identical on the outside, but very different inside, but it failed to deliver as a whole.
The start is a little slow, but necessary to give the reader the twin’s family background. I also liked having Iris as the sole narrator. While this means you only get to know Summer through Iris’s eyes, I enjoyed this aspect and trying to work out just how reliable Iris was as a narrator. However, at times the plot becomes totally unbelievable. While it can be argued many plots are unrealistic as, after all we often read to escape, there is a limit to how far disbelief can be suspended. The dialogue is also frequently quite clunky, and there is little character development with some being mere cliches. There is one character who at times I imagined twirling a big moustache like an archetypal villain. I did however like the use of young child Tarquin to give hints as to the truth of the tale
Rose Carlyle states that she is a huge fan of sailing and that is clear in the novel. However, the level of detail used, while adding authenticity to how Iris is handling the yacht, can take the reader out of the actual story as the detail is often far too technical.
Nevertheless, despite all the flaws, the end of the book totally threw me. While I had found the plot quite predictable throughout, the final chapter turned it all on its head and improved the rest of the book immensely.