The Book:
The Girl in the Mirror by Rose Carlyle, 2020
The Characters:
Twins Summer and Iris
Summer’s husband Adam
The Plot (from Goodreads):
Twin sisters Iris and Summer are startlingly alike, but beyond what the eye can see lies a darkness that sets them apart. Cynical and insecure, Iris has long been envious of Summer’s seemingly never-ending good fortune, including her perfect husband Adam.
Called to Thailand to help her sister sail the family yacht to the Seychelles, Iris nurtures her own secret hopes for what might happen on the journey. But when she unexpectedly finds herself alone in the middle of the Indian Ocean, everything changes. When she makes it to land, Iris allows herself to be swept up by Adam, who assumes that she is Summer.
Iris recklessly goes along with his mistake. Not only does she finally have the golden life she’s always envied, with her sister gone, she’s one step closer to the hundred-million-dollar inheritance left by her manipulative father. All Iris has to do is be the first of his seven children to produce an heir.
Iris’s “new” life lurches between glamorous dream and paranoid nightmare. On the edge of being exposed, how far will she go to ensure no one discovers the truth?
And just what did happen to Summer on the yacht? Only Iris knows…
The Twist:
Summer and Adam faked Summer’s death. Adam knew all along that Iris was impersonating Summer. Summer didn’t have a uterus, and therefore couldn’t have a baby.
Iris has the baby, and then Summer shows up to kill her. Summer implies that she will kill the baby once she has the money from the inheritance. Summer takes Iris to her father’s bridge to kill her–the perfect murder as no one will investigate since Iris is supposed to already be dead.
(I was convinced Adam was going to find out Iris’s identity when something went wrong with the baby and she needed to be operated on but her organs were on the wrong side.)
Ben shows up just in time and saves Iris by killing Summer. He had figured out Summer’s plan when he met up with Iris’s ex husband. Summer had shown Noah scans proving Iris had no uterus, when really they were her own scans.
The Ending:
It wasn’t Summer who Ben killed, it was Iris. Summer got her perfect life and lived on with Ben thinking she was Iris.
The Review:
I got this book a few months ago as my Book of the Month, but took a while to pick it up. I’ve seen such wildly differing reviews–people seem to either love or hate it, with nothing in between.
I am firmly in the “love” camp. I thought this book was written fantastically. It had all the elements of a great thriller–a fast pace, mounting suspense, and plenty of red herrings. I love the premise of mirror twins fighting each other and many other relatives for an inheritance–by racing to be the first to produce an heir, no less! I was able to mostly guess the ending, but it didn’t ruin the book for me as certain other twists were just as unexpected. The suspicion was the best part–everyone in the Carmichael family was up to something, trying to trick the others out of the fortune. No one could be trusted.
I loved the sailboat setting–it made me nostalgic for my own sailing trip around the islands of Croatia! What I would give to be able to travel there again right now. I didn’t mind the lengthy explanations of sailing terms, but I could see how those could be passages some people would skim.
I flew through The Girl in the Mirror and enjoyed every part of it.
This was a Book of the Month pick last month. Haven’t checked out Book of the Month yet? Use my code for $10 off your first box. (I get a $10 credit too, but that means more reviews for me to share with you!)
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