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Book Review: The Mirror by Deborah A Stansil

10/5/2017

4 Comments

 
Picture
When Amy's daughter, Lily, spots an old mirror in a local antiques shop she immediately falls in love with it. Seeing her daughter so infatuated Amy can't resist buying it for her, esspecially as it is such a bargain price for a beautiful antique.

But once they get the home Amy starts to feel uneasy about the mirror. She can't quite put her finger on it but something is off. Lily clearly loves it so she pushes the thoughts aside. But as Lily's behaviour starts to dramatically change and tension in their once happy home rises, Amy wonders if it is just coincidence, or if the mirror really was such a good deal after all.
This story really reminded me of old school Stephen King with a Christine meets Needful Things vibe going on. I really felt for Amy as she struggled to make others believe her and the frustration when she couldn't prove her suspicions about Lily's behavioural transformation. I've read other possessed mirror plots such as Graham Masterton's Mirror but I liked how in this story the mirror reflected your own desires, with a rather creepy twist.

The book is a self published short story and easily read in a couple of hours which was the perfect length to tell this tale which teaches us how family secrets can potentially tear happiness apart (especially if you own a satanic mirror). I feel the writing style of this author is still developing and there were moments where there was far too much description of what Amy was physically doing, often in the kitchen, which interrupted the flow of the narrative but it didn't stop me enjoying the story.

The ending I'm on the fence about. It felt a bit too saccharine and wrapped up with a bow but I freely admit I kinda like books to leave a little more carnage in their wake (which I know sounds awful!) but it feels more realistic. On the other hand I felt this somehow fitted the horror short story genre which often dips you into a fleeting situation then quickly brings you out the other side unscathed. Almost as if you dreamt it.

Overall an enjoyable quick read from a promising author 3.5/5

You can download The Mirror on Kindle for a bargain. You can find out more about Deborah's fiction on her blog My Random Musings
Linking up to #readwithme#triedtested and #brillblogposts

Post contains affiliate links
4 Comments
Sarah MumofThree World link
22/5/2017 10:52:10 am

This sounds interesting, but probably not really my cup of tea! I like my stories to be around 400 pages long, so I can really get into them. I would also say I don't like horror, although I have just enjoyed Stephen King's Bazaar of Bad Dreams, which was both horror and short stories!

Reply
chantelle hazelden
22/5/2017 03:48:40 pm

Like the sound of this especially being a shorter story as I need something that will fit in to the busy times. Thanks for linking up with #readwithme

Reply
Random Musings link
22/5/2017 03:54:15 pm

Thank you for the lovely review! I'm really glad you enjoyed the story. I have to admit I like a dark ending myself but it just wouldn't have worked with this story - some of my others have some pretty gruesome endings though lol :)
Debbie

Reply
Shell Louise link
23/5/2017 08:24:22 pm

I think I'd enjoy reading this story, it sounds just my cup of tea!

Reply



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    Artist, Baker and Blogger. Mum to my two beautiful, cheeky girls. Muddling my way through parenthood with equally cheeky Husband. 

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