⭐️⭐️⭐️ three stars -
Well, well… what to say about this book? I had a hard time deciding whether or not I was going to demote this one to two stars due to the atrocious ending, but I did conclude that I would leave it at the three stars it deserves…
Given the fact that I will be discussing the ending here later, I did decide to hide this review due to spoilers, which I really don’t like doing normally, but since there’s no way to quickly churn out a review without including any spoilers here, I did decide to hide my review so as not to impede upon your enjoyment of this story in case you do decide to read it yourself, so here goes…
Overall, a fairly unique, out-of-the box romantic murder suspense that I did read all the way through; almost in one sitting. I did enjoy the mystery of the whodunnit plot, and my brain was engaged throughout in trying to unravel the mystery. I mostly enjoyed the depth of the secondary characters and their contributions to the overall murder mystery.
Readers should keep in mind that this novel was originally published back in 1990. There are attitudes, slang, and character actions that would not be accepted today. While some of these phrases were shocking for this reader to see in print, other readers should know that late twentieth century mores are included here, and should decide to adjust accordingly, or skim these sections if it makes you uncomfortable.
This novel requires a suspension of disbelief given the nature of the main plot point - our heroine’s complete cosmetic surgery transformation. Brown skillfully gets us to this point, and the enjoyment of this novel comes from this out-of-the box idea. In general, the build up of the story is really quite good and most masterfully plotted. The reader just goes with this unbelievable plot action because you have to in order to carry on with the story, but that’s what makes it so fun to read! Truly master world building at this point, and I enjoyed this aspect.
What I didn’t enjoy was a specific character. I am fairly new to Brown, but I have surmised enough that her writing style tends to include a trashy character. I will say in Brown’s favor, though, that these full-on trashy characters are always well drawn, and their character description is well enough to give you a clear picture. Maybe too clear.
Here in “Mirror Image” this trashy character is our Hero’s niece, Fancy. I absolutely hated her. Fancy is described as a spoiled, privileged teen; complete with a brand new sports car, a flashy wardrobe, the morals of an alley cat, and Daddy’s credit card. Besides being the town tramp, her claim to fame is her cruelty to a child.
I absolutely could not stand her nastiness toward an innocent child, (Mandy, our Hero’s daughter) and could not understand why anyone let her be around a troubled young child that she couldn’t be compassionate toward. Fancy was just too awful for me. She needed a good slap and an std test. Way too trashy to me, and she’s the main reason this lost a star.
Besides my burning dislike of this secondary character and any scenes that included her toxicity, I truly hated the pulled from nowhere, convoluted, misguided ending.
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* the following includes the reason this review is hidden *
What in the heck was up with the introduction of neo-Nazis at the eleventh hour? It wholly appeared to this reader that this aspect was just thrown in there for shock value, which was in no way needed.
The reader is already at the shock value threshold with the inclusion of this fantastical plot and its sci-fi identity switching, The story did not in any way benefit from more shock and awe.
To top it all off, Brown then got herself caught between a rock and a hard place with this outrageous addition into the plot. She then proceeded to write paragraphs of intricate explanations as to how this all happened. It came off as straw grabbing and while you could appreciate the fact that most people would have difficulty writing themselves out of a corner like that, Brown does pull it off 💁♀️.
* end included spoiler *
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Overall, I’m not sure if I would recommend this suspenseful romantic thriller. It might be worth a read for the unique plot point of mistaken identity alone, and the unique sci-fi plot inclusion inside a romantic suspense.
Fans of Brown seem to like this one. I personally didn’t entirely care for it, would never read it again, and might or might not read Brown again. At least not until I thoroughly scour reviews first. I’m just not enjoying the trash factor here, personally 🤷♀️.
Three stars. Read at your own peril.