Review of "Mirror Image" by Kay Brooks

Score: 92/100 (9.2 out of 10)

Some houses are creepy because they creak.
Some houses are creepy because they have ghosts.

And then there are houses like the one in Mirror Image, which seem to inhale the second you walk in and quietly decide they are not done with the past yet.

Kay Brooks gives us a romantic suspense novel with a strong haunted-house hook, a murder mystery simmering in the background, and a heroine who finds herself staring into the face of a ghost who looks disturbingly, impossibly like her. That is a good pitch. A very good pitch. And thankfully, the book understands that it has a juicy premise and leans into it.

The story opens with a nasty jolt: a killer dumping a young woman’s body on the side of the road, establishing early that this is not just going to be a cozy tour through antiques and old family secrets. This has to be one of the better openings in this contest, but can the author keep up the momentum?

From there, the book shifts into the orbit of the White house, a grand old property in Edmondsville, Virginia, that practically becomes a character in its own right. The early descriptions of the mansion, its polished beauty, its antique-filled rooms, and its odd, unsettled atmosphere do a lot of heavy lifting and pull the reader in fast. Brooks clearly enjoys this setting, and that enthusiasm comes through on the page.

One of this book's greatest selling points is also one of its biggest weaknesses. It seems to stretch itself too thin and, as a result, really becomes clunky and meandering.

This is part ghost story, part romantic suspense, part family-secret mystery, and part small-town danger story. Abby Adams and TJ Bennett have the familiar bickering, history-soaked chemistry that romance readers tend to eat up, and the novel benefits from that built-in emotional tension. They already know each other. They already push each other’s buttons. So when the emotional temperature rises, it feels earned enough to keep the romance moving.

To be perfectly honest, the relationship between Abby & TJ got on our nerves. We get that the author/narrative is trying to establish that there are stakes with a mortal danger potentially lurking over Abby. Obviously, when you love someone, you don't want them to get horribly murdered by, well, a murderer.

However, Abby & TJ often feel less like a swoon-worthy romantic pairing and more like two people trapped in an endless cycle of irritation, stubbornness, and repetitive friction. There is a difference between tension and chemistry, and this book does not always land on the right side of that line. At times, their dynamic feels more draining than exciting, as if the novel keeps circling the same emotional beats without quite deepening them in a satisfying way.

That does not mean the relationship is without value. Their shared history, family closeness, and mutual concern at least give the romance some foundation, which is more than can be said for a lot of thinner suspense novels that force attraction out of nowhere. But for us, Abby & TJ were more of a functional couple than a compelling one. They help move the story along, yet they are not the main reason this book works. Ok, let's be blunt: we didn't really care for the relationship between these two characters. They were like a commercial break to the more interesting and exciting things in this book.

As an aside, when it came to her relationship with TJ, Abby was really frustrating and annoying. There were times when she went from your standard "I love you" partner to entering this passive aggressive, I'm-hiding-something/I-don't-want-to-talk-to-you-and-solve-this-easily mode. Yes, it makes Abby seem a bit more human, but it also made her come across as frustrating and annoying.

Frankly, the haunted-house mystery, the eerie resemblance between Abby and Isabella, and the slow uncovering of the house’s buried secrets were much more compelling than the romance. Those elements gave the novel its real pulse. The relationship was there. It served a purpose. But the ghostly family mystery is what actually made us want to keep turning pages.

More importantly, the supernatural angle actually gives the book its identity. Isabella is not just some decorative ghost floating around in the wallpaper for vibes. She matters. Her resemblance to Abby gives the novel a strong central mystery, and her emotional connection to the house, to Anthony, and eventually to Abby herself gives the story a surprisingly tender core beneath the suspense machinery. There are moments where Isabella comes across as protective, mischievous, and even touching, and those moments help the novel stand out from more generic romantic suspense fare.

We also liked that the book is not content to give readers only one mystery thread. There is the present-day danger, the missing assistant, the strange artifacts and hidden clues in the house, the buried history of Isabella and Anthony, and the larger question of how Abby fits into all of it. That gives the novel momentum. There is usually something happening, something being discovered, or something being threatened. The story has enough moving parts to keep readers engaged.

That said, this is also where the book gets a little messy.

At times, Mirror Image feels like it is trying to be several books at once. Haunted-house mystery. Romance. Serial killer thriller. Generational secret saga. Missing manuscript intrigue. Hidden attic menace. It is all interesting, but not all of it is equally sharp. Some threads feel stronger than others, and the book occasionally gives the impression that it is more excited about opening doors than closing them. Readers who prefer a very tight, highly polished mystery with crisp payoffs everywhere may find this one a little overextended.

The prose itself is solidly readable and often effective, especially in descriptive passages involving the house, the antiques, and the ghostly atmosphere. Brooks is best when she is letting the setting breathe or allowing the emotional eeriness of Abby’s connection to Isabella to take center stage. On the other hand, some dialogue and transitions can feel a bit familiar or slightly melodramatic, and the book does not always trim as ruthlessly as it could. A little tightening here and there would have made the suspense hit even harder.

Still, there is something undeniably appealing about this novel. It has heart. It has intrigue. It has a big old house full of secrets. It has a heroine pulled toward a mystery she can feel in her bones. It has a love story with enough friction to keep it lively. And perhaps most importantly, it has that page-turner quality where you want to know what is in the attic, who is hiding what, what the ghost knows, and whether Abby is walking toward answers or straight into disaster.

We would call Mirror Image a satisfying and promising series opener. It may not be flawless, and it does leave a sense that there is more waiting around the corner, but it absolutely has enough atmosphere, mystery, and romantic tension to justify a strong score. Readers who enjoy haunted estates, family secrets, protective ghosts, and romantic suspense with a paranormal edge should have a very good time here.

This is the kind of book that knows an old house is never just an old house. Sometimes it is a crime scene. Sometimes it is a love story. Sometimes it is a grave that has not finished speaking. And in Mirror Image, it is all three.

One last thing we really would've loved is for the main criminal in this book to actually face full justice and for the mystery to be fully resolved. We get that the author wanted to create a series with a sequel. Ok. But... there's so much build-up in this book. There's so much will-they/won't-they. There's so much whodunit. It's so... drawn out. You can't (or shouldn't) build up all of this only to leave us on a cliffhanger. We honestly felt a bit cheated and unsatisfied by that.

Still, this was still a book that did a lot right.

Check it out on Amazon!