Community Reviews
The House of Mirrors by Erin Kelly doesn’t even wait until the first page to hook you, instead it reels you from the cover - “One of them has killed before. One of them will kill again.” And so begins the slow-burning but well-paced and intricately-plotted familial drama of the Clarke family.
• • •
The House of Mirrors is a very loose sequel to The Poison Tree but easily reads as a standalone. From the outside, the Clarke family appears to be a very normal family, as long as no one talks about the summer of ‘97 and what occurred at the Highgate House of Horrors. Karen has spent her entire adult life protecting daughter Alice from the family’s toxic past, but as Alice dives into adulthood, opening vintage boutique Dead Girl’s Dresses and taking the next steps with boyfriend Gabe, it quickly becomes obvious that Karen and Rex aren’t the only ones with skeletons in their closets. Told between alternating POVS, the race begins with Alice scrambling to uncover the truth, while Karen does everything to suppress it. Though the question remains… who already killed once and is willing to kill again?
• • •
I enjoyed the claustrophobia that sets in as Alice investigates the past while Karen worries that she may not be able to prevent Alice from unraveling the family’s sordid secrets and frets over the harm that may come Alice’s way. I don’t think there is anything more mentally crushing and confining than the anxiety of keeping a secret. Erin Kelly brings the gothic vibes with the house and the vintage clothes (anybody else imagine Emma Stone in Cruella?!). I especially loved the dark, moody atmosphere set against the backdrop of a sweltering English summer… the heat just adding to the claustrophobia. Oh.. and the epilogue? It was the ending I never knew I needed! Will there be a third in the Clarke family saga?
• • •
My second book by Erin Kelly, this one just as entertaining as the first, The Skeleton Key. Thrilled I was able to briefly meet Erin at the Theakston Crime Writing Festival and get my edition signed for my collection.
• • •
The House of Mirrors is a very loose sequel to The Poison Tree but easily reads as a standalone. From the outside, the Clarke family appears to be a very normal family, as long as no one talks about the summer of ‘97 and what occurred at the Highgate House of Horrors. Karen has spent her entire adult life protecting daughter Alice from the family’s toxic past, but as Alice dives into adulthood, opening vintage boutique Dead Girl’s Dresses and taking the next steps with boyfriend Gabe, it quickly becomes obvious that Karen and Rex aren’t the only ones with skeletons in their closets. Told between alternating POVS, the race begins with Alice scrambling to uncover the truth, while Karen does everything to suppress it. Though the question remains… who already killed once and is willing to kill again?
• • •
I enjoyed the claustrophobia that sets in as Alice investigates the past while Karen worries that she may not be able to prevent Alice from unraveling the family’s sordid secrets and frets over the harm that may come Alice’s way. I don’t think there is anything more mentally crushing and confining than the anxiety of keeping a secret. Erin Kelly brings the gothic vibes with the house and the vintage clothes (anybody else imagine Emma Stone in Cruella?!). I especially loved the dark, moody atmosphere set against the backdrop of a sweltering English summer… the heat just adding to the claustrophobia. Oh.. and the epilogue? It was the ending I never knew I needed! Will there be a third in the Clarke family saga?
• • •
My second book by Erin Kelly, this one just as entertaining as the first, The Skeleton Key. Thrilled I was able to briefly meet Erin at the Theakston Crime Writing Festival and get my edition signed for my collection.
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