Smoke & Mirrors by Skye Jordan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



An illusion delivers the real deal. It's easy to get lost in the suspense of Smoke & Mirrors. Logan and Isabel take emotions on an adventure that's shrouded in mystery and laced with desire. A maze of unpredictability becomes a temptingly, dangerous romance. Sizzling attraction, never-ending twists and explosive chemistry. A rapturous game of the heart that is a thriller with a capital T.







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Relics and Curiosities Square for Halloween Bingo!

Ritchie Naughton's life is falling apart.  After returning home on a break from work one afternoon, he discovers his long-time girlfriend in bed with a football player.  The shock triggers a heart condition that Ritchie never knew about.  After all this, Ritchie makes a decision to move back to New Jersey and into his sister's basement. Ritchie finally he  finds a job as a staff photographer at a local paper.  The paper has an older camera for Ritchie to use, and is only inscribed with the name Denlax.  Along with his newspaper gig, Ritchie reluctantly agrees to work for his uncle in order to provide picture proof of his aunt's infidelity.  With this side gig, Ritchie finds that the camera produces disturbing images of other worlds.  Soon, the Denlax drags Ritchie into a dangerous world with extreme consequences.

In the House of Mirrors is a slow-burning horror that sucked me in with great characters and a unique plot.  From the beginning, I never quite knew which way the book would take me and that made me keep reading.  All of the characters, human and otherwise were thoroughly created.  The camera itself was the most intriguing, bringing is elements of horror, supernatural, and the occult.  The mystery of the Denlax kept me guessing as the pictures with imperfections soon showed separate worlds and beings that moved within the picture, sort of like an otherworldly camera obscura.  I loved the history behind the camera and the story that was passed down along with it.  As Ritchie learned about the camera, he began to change, but not as I would have suspected.  The pieces started to fall together as the story wrapped up and the horror, suspense and gruesomeness of the acts that the camera precipitated.   Overall, an intense and different horror read.

 

I just loved this from beginning to end. As someone else said, I love it when Christie provides a diagram to show where a murder is. It's like you have your own game of Clue to play. Miss Marple is still the sharpest knife in the drawer. I can't say that I saw the ending at all. I was leaning towards one way and then found out I was wrong. The ending leaves things on a nice note for several of the characters. 

Miss Marple is asked to go visit an old school friend, Carrie Louise Serrocold. Carrie's sister thinks something is wrong at her home and can't figure out what is going on. Carrie's second husband, Lewis Serrocold has turned their home into a school for wayward (or as someone people say straight criminals) boys. Since Miss Marple has something of a reputation for solving crimes, Carrie's sister thinks she can figure out what is going on there or if she's just wrong about something going on.

Miss Marple heads to visit Carrie and quickly figures out there is a lot going on. A young man named Edgar Lawson is running around accusing others of spying on him and that his father is really Winston Churchill. Two of Carrie's step-sons, Steven Restarick, Alexis Restarick seem to be in love with Carrie's granddaughter, Gina. Too bad Gina is newly married to American Walter. And then Carrie's only living daughter believes that Gina's married beneath her and that Walter is up to something. When one of the trustees of Carrie's first husband's foundation is found shot to death during an argument everyone wonders who could have done it. 

Christie I thought did a great job of setting the stage so to speak. I definitely didn't know who did what or could have done it. Miss Marple I thought was great about realizing in the end that she was looking at things wrong. As a reader, I realized I was too.

The writing was okay though the flow was a bit much in some places. I think that things moved faster when Miss Marple was involved in any of the goings on.

The setting of Stonygates felt like a very worn house. You have Miss Marple and even Walter seeing how badly run down things are even though there is enough money to fix the place up. It feels like a place out of time when you read about how little Carrie and her husband seem to care about the grounds and the rooms. 

The ending was a bit rushed though. We read about what happens via a letter that someone sends to someone else which I thought was a bit of a cop-out. I would have liked to read it via Miss Marple's POV I think. 

So satisfying. I definitely had no clue about who done it and thought this was great. It was a locked room mystery in a way in the end with the resolution.

Now up to date!

Well I wonder who is behind the one murder and poisoning. I never did read this before and I wonder why I didn't. Anyone this is a very good Miss Marple and I love that Christie included a drawing to show the location of the murder and where a fight was also going on at the same time.