Mirror Image: A Novel by Michael Scott and Melanie Ruth Rose

Mirror Image: A Novel
by Michael Scott and Melanie Ruth Rose
On Sale Date: August 23, 2016
Adult Fiction, Horror
Tor Books, 352 pages
Source: Hardcover from Publisher
My Rating: 4 Stars
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A mirror that feeds on human souls wreaks destruction on those around it in this new novel from internationally bestselling author Michael Scott and Melanie Ruth Rose
In an auction house in London, there is a mirror no one will buy. Standing seven feet tall and reaching four feet across, its size makes it unusual. Its horrific powers make it extraordinary. For centuries, the mirror has fed off of the lives of humans, giving them agonizing deaths and sucking their souls into its hellish world.

When Jonathan Frazer, the wealthy owner of a furniture and antiques shop in Los Angeles, buys the mirror at an auction, he believes he is getting the bargain of a lifetime. With its age and size, it is easily worth eight times what he paid for it. At this point, the mirror has sat dormant for years. But within days of Jonathan's purchase, the deaths begin again. One employee is crushed when the mirror falls on top of him. A few days later, the corpse of another is found in front of the mirror, brutally stabbed. A third is burned beyond all recognition. All the while, an enormous man with a scarred face is following Jonathan, demanding that he give him the mirror and killing any police officer that gets in his way.

The police are becoming desperate. As the death toll rises, Jonathan himself becomes a suspect. He knows there is something wrong with the mirror. He knows it's dangerous. But he cannot bring himself to get rid of it. Everyday he becomes more captivated by the mirror.

For the mirror is awakening, and its powers are resurfacing.

What happens when a young antique dealer unknowingly purchases a possessed mirror that feeds on human souls and brings it home for some lovingly refinishing before selling it? Well, lots of no good for sure!

This is the story of an antique mirror and the dark, evil that resides inside it. Like a portal to another realm, Mirror Image takes our worst fears about mirrors and bad luck and all things superstitious, giving readers a story that is sure to make them carefully trespass around them, all the while making us glance from the corners of our eyes just to make sure nothing is really wrong. 

I devoured this in one night. I also had just moved my large antique dresser and mirror set in my room, which now faced my reading area. So, I was constantly trying not to look in that direction. I was scared, lol, but could not put the book down. 

The story has some of my favorite trademarks of horror with tons of increasingly built up tension as accidents increase and the body toll does as well. This mirror is a mean bastard and devious. It feeds on blood, intense feelings, and sex. So, things got dirty in more ways than one. It was like a horror movie with a pace that just got deadlier and intense as I went along.

Many of the characters who come across the mirror do a complete personality change and it is these slow changes that really haunt you. Seemingly innocent or pacifistic characters became you worst nightmare. 

Authors Scott and Rose weave in some interesting flashbacks dating to the time of Queen Elizabeth and John Dee, her famous spy and advisor, to the mirror's history and links to ritual magic. The eventual awakening of the mirror, its subsequent need to be fed, and the ever increasing danger all make this an easy page turner. 

One thing that threw me off is, as the story progresses and the danger increased, there were a few instances where the danger came from other sources rather than said antique mirror - a reflection in a puddle, hotel mirror, and even in an elevator, which took away some of the scare factor and (suspended) believability. Still, it was well done and oozed plenty of fear factor!

Recommended to daring readers of horror for sheer, scary entertainment value. Mirror Image is chilling. Its need to be fed disturbing - you'll not walk past a mirror so casually for a while.