Thriller
The Girl in the Mirror
Debut
We love supporting debut authors. Congrats, Rose Carlyle, on your first book!
Quick take
For the suspense superfans, a twin assumes the life of her perfect sister in a race to win her father’s fortune.
Good to know
Psychological
Family drama
Snarky
Sexual Content
Synopsis
Twin sisters Iris and Summer are startlingly alike, but beyond what the eye can see lies a darkness that sets them apart. Cynical and insecure, Iris has long been envious of Summer’s seemingly never-ending good fortune, including her perfect husband Adam.
Called to Thailand to help her sister sail the family yacht to the Seychelles, Iris nurtures her own secret hopes for what might happen on the journey. But when she unexpectedly finds herself alone in the middle of the Indian Ocean, everything changes. When she makes it to land, Iris allows herself to be swept up by Adam, who assumes that she is Summer.
Iris recklessly goes along with his mistake. Not only does she finally have the golden life she’s always envied, with her sister gone, she’s one step closer to the hundred-million-dollar inheritance left by her manipulative father. All Iris has to do is be the first of his seven children to produce an heir.
Iris’s “new” life lurches between glamorous dream and paranoid nightmare. On the edge of being exposed, how far will she go to ensure no one discovers the truth?
And just what did happen to Summer on the yacht? Only Iris knows...
Content warning
This book contains some sexual content that some readers may find upsetting.
Free sample
Get an early look from the first pages of The Girl in the Mirror.
The Girl in the Mirror
Prologue
For the first twelve days of our life, we were one person. Our father’s brains and our mother’s beauty swirled into one blessed embryo, the sole heir to the Carmichael fortune.
On the thirteenth day, we split. It was almost too late. One more day and the split would have been incomplete. Summer and I would have been conjoined twins, perhaps sharing major organs, facing a choice between a lifetime shackled together and a surgical separation that might have left us maimed.
As it was, our rupture was imperfect. We might look identical, more than most twins, but we’re mirror twins, mirror images of each other. The minute asymmetries in my sister’s face—her fuller right cheek, her higher right cheekbone—are reproduced in my face on the left side. Other people can’t see the difference, but when I look in the mirror, I don’t see myself. I see Summer.
When we were six years old, Dad took a sabbatical from Carmichael Brothers, and our family sailed up the east coast of Australia and into Southeast Asia. Our hometown, Wakefield, is the last safe place to swim before you enter croc territory, so Summer and I and our younger brother, Ben, spent a lot of time on that cruise playing inside our yacht.
I loved everything about Bathsheba. She was a custom-built sloop, her sleek aluminum hull fitted out with the best timbers—teak decks, oak cabinetry—but what I loved most of all was the ingenious double mirror in the bathroom. The builder had set two mirrors into a corner at right angles, with such care that I could scarcely discern the line of intersection. When I looked squarely at either one of these mirrors, I saw Summer, as usual. But when I stared between them, past that line, into the corner, I saw a nonreversed image. I saw my true self.
Why I love it
Megan Goldin
Author, The Night Swim
On the day my novel The Night Swim was released back in August, the city where I live in Australia was put under the toughest lockdown in the world. So it was a wonderful escape to immerse myself in the pages of The Girl in the Mirror and travel vicariously through its characters—from the beaches of tropical northern Australia, to the translucent Andaman Sea in Thailand (one of my favorite travel destinations), all the way to the Seychelles.
But if luxurious travel alone isn't enough to make you snag this book, then let's talk about the plot. Identical twin sisters Iris and Summer are mirror images of each other, but while Iris has no marriage prospects, Summer has a gorgeous (not to mention wealthy) husband. When Summer disappears in a freak yachting accident, Iris poses as her sister by pretending that she (Iris) was the twin who had gone overboard. Why? Because their millionaire father has offered his $100 million inheritance to the first married daughter to produce an heir. And now, living as Summer, Iris is one step closer.
Throw into the mix a too-good-to-be-true husband with unexpected sexual fetishes and a missing person case on the high seas, and you have all the ingredients of a twisted and compulsively readable domestic suspense story. When reality gets you down, a jet-setting thriller is the ultimate escape, and that’s why I loved this novel.
Member ratings (22,339)
Natalie R.
Windermere, FL
THE. ENDING. I read this book in two sittings and wow, I can’t stop thinking about the ending! Sibling rivalry and the lengths people will go for money. A quick read with unexpected twists. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Emileigh C.
Vestavia Hills, AL
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Short, sweet, and SNARKY- my favorite! I loved the twists and turns; it was thought provoking, but not scary. I devoured this book! I am looking forward to more books from Rose Carlyle!
Amanda S.
Cedar Grove, WI
Thoroughly distraught by this book. Just finished it and in complete shock. As soon as i thought i had the twist, it threw me. The ending was a total shock. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for totally stumping me.
Devon F.
Clermont, FL
One of the best I’ve read in awhile! You’re “in” on the life secret Iris is trying to keep, reeling about how she can make it can last forever. As I read the LAST SENTENCE I was like “what?!” So good!
Barbara R.
Pewaukee, WI
Books about sibling rivalry are always great but when the book is a thriller, it’s even better. If you’re like me and like to really “getting into character’s heads” while reading, you’ll love it.