FORGET WHAT YOU THINK YOU KNOW
THIS IS NOT THAT CRIME NOVEL

Ok so no spoilers, which makes this difficult to summarise; this is essentially multiple stories in one book, so we have the typical older lady sleuth detective who solves murders in a sleepy Scottish town: Penny Coyne and then we have the LAPD homicide detective Johnny Hawke who does what's necessary to get results, regardless of the trouble he gets in.

So our usual tropes, but this is not what you expect, yes their paths cross, but what happens then is not what you expect.

This is such a clever book, with so many layers, crossing multiple genres, but still has a lot of heart. Sometimes you're not sure who to trust or like, but I always had a soft spot for Penny and Johnny.

I absolutely loved that this was a fast paced book, and the way the story was told and unfolded. From the concept of the book to the execution this is a one of a kind book, that I'm still processing.

Yes there are a lot of characters, which would usually put me off, but they are so cleverly written, you only need to focus on the main characters and the plot.

This is my first time reading a Brookmyre book, but I'm certain it won't be the last.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC. 

To be honest, as I sit down to write this review I’ve absolutely no idea what’s going to come out of my fingers. ‘The Cracked Mirror’ is unlike anything I’ve ever read, and it made my head spin. It’s also one of those books that is impossible to review without being extremely vague, or do the genius plot justice.

The book description mentions a mix between Agatha Christie and Michael Connelly. And at the beginning of the story that is most definitely true. Penelope Coyne, who lives in a tiny village in Scotland that seems to have some kind of murder pandemic, is very reminiscent of Miss Marple. I adored her immediately. On the other side of the world, Jonathan Hawke is an LAPD detective who is quite possibly heavily inspired by Bosch. I must admit at that point I preferred Penny’s chapters. There are often instances where American settings just don’t seem to work for me, and whenever the story was set in Los Angeles, I couldn’t wait to get back to Scotland. 

Both of these characters are investigating apparent suicides. At some point, their paths will cross and without wanting to give anything away, let’s just say things go somewhere entirely unexpectedly. That moment when I realised what was going on, my jaw dropped and I needed a moment to absorb it all. What an incredibly clever and refreshing way to tell a crime story.

‘The Cracked Mirror’ is a book you should go into knowing as little as possible. I have a feeling it is most likely a story one will either love or not, not quite a middle way. Sure, some technicalities may have gone slightly over my head but I was hugely intrigued from start to finish, probably adding many frown lines to my forehead along the way, but happy to let the author lead me wherever it was he was going with this complex tale. These two characters couldn't possibly be more different from each other, yet somehow an unlikely kind of friendship is formed. And this is done so well that ... well, I can't really say but there might have been a tiny lump in my throat at some point. 

Do yourself a favour : go in blind and keep an open mind, dear readers. And you too might find this one thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining.

In The Cracked Mirror we have two worlds colliding as hard-bitten LA Homicide Detective, Johnny Hawke and elderly English amateur sleuth Penny Coyne have to come together to figure out whodunnit as they go down the rabbit hole to uncover secrets, lies and red herrings all whilst figuring out how on earth these worlds apart personalities are going to successfully work together.

The concept for this book was immediately intriguing - Agatha Christie meets Michael Connelly, ok let's give it a go! I did however, struggle to get into it and it took me a while to get used to the narrative voice and writing style, but once the story found its pace I came to enjoy it despite some of the plot contrivances and coincidences (which after finishing I came to appreciate their place in the plot).

I appreciated the unique set up - not many people can make a crime/crime hybrid novel but here we have a cosy golden age style crime mystery intermingling with a brutal American crime thriller and it works in many ways. It's so creative and different that despite my misgivings at the beginning I'm glad I continued. The settings and situations are vivid and effective and there really is some laugh out loud humour and it all wraps up with an inventive ending that I didn't see coming which I always appreciate.

If you're a mystery/crime/thriller fan I would encourage you to give this out of the ordinary, bonkers and fun book a read because I can pretty much guarantee it won't be like much else you've read.

3.5* 

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK | Abacus for a digital review copy of "The Cracked Mirror " in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

Two detectives stereotyped from Agatha Christie and Michael Connelly should not be in the same universe but what happens when they cross each other’s path? Well, murder!

Although it took me a while to read this, I liked the pace and intrigue of the book. It was nicely written in each style with lots of pondering about what was going on. The reveal of this was clever but a little bit of a let down. However, this didn’t stop the twists and turns at the end to give it an enjoyable and satisfying finish. 

Okay, So never have I found an opening line for a blurb more appropriate that this one. You really do need to forget what you think you know. I can't comment on any similarity (or otherwise) to that book as I haven't read it, but if you read the blurb you can already tell that this book is rather unique. It is the ultimate in genre mash ups. More mashed than the potato topping of a cottage pie. It is part cosy (hence the Agatha reference) part thriller (a la Connelly) and then with a little but of an unexpected twist that took me completely by surprise. I'm not going to lie. I did wonder quite where this book was going and how on earth the two worlds of the Miss Marple-esque Penny Coyne could ever become entwined with the all action world of renegade LAPD cop, Johnny Hawke, but entwined they were. And I loved it.

We are first alerted to Penny's mystery loving tendencies when faced with an unexplained death in her own village, but that is really just an aside, a prelude to the main tale, allowing us a glimpse into her quiet, occasionally scandal hit world. As for Johnny, his world is far more intense. The stakes far higher, his reputation for trouble ... Well, I'd say talk to a few of his former partners about that but they aren't in any position to dish the dirt anymore ... Their stories are told in an alternating format, not always religiously moving from one world to the next as the chapters change, but often enough that you never lose the thread of what is happening. So what happens to bring Johnny crashing into Penny's world, and just how do the pair end up at a high profile wedding at an exclusive estate in a very beautiful part of Scotland? Well, I'm not going to say too much about that but it does involve a couple of sudden deaths in their respective worlds that both Penny and Johnny deem very suspicious. It pushes the too together in a race to find the truth before they both end up on the wrong side of a pathologists chiller cabinet door.

I really did like the two main protagonists of Penny and Johnny. They are totally chalk and cheese. Penny prim and proper, the embodiment of good manners and decorum, and a librarian and book lover to boot. What's not to love? Johnny is a little more rough and ready. Quite ... abrupt and direct in his words and actions, earning him more than the odd admonishment from Penny. They absolutely, categorically, should not work as a team and yet they really do. It's an absurd pairing, and there is more than the odd moment where one or the other of them surprised me with their actions, Penny especially, whose past seems a little cloudy, like she is hiding something. Whether we will ever learn what that is before the end of the book, it is certainly intriguining and, in a very Miss Marple way, they wayin which she puts people at ease makes gaining insight into their lives quite a simple task for her, in a way that Johnny's more direct nature failed to achieve. But I like Johnny's direct nature. His determination to find out what is really happening, even if it is on his own dime.

There is a third thread to the story, one that crops up at varying intervals, its relevance to the main story unclear. But the more we learn, the more I understood. And the more I understood, the more I realise that this was no ordinary crime novel. Mash up or not, this one is very special. And to pull this off, Chris Brookmyre needed to fill his world with very vibrant and varied characters, something at which he is very adept. Everyone of the people that Penny and Johnny came into contact with added something new and exciting to the story. Sometimes they dropped those vital clues, ina. very Christie-esque, going to lead us to the big reveal kind of way, sometimes more subtly, introducing yet another possible suspect in a landscape already rich in dubious characters of variously nefarious intent.

I really enjoyed this book. Loved the wonderful array of settings and how the author used them to infuse the plot with either atmosphere or tension. The location also really determined the pace of the book, the more sedate scenes in the idyllic Scottish locales, the intense, threat laden action sequences taking place in LA. For the most part at least. There is one scene that put me in mind of Hot Fuzz. If you know, you know. Which brings me to the rich vein of humour that flows throughout the whole book. Although there are some really intense scenes, there is a beautiful balance of light and shade and the interaction between Penny and Johnny made me smile, if not laugh out loud. And as for the emotions that the book brought out of me. Given the particular twist in this novel, they way it almost shape shifted from one genre to an entirely different thing altogether in order to solve the really mystery that fed the whole story ... Well I wasn't quite ready for the way I felt at the end of the book, it's the right ending, for sure, but surprisingly tender too. 

If you love a cracking yarn with brilliant characters, action, and plenty of mystery, that tends towards living its life on and angle, then this is a book I'd definitely recommend. It's fun, it's fresh, and its a a book I know I will end up reading again, just to see what probably all too clear clues I missed the first time around. Very clever Mr Brookmyre. Loved it.

"What stops Johnny is a promotional display for a novel called The Cracked Mirror by Alex Gillen. A poster is touting it as a number one bestseller, nominated for several awards, but what catches Johnny's eye is that it is published by RoadMiles Press: Lillian and Miles Deacon's company."

What starts as two separate murder mysteries - cosy crime with an elderly female protagonist (Marple-esque Penny Coyne) in a Scottish village and hard-boiled noir in LA with a male cop (Bosch-esque Johnny Hawke) - slowly draws together, until parallels can be seen. Initially written in two quite different styles, as becomes their genre variations, the writing style also melds as the connections between the characters and the plot emerge. Clearly written by an experienced author, this is a creative and complex take on crime fiction, poking fun at itself whilst hiding its many layers and dropping clues little by little.

As a crime fiction fan, I really enjoyed this but can't say more about the plot without risking spoilers, although I was pleased with myself for predicting the main concept twist before it was revealed (about 3/4 the way in, so not early!). My only criticism and why I haven't given it five stars, is because I found the repeated scenarios and number of characters difficult to keep track of and with less of both it could have been a more concise novel. But I am splitting hairs, because this is well worth reading. My first by this author but it won't be my last.