Book Review | The Cracked Mirror by Chris Brookmyre

Penny Coyne has a remarkable knack for solving murders. Her sharp intellect shines through her tweed, proving that appearances can be deceiving. Then there’s Johnny Hawke, a LAPD homicide detective who’s faced more than his share of struggles. He often finds himself at odds with his captain but he’s relentless in the pursuit of truth. Against all odds, their lives intersect over the mysterious death of a writer at a destination wedding. Johnny and Penny find themselves in an investigation that leads them down a rabbit hole so complex, that they will question not just who committed the crime but whether they want to know the answer.

Despite its sleepy pace of life, its cosy insularity and its old-fashioned ways, this little corner of Perthshire was a place where a great many people met their untimely ends. More happily, Glen Cluthar was also a place where murders seldom went unsolved, and this was generally attributed not to the region’s under-resourced and frequently befuddled police force, but rather to the presence of one redoubtable long-term resident.

The Cracked Mirror is a unique murder mystery, unlike anything I’ve read before!  At first, the two POVs seem to clash, where Penny is an amateur sleuth straight out of an Agatha Christie mystery while Johnny could have been a lead in a Michael Connelly book. Penny lives in a quaint little town where she solves murders that the police have overlooked. Johnny is hustling to catch criminals in the city until something happens where he is forced to take a step back. It takes a while before they cross paths but when they do, things get wild. Both of them are investigating eerily similar murders in the same location, but the truth is unexpected.

The book is almost 500 pages with a large cast of characters so it requires a little patience. There is a repetition of the murders they encounter, but there is a reason for this. Luckily, Penny and Johnny are an unlikely duo with engaging conversations and funny moments to balance the action and danger. And surprisingly, it gets emotional too! Without spoiling the story, I think it’s good to keep in mind that this is not just a crime story. Despite the crime fiction framing, the book also explores the way different mediums like movies and video games can tell stories, how memories play a part in constructing a narrative, and how advanced technology can be used in a quest for justice. It’s a unique experimentation of free will and how the stories we tell ourselves can save us.

If you want a fresh interpretation of a murder mystery, you don’t want to miss The Cracked Mirror.

I received a copy for review purposes from the publisher and Netgalley.

About the author: Chris Brookmyre

Photo by George Kroeker