Horror Book Spotlight--Don't Look In The Mirror by Sophia Marie
Mirrors reveal more than we want them to. In a horror story, they can become a gateway to something really terrifying.
This week’s Horror Book Spotlight is on DON’T LOOK IN THE MIRROR by Sophia Marie.
The book was published in 2021 and is part of The Hollow Corner series.
So, what is the book about?
DON’T LOOK IN THE MIRROR Plot
When Clara inherits a house from her grandmother, whom she barely knew, she didn’t expect all the mirrors in the house to be covered, pinned, and nailed shut.
A letter from her grandmother stating to not look in the mirror after dark makes her even more curious.
Something in the house has been waiting a long time for her, long enough to wear her mother’s voice, learn her own face, and to let five generations of women believe they had defeated it.
Clara has only one night to learn all the rules her grandmother protected her from, before whatever is behind the mirror finishes learning what she is.
DON’T LOOK IN THE MIRROR First Impressions
The book opens with Part One- The House That Waited. An intriguing title which hints at there being something in the house or the house itself which will play a major role in this story.
Chapter One is called The Arrival. Clara has just entered the house, and the first thing she notices is that all the mirrors in the house are covered.
She thinks about her Grandmother Eleanor, who left her the house. Clara had met her only a handful of times when she was a child, but she remembers her grandmother warning her at one point not to look into the mirrors after dark. But Clara also notes that her grandmother had uttered that more as a prayer than a serious warning.
The warning had become sort of a joke at family gatherings, and they had thought that Eleanor was probably lonely and thought her house was speaking to her.
Which is why Clara is surprised that her grandmother left her the house. Although she would have refused it, the offer comes at a time when Clara is at her lowest. Her landlord had raised the rent, she had been given reduced hours at work, and her boyfriend had broken up with her.
Clara takes up residence in the house and can’t shake the feeling that it appears as if someone has just stepped out of the house, rather than never returning, based on the way the items are positioned all around.
She goes around the house, sees every single mirror covered, and begins removing the sheets only to find nothing unusual apart from her own reflection.
She then finds a letter from her grandmother, who has left it in a pile of mail. The letter isn’t even addressed to her. It is for whoever stays here.
Inside is a list of instructions: don't answer the phone after midnight, keep curtains closed after sunset, if you hear footsteps upstairs while you’re downstairs, leave the house until the next day. But most importantly, do not look into any mirror after dark.
Towards the end of the sample, Clara thinks about Daniel, her boyfriend, and how she had expected a proposal only to have him break up with her. He uses words like timing and direction, which irritates Clara because she feels that they had spent so much time discussing their future, and for him to abruptly break up is confusing.
READ OR SKIP?
The story starts off well with Clara coming into the house and then thinking about her grandmother and the covered mirrors. But then the story doesn’t move forward and focuses more on repetition.
Her grandmother wanting the mirrors covered is stated perhaps four times in one chapter. Daniel wanting to break up with Clara is mentioned in the first chapter and then expanded in chapter three.
There is no momentum after Clara moves into the house.
That being said, the story does get you curious. Why did Grandmother Eleanor warn against looking into the mirror after dark? Why was Clara chosen to live in the house?
Considering the letter is addressed to “For whoever stays,” perhaps Clara wasn’t even chosen to stay here, and something else is afoot?
Based solely on the plot, the story is a READ.
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