Book Review: Mirror Image by Michele Pariza Wacek

Mirror Image by Michele Pariza Wacek is a serial killer murder mystery investigation fiction with elements of horror spread throughout the book. It has been six months since the suicide of her sister, Elizabeth, but Linda is still in mourning. She never liked Elizabeth due to Elizabeth’s spooky presence and manipulative tactics; however, losing her like this has been tough on her. One day, detective Steve, a guy on whom Linda had a major crush since high school, meets her to question her about various serial killings occurring in the area. According to their investigation, a woman was picking up men at the bars, going back to their place, and then murdering them, mercilessly. The peculiar thing was that the features explained by the friends of victims had an uncanny resemblance with those of Elizabeth’s. Linda is shaken to the core. She has been having nightmares involving Elizabeth, but she has been long dead. Dead can’t murder people or can they?

The plot is quite captivating. It remained very difficult to ignore the possibility of a supernatural element — ghosts and spirits, to be specific — behind all the murders. The narration of the scary events, nightmares included, gave me goosebumps many times. As a reader, I predicted and overruled those predictions until the last chapter. I am sure that the readers would appreciate the dominating suspense factor of the story. There is nothing worse than a murder mystery where a reader’s prediction of the killer becomes true. This did not prove one of those books, at least as far as I, as a reader, am concerned. The author’s hidden message that a violence against children could scar them for a long time is a lesson to remember.

The narrative writing style of the author has been very engaging. I, particularly, enjoyed Linda’s walks down the memory lanes because they helped me in connecting with her state of mind in a better way. The connection of a reader with the characters of a book is the most valuable attribute, according to me. If a reader can’t feel what the characters are feeling, then the book is bound to fail, irrespective of the strength of the plot. The author of Mirror Image has taken care of creating such bond. Linda’s restless triggered something inside me, and her pain seemed realistic to me. The eerieness of Elizabeth’s character forced me to feel empathetic towards Linda. The fascinating description of many fantasy characters — fairies, succubi, demons — challenged my brain to re-evaluate the suspect, whom I had declared a murderer.

The dialogues are as close to reality as these can come. When two close girlfriends talk, they do not stick to one topic; instead, they interrupt each other with questions about whatever pops into their head. The conversation of Terri and Linda has been of that kind, which gave it a fragrance of reality. The author has done justice with sketching the characters, as well. Both the physical and emotional aspects of the characters are drawn in detail. I believe, however, that Terri’s character could have been stronger. She had a lot of potentials, her faith to her friend was impressive, her dialogues were straight-forward, and the mentally exhausted Linda extracted a little bit of normalcy from her. The dark plot brightened by her appearance. However, a lack of her own thoughts kept her a little aloof from a reader’s emotions.

The climax was a little unconvincing and bizarre to me; however, that’s only my opinion and other readers might not agree with it. The interlinked events are cleverly written, and there can be no denying it.

I would recommend this book to the readers who are craving for a murder mystery filled with suspense and horror.

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The Blurb, About Author and Purchase Link of Mirror Image

Mirror Image by Michele Pariza Wacek
Published on May 27, 2016
Genres: Psychological Thriller, Suspense

SYNOPSIS

Which would be worse, knowing that your dead sister has come back to life and is now a serial killer or that someone else is the killer….and that person is you?

Six months after Linda’s sister Elizabeth killed herself, Linda has finally gotten her life back to some semblance of normalcy. Until a killer appears who is stalking men … a killer who resembles Elizabeth … a killer who seems somehow familiar to Linda.

And, to make matters worse, Steve, her old high school crush and now a detective, is assigned to this case. He’s asking Linda all sorts of questions, questions Linda couldn’t possibly have an answer to.

There’s no reason for him to be investigating Linda. She couldn’t possibly have anything to do with this.

Could she?

Goodreads

PURCHASE

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

When Michele was 3 years old, she taught herself to read because she wanted to write stories so badly.

As you can imagine, writing has been a driving passion throughout her life. She became a professional copywriter (which is writing promotional materials for businesses), which led to her founding a copywriting and marketing company that serves clients all over the world.

Along with being a copywriter, she also writes novels (in fact, she just published her first novel, a psychological thriller/suspense/mystery called “The Stolen Twin” and her second novel “Mirror Image’” is set to be published in May 2016) plus, she is also the author of the “Love-Based Copy” books, which are a part of the “Love-Based Business” series and cover both business and personal development.

She holds a double major in English and Communications from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Currently she lives in the mountains of Prescott, Arizona with her husband Paul and her border collie Nick and southern squirrel hunter Cassie.