One Sitting Reads: The Book of Mirrors by E.O Chirovici.

ONE MAN’S TRUTH IS ANOTHER MAN’S LIE.

When big-shot literary agent Peter Katz receives an unfinished manuscript entitled The Book of Mirrors, he is intrigued.

The author, Richard Flynn is writing a memoir about his time at Princeton in the late 80s, documenting his relationship with the famous Professor Joseph Wieder.

One night in 1987, Wieder was brutally murdered in his home and the case was never solved.

Peter Katz is hell-bent on getting to the bottom of what happened that night twenty-five years ago and is convinced the full manuscript will reveal who committed the violent crime.

But other people’s recollections are dangerous weapons to play with, and this might be one memory that is best kept buried.

The Book of Mirrors is a very clever novel. I do like one of those. It is also UTTERLY addictive – picked this up earlier today meaning to make a start on it and now here we are and I’m done. On the surface it is an old school murder mystery but like an onion every layer you peel away reveals another layer, perception is in the eye of the beholder and it is an immersive experience in that your own perceptions and realities will definitely inform what you read.

We start with a manuscript section sent to an agent. But is the story in it true? And what on earth actually did happen all those years ago considering the story is only half told? What follows is a multi viewpoint unravelling of an old crime,  character driven in more ways than one, endlessly compelling and with a narrative you will start questioning all the way.

I particularly liked how the author plays with the theme of memory, of how our life experiences skew our viewpoint, that thing that makes eye witness accounts of the same incident so very varied. Whilst there is a police presence in The Book of Mirrors that is absolutely not its focus – I wouldnt like to call it a psychological thriller either, it is more about letting the characters speak and therefore reveal not only themselves but perhaps the truth behind a murder.

Really beautifully constructed to encompass nuance of plot and depth of character, The Book of Mirrors is one of those novels you know you are going to continue to think back on, to wonder about. It is a simple story in many ways, a story oft told within the human experience – what Mr Chirovici does though is  highly effective, fascinating and potent storytelling. Hence I just lost my Saturday afternoon to it. Worth every minute.

Highly Recommended.

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Happy Reading!