Book Review: Look in the Mirror | Catherine Steadman
This is a spoiler-free review of Look in the Mirror by Catherine Steadman. If you are looking to unpack the ending of Look in the Mirror, you can find it over on my spoiler review!
If you’re new to Catherine Steadman’s books, I have three pieces of advice… First, clear your schedule and be ready to settle in and luxuriate over her twist-y, cinematic thrillers. Second, if you’re an audiobook listener, do her audiobooks. She narrates them herself (she’s a classically-trained actor) and they are top notch. Third, go ahead an order or list yourself at your local library for the rest of her books because you won’t want to stop!
Her latest book, Look in the Mirror, is another foray into new territory. This time, using two storylines that the reader isn’t quite sure how they fit together with the exception of them seeming to take place in the same house but at different times.
What is Look in the Mirror about?
Nina is a thirty-something English professor in England who recently lost her father. Not long after he passes, she is contacted by the executor of his will informing her that her father left her a sprawling vacation home in the British Virgin Islands—a house she had no idea her father even owned. The house is stunning and state-of-the-art. Glass, marble, and high-end technology. How could her civil engineer father afford this? How did she know nothing about it?
A medical student named Maria has taken a break from her studies to make enough money to pay for the exorbitantly-expensive program. She works as a nanny for the rich, preferring to work through an agency that sets her up on relatively short stints that pay well. She’s hoping the one she just accepted will be her last and she can go back to school. Not long after arriving at the stunning but cold property, she gets a weird vibe. The owner and his children never show, but the agency keeps reassuring her she’ll get paid for her full contract either way. After days of luxuriating by the pool, an electronic malfunction has Maria tempted to break the only rule of her stay: Don’t go in the basement. Maria knows she shouldn’t but she can’t help but see what may be down there, and that is when everything goes horribly awry…
What did I think?
This is a rare dual-storyline book where I was equally as invested in both narratives. Maria and Nina are quite different, though both intelligent and hard-working. Maria is confident and self-assured, whereas Nina suffers from lingering insecurities that come from a feeling of never being talented enough or accomplished enough. In part, these insecurities are wrapped up in memories of her father, who was brilliant but tough. Nina loved her father deeply, but it’s clear from the beginning that their relationship was complicated.
The house is a surprise to Nina, but the more time she spends in it the more she can see her father’s influence. I found Nina’s emotions and insecurities surrounding her father made her authentic and vulnerable. She loved her father, but he was a man who cast a long shadow and that has led to Nina feeling insecure about her own contributions and worth.
Maria, on the other hand, is already alone. She is a strong character, and we eventually learn some things from Maria’s past that led to her current state—alone but resilient. Maria is sharp, calculating, and clear-headed. I was fascinated by Maria, who seemed to avoid close relationships, including with her best friend and roommate back in New York.
At first it’s hazy how the two storylines are related. After Nina arrives at her father’s home, it’s clear that it’s the same house that Maria is at. Which storyline came first, though? Did Nina’s father purchase the home that Maria is in? Was Maria’s father the unseen (at first) client? Is Nina the client? I had so many thoughts here, and the possibilities seemed endless.
I’m going to take the rest of my thoughts about Nina, Maria, the house, and the novel over to my spoiler review so I can discuss how it all came together and that twist-ed ending. But without spoiling, I want to commend the cinematic quality to this book. It’s always apparent that Steadman has a background in theater and film—her books feel like you are watching a movie to me. The settings are vivid, the characters are complex, and the scenes are well-crafted where the reader can picture it all happening.
Another gripping psychological thriller from Catherine Steadman!
Other books I loved by Catherine Steadman
About the Author
Catherine Steadman is an author and screenwriter based in London. She grew up in the New Forest, Hampshire, and now lives in East London with her husband and two daughters. Catherine’s first novel, Something in the Water, was a New York Times bestseller with rights sold in over thirty territories. She is also the author of Mr. Nobody, The Disappearing Act, The Family Game (a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice), and Look in the Mirror.
Thank you to Penguin Random House and Ballantine books for my copy. Opinions are my own.
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