Review of The Killer in the Mirror

[Haime Alshaef]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Killer in the Mirror" by David T. Wolf.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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In a world where our memories and experiences shape our identity, The Killer in the Mirror by David T. Wolf introduces us to young John Smith, a teenager battling with the effects of amnesia. He didn't remember anything about his life, not his parents, home, friends, and certainly not how he appeared in the middle of nowhere with a bloody t-shirt. Luckily, the police were kind enough to put him in a shelter and find a school. There, he met a sweet, beautiful girl named Margot McClain. She offered to be his confidant as he struggled with nightmares and memories resurfacing. However, everything gets tangled up when their emotions become deeper and less platonic. And when John’s old girlfriend comes crashing into his life with two thugs, all blackmailing him into helping them rob the bookstore where he works, things get more complicated. Their blackmail: they knew he had murdered his moms’s boyfriend. And they were ready to turn him into the police. John was torn between the love and care for his new home and friends and the dark, unsettling mysteries of his past. What will he do now? Will the police catch him? Or will he uncover the truth before it’s too late? Read on to find out!

I loved this book! It mixes romance and mystery beautifully for a captivating story. Unlike other mystery books, this one didn't have heavy plot twists, but I still couldn't guess what was going to happen next. I wasn't sure who the real killer was, and I was surprised to find out how everything went down. The pacing was also perfect. When it comes to stories where a character has amnesia, authors tend to focus on them regaining their memories, and the pace becomes slow as the events unfold, so it can be easy to lose interest. However, Wolf included other elements, like his romance with Margot and people from his old home, that sped up the pace.

I didn't find much that I disliked about the book; however, I noticed something interesting about the point of view from which the author wrote this story. It started from the second-person point of view while he was introducing John Smith, which isn't really something you see a lot, especially in fictional books. Using the word “you” directly puts the readers into the story and into Smith’s shoes. Just as he doesn't know where he is or what's happening, you also don't know what’s happening and are also confused. This allowed me to get emotionally involved and more interested in the story, but the excessive repetition of the word “you” ruined the flow. When I was reading the first chapter, that word was all that I could focus on, and it frustrated me enough that I struggled to finish the chapter.

Fortunately, as the story went on and as John regained more of his memories, the word “you” was used a lot less, the flow of the story was improved, and I could focus and was a lot more interested in the story. It also helped that the chapters were broken up from John’s perspective and Margot’s perspective, and her chapters were written in the first-person point of view, and that was a lot easier to read.

I would rate this book 4 out of 5 stars. It isn't easy to pull off an entertaining story told from two different points of view, but Wolf did it really well. I subtracted a star because the first chapter was difficult to get through, and I did notice a couple of errors, but that can easily be fixed with one more round of professional editing.

If you're not a fan of stories told from a second-person point of view, then this isn't really the book for you. But if you don't mind that, and you enjoy books that mix mystery with romance, then I think you'll enjoy this. Because this book touches on some adult themes, and there's a bit of swearing, I’d recommend this book for people at least 13 and above.

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The Killer in the Mirror
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[Kibet Hillary]

The story sounds really thrilling, and the rhetorical questions have equally piqued my curiosity. I cannot wait to read the book and find out what John chose and whether he uncovered the whole truth about what had happened. Thanks for the review, @Haime Alshaef.

[André Ribeiro Moes]

I believe the writer nailed it when starting the story with the mystery surrounding the main character, who has no memories and finds himself in an extremely delicate situation, wearing a bloodstained shirt. Just the initial description of the story already left me completely intrigued and hooked on what was to come.

I love mystery books and found the use of second-person narration by the author quite interesting.

I understand that the excessive repetition of a certain word or expression becomes tiresome to read, which really gets in the way when we just want to enjoy the book.

[Ami Sanghavi]

I really enjoyed reading your review. This sounds like such a unique mix of mystery and romance. I’m especially intrigued by the second-person point of view; it’s not something you see often, so that caught my attention.