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The Cracked Mirror

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The Cracked Mirror

By: Chris Brookmyre
Narrated by: Sarah Barron, Russ Bain
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FORGET WHAT YOU THINK YOU KNOW

THIS IS NOT THAT CRIME NOVEL

You know Johnny Hawke. Hard-bitten LAPD homicide detective. Always in trouble with his captain, always losing partners, but always battling for the truth, whatever it takes.

You know Penny Coyne. The little old lady who has solved multiple murders in her otherwise sleepy village, despite bumbling local police. A razor-sharp mind in a Sunday best hat.

Against all the odds, against the usual story, their worlds are about to collide. It starts with a dead writer and a mysterious wedding invitation. It will end with a rabbit hole that goes so deep, Johnny and Penny might just come to question not just whodunnit, but whether they want to know the answer.

A cross-genre hybrid of Agatha Christie and Michael Connelly, The Cracked Mirror is the most imaginative and entertaining crime novel of the year, a genre-splicing rollercoaster with a poignantly emotional heart.

©2024 Chris Brookmyre (P)2024 W. F. Howes Ltd Crime Crime Thrillers Mystery Police Procedurals Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths Heartfelt Witty
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I am a massive fan of Chris Brookmyre but unfortunately this book disappoints. One reason is that the massive twist near the end is so easy to guess - won't say more as it would be a spoiler. However, even before this, his attempts to marry two genres, the Miss Marple-style old lady solving crimes with the hard-boiled American cop style just jars, even later when you know the reason for it, but especially in the earlier part of the book. The narrators try hard but when you have the female narrator comfortable with the upper class Scottish accent trying to transform into the hard-bitten cop and the male narrator obviously more used to the Sam Spade type of narrative trying to ape the soft Scottish accent, it just doesn't work. Sorry, Chris, this experiment just didn't work for me

Not up to his usual standard

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Genuinely likable characters, a fantastic set up and a really intriguing mystery. This book had everything… but then it started to get very muddled and a little bit too clever for its own good. It also started telegraphing the ending with twists and turns that felt contrived and derivative. The ending in particular felt like something I had read many times before, it also slightly undermined all the character building that had come before. I think this would’ve been a much better beginning of a series had the author not decided to opt for the final twist.

Great story that ends up getting muddled and derivative by the ending.

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The story took a while to get into but paid off in the end. The narration was really good

Really good book

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Dislike the pseudo science, good story to start but the AI neuro gibberish nonsense spoilt the whole thing couldn't wait to finish, nearly didn't!

Loved the first half: not the rest

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This is a peach of story. I do not understand why it has gained a couple of relatively negative reviews.

Yes, this is not like Jack Parlabane - could you write about the same character forever more? Nauseam would be along pretty damned soon, for author and reader.

This is engaging, plenty of twists and turns throughout and a great set of characters.

The narration is good, although Sarah's repeated "k-youp-you-la" grates. A small criticism of a very well put together production.

Thoroughly enjoyed in a single sitting.

Top notch

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