Title: Mirror
Author: Graham
Masterton
Publisher: Hammer
Books
Publication Date: July
7, 2011
Genre: Horror
Reviewed by: Angie
Edwards
My rating: 5/5
SUMMARY
It
is said that a mirror can trap a person's soul
Martin Williams is a broke, two-bit screenwriter living in Hollywood, but when he finds the very mirror that once hung in the house of a murdered 1930s child star, he happily spends all he has on it. He has long obsessed over the tragic story of Boofuls, a beautiful and successful actor who was slaughtered and dismembered by his grandmother. However, he soon discovers that this dream buy is in fact a living nightmare; the mirror was not only in Boofuls house, but witness to the death of this blond-haired and angelic child, which in turn has created a horrific and devastating portal to a hellish parallel universe. When Martin's landlord loses his grandson it is soon apparent that the mirror is responsible. But if a little boy has gone into the mirror, what on earth is going to come out?
Martin Williams is a broke, two-bit screenwriter living in Hollywood, but when he finds the very mirror that once hung in the house of a murdered 1930s child star, he happily spends all he has on it. He has long obsessed over the tragic story of Boofuls, a beautiful and successful actor who was slaughtered and dismembered by his grandmother. However, he soon discovers that this dream buy is in fact a living nightmare; the mirror was not only in Boofuls house, but witness to the death of this blond-haired and angelic child, which in turn has created a horrific and devastating portal to a hellish parallel universe. When Martin's landlord loses his grandson it is soon apparent that the mirror is responsible. But if a little boy has gone into the mirror, what on earth is going to come out?
REVIEW
“Somebody once defined
Armageddon as all the most distressing things that you can imagine happening to
you, all at once, forever. To me, that sounds worse than the end of the world.”
I will
never look in, or at, mirrors the same way again, that’s for sure. One of my
book addict friends and I decided to challenge each other every month by
recommending a favorite book to each other which we then HAVE to read and
finish that same month. We’ll be doing this for a year. So, for January, she
challenged me to read this book by Graham Masterton, and though I had my doubts
whether I was going to like this book (as it was published in 1988), I am happy
to say that she made me read an absolutely brilliant book!
Mirror is old-school horror at its best. It
reminded me of Dean Koontz and Stephen King’s earlier works. It’s a
no-holds-barred story with a typical eighties horror-movie-like feel to its in
your face chillingly disturbing content. Do you remember how terrifying that
little boy was in the eighties horror movie, The Omen? Well Boofuls, the seven-year-old antagonist in this novel
makes that boy look like a Catholic Church altar boy. There is nothing good
about Boofuls. He’s evil incarnate. I’m sure I don’t need to say more about him
because everyone knows how creepy a possessed child can be. But, Boofuls isn’t
really possessed, per se. He is something a lot more nightmarish. He’s the
thing that came out of the mirror,
after something – or someone – had to go into
the mirror. The author cleverly incorporates the biblical numeral 144 000 and
Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass
into the theme of this story. Over and over again it subtly begs the question:
do you really know the real you? Because how you see yourself in the mirror, is
not necessarily a true reflection of the real you. The real you might actually
be on the other side of the mirror image that is reflected back at you. And
believe me, that may be something you might not want to see.
“It seems to me now like a
nightmare...the land beyond the looking-glass, in which each man takes on his
true form.”
- Lewis Carroll
Apart
from the theme that gets you thinking, I loved that the plot moved at a
breakneck pace. The author doesn’t beat around the bush with unnecessary
details and tedious explanations to fluff up the story. Everything happens so
rapidly I couldn’t finish this book in one sitting as some of the scenes are
quite intense. Characters who meet their demise, die bloody and violent deaths
which, in my opinion, makes this an unsuitable read for younger or sensitive
readers. Nonetheless, Mirror is the
perfect book for hardcore fans of horror and those who enjoy stories that would
require them to think outside the box.
Not
much is done by way of character development though, but still I found myself caring
enough about the characters to be saddened when something dreadful happens to
them. Chapter by chapter the suspense intensifies until it reaches a fiery
finale. Even though Mirror had me
terrified to sleep with the lights off at night, it was a hugely satisfying
read that kept me up way past my bedtime. One man’s obsession about making it
big in Hollywood, how his life is turned upside down by his fixation with a
child star from the late nineteen-thirties, and the things he discovers about
himself once he sets out to save another child’s life, had me turning the pages
frenziedly.
I’m so
glad I was challenged to read this book, because I probably wouldn’t have
picked it up on my own. With this darkly captivating tale of an oncoming
apocalypse, Graham Masterton won himself another admirer. Seriously, horror
fans, read this book. You haven’t met evil until you’ve met seven-year-old
Boofuls.
PURCHASE LINKS
ABOUT the AUTHOR
Graham Masterton's
debut as a horror author began with The Manitou in 1976, a chilling tale of a
Native American medicine man reborn in the present day to exact his revenge on
the white man. It became an instant bestseller and was filmed with Tony Curtis,
Susan Strasberg, Burgess Meredith, Michael Ansara, Stella Stevens and Ann
Sothern.
Altogether Graham has written more than a hundred novels ranging from thrillers (The Sweetman Curve, Ikon) to disaster novels (Plague, Famine) to historical sagas (Rich and Maiden Voyage - both appeared in the New York Times bestseller list). He has published four collections of short stories, Fortnight of Fear, Flights of Fear, Faces of Fear and Feelings of Fear.
He has also written horror novels for children (House of Bones, Hair-Raiser) and has just finished the fifth volume in a very popular series for young adults, Rook, based on the adventures of an idiosyncratic remedial English teacher in a Los Angeles community college who has the facility to see ghosts.
Altogether Graham has written more than a hundred novels ranging from thrillers (The Sweetman Curve, Ikon) to disaster novels (Plague, Famine) to historical sagas (Rich and Maiden Voyage - both appeared in the New York Times bestseller list). He has published four collections of short stories, Fortnight of Fear, Flights of Fear, Faces of Fear and Feelings of Fear.
He has also written horror novels for children (House of Bones, Hair-Raiser) and has just finished the fifth volume in a very popular series for young adults, Rook, based on the adventures of an idiosyncratic remedial English teacher in a Los Angeles community college who has the facility to see ghosts.
He and his wife
Wiescka live in a Gothic Victorian mansion high above the River Lee in Cork,
Ireland.
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