I loved this story, loved the original plot, the mix of genre, and the fleshed out characters. An entertaining and original story and I would be glad to read other stories featuring these characters
Well done
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

INCREDIBLE. truly truly great. Such a good plot with things i never expected, great characters (if at times a bit hard to keep track of but that is most definitely just a me issue!!!) The blurb did not lie about it being nothing like any crime novel i’ve read before

I am late reviewing this but I received this as an ARC.

This is different from other Chris Brookmyre books I have read. I actually think I have read all of Brookmyre's books and whilst this is different it is just as engaging as his other books. It is not your standard crime novel.

I found it slower than I'd like and the sheer number of characters mean you have to be paying attention when reading this.

If you enjoy a good mystery then definitely give this a go.

Wasn't sure as I went on, it got a little bit beyond belief, a bit silly, but once you get towards the end, lots falls into place and it is really clever. It's well written, some great comic asides.

Chris Brookmyre’s The Cracked Mirror masterfully blends the cozy charm of Midsomer Murders with the mind-bending tech-infused twists of Black Mirror. The result is a gripping, multi-layered mystery that keeps you guessing until the final page.

The story begins with a series of chilling murders, all eerily following the same plot. Enter Johnny Hawke and Penny Coyne, two compelling protagonists whose unlikely partnership drives the narrative forward. As they delve deeper into the case, they uncover a world where nothing is as it seems.

The cast of characters is both brilliantly crafted and deeply likable. While the sheer number of personalities introduced at the start can feel a bit overwhelming, Brookmyre’s deft character development ensures that, as the story unfolds, each becomes distinct and memorable. By the end, I felt like I wanted to step into their world and spend time with them—an impressive feat for a murder mystery.

The plot itself is an intricately woven web of twists and turns. Brookmyre expertly balances suspense, intrigue, and moments of wry humor. Just when you think you’ve cracked the case, another layer of the story is revealed, leaving you in awe of its complexity. It’s rare to find a mystery so intelligently constructed, and this one is truly a standout in the genre.

That said, it did take me some time to fully immerse myself in the story. It wasn’t until around 40% of the way through that I felt fully hooked. However, once the pieces started to fall into place, I was utterly captivated.

Overall, The Cracked Mirror is a mystery masterpiece that combines sharp writing, an engrossing plot, and unforgettable characters. Despite a slightly slow start, it’s an absolute must-read for fans of innovative and thought-provoking crime fiction. I give it 4.5 stars for its sheer brilliance and ingenuity.

Twisty-turny thriller that confused me for a while. Always felt a little outside reality - which is ironic - or intentional? Spotted the twist coming which turned the plot from nonsensical to far more logical - but still a strange mix of hard man action and “cosy” old lady mystery.

A great two-part mystery that seamlessly bridges the charm of an Scottish village whodunit with the tension of a Los Angeles crime thriller. With distinct narrative styles and settings, the book offers readers the best of both worlds before pulling them into a twist that ties everything together brilliantly.

The twist left me gobsmacked and I had to go back and rethink what I'd read to fully process it.

Enjoyable and different!

I didn't get on with this book at all.
There were too many characters and it felt impossible for me to remember who was who and what was what.
Sometimes this is exactly what you want in a book - but it just didn't work me me this time.

My strongest sense after finishing this book, was, my brain is fried. There were so many details to keep track of, two stories merging and then the story arc took a futuristic turn that I found hard to wrap my mind around. I think people will love this book. It's wildly unusual, smart and will make you think. However I found it difficult to become immersed in as I was having to go back all the time to figure things out. That might say more about my brain than the book itself, but I just didn't really connect with it.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author and look forward to reading more. I liked the clever concept of two separate investigative stories running parallel and eventually merging in to one in the middle. I loved the character Penny and she added to my enjoyment of the book. Lots of twists and turns along the way.

Miss Marple meets Philip Marlowe in a complex and at times bewildering thriller.

This starts out with two separate narratives, entertaining enough in themselves, until our two protagonists, in the most unlikely of scenarios, join forces.

Multiple plot twists, a whole gamut of characters and the occasional intrusion of another separate and apparently unconnected narrative lead to confusion and frustration rather than intrigue and entertainment.

Throughout, there are hints at what this complicated plot might entail and the suspicion that we are heading into Inception territory nagged and annoyed.

The conclusion was entertaining but not enough to escape the feeling of being manipulated by an author entertaining himself more than his readers.

This is an extremely clever blend of 2 parallel stories, one featuring Peeny Coyne who is investigating a murder in Scotland and the other featuring Johnny Hawke an LAPD detective. Eventually, it seems that their respective murder investigations are linked so when Johhny comes to Scotland they pull their resources to solve the murders,, each using their own unique approach. This novel is a nod to Agatha Christie and is early gripping. Never read anything quite like this before and looking forward to reading more from this talented author.

I couldn't put this book down. The storyline is very clever, and the ending very unexpected. I would thoroughly recommend this book.

The Cracked Mirror by Chris Brookmyre and narrated by Russ Bain and Sarah Barron was an excellent audiobook especially this is the first book/audiobook I have read by this author and wont be my last. This book is a cross-genre hybrid of Agatha Christie and Michael Connelly and worked great together,
I found The Cracked Mirror was the most imaginative audiobook/book and a rollercoaster ride with so many twists and turns throughout that had me gripped and I found it hard to turn the audiobook off.

The narrator's Russ Bain and Sarah Barron were excellent.

When a book is described as "a cross-genre hybrid of Agatha Christie and Michael Connelly" I am all in. Two of my favourite authors. I had never read anything by Chris Brookmyre before this but I'll definitely seek some more out. I assume this title is a nod to The Mirror Crack'd by Agatha Christie, a Marple book.

It's a hard book to review fully without giving things away. I really enjoyed this, the ending was definitely not what I expected.

In this story you will meet Penny Coyne in Scotland, an old lady who has solved multiple murders in her sleepy village (a la Marple) and Johnny Hawke, LAPD homicide detective, often in trouble, always seeking the truth whatever it takes. Their worlds collide with a dead writer and a mysterious wedding invitation.

A clever, imaginative and entertaining book, that's a kind of crime novel but also not really. I enjoyed it, loved it for most, the ending threw me a bit, so that took a star off my rating.

I was so excited when I first read about this book and was waiting to approved, and couldn’t believe it when I was accepted! This book did not disappoint, it is filled with turns twists and surprises. I really recommend this book.

An elderly Scottish librarian and a disgraced US cop form an unusual partnership when they find themselves at the scene of a murder at a wedding. However, as the case unfolds they find alarming connections to other murders and things start to become sinister.

This book was a lot more complex than I initially expected and there are lots of surprising twists! A thrilling roller coaster of a story, not your average murder mystery!

Brookmyre’s two in one becomes One and then something more, much more.

He mashes up our beloved familiar tropes, the clever curious old lady who lives in a murder prone English village and the LA hard boiled detective, careworn and full of bravado. He introduces them to each other complete with tea and a dash of bullets and then brings in today’s world with its savvy info tech and all the technological paraphernalia. Admittedly I think he had huge fun doing this. I think I could feel his glee at his fiendish use of his poor poor characters. I fully confess to enjoying myself hugely whilst reading it and something that is not usual for me in these kinds of books I shed tears at the end.

An ARC kindly provided by author/publisher via Netgalley.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for a review copy of The Cracked Mirror, a stand-alone thriller set mostly in Perthshire and California.

I enjoyed The Cracked Mirror, which is a fun read with plenty of thrills and spills and some eye catching twists. I will, however, be the first to admit that I’m not very tech savvy so I found some of the twists a bit baffling and their general implication more scary than uplifting (which is what I think the author intends).

The plot is fun, uniting two very different genres of detectives, the Marple-esque Penny Coyne and the jaded LAPD detective Johnny Hawke. Somehow they find a way to work together with both amending their attitudes and views on life to accommodate the other. It’s both effective and amusing. Then there are the dangerous situations they get into, coming under fire more than once as they try to solve their case. I laughed, maybe not as frequently as I have reading the author’s previous novels, but I still laughed.

I think that this is a seriously clever novel. For a start it is engrossing with the reader constantly wondering what will come next, but more importantly it seamlessly weaves hints of the conclusion into the narrative without giving anything away. Most impressive.

I have no hesitation in recommending The Cracked Mirror as a good read.

Thank you for approving me to read this book. Unfortunately I've struggled to read it and have been unable to finish it. I enjoyed the beginning and seeing the set up for the story. I loved meeting Penny Coyne and finding out about her, and the detective Johnny Hawke was intriguing so I was keen to see how their two storylines were going to converge. I'm struggling to concentrate at the moment so the issue it most likely with me and not the book but I just found myself confused by the characters and then the story and I just couldn't follow it. I did love the writing and I love the idea of the book and I hope I get a chance to come back to this at another time. I would still recommend it to other readers.