Barb's Book Reviews: Review of "The Mirror House Girls: A Psychological Thriller" by Faith Gardner

Thursday, March 13, 2025

Review of "The Mirror House Girls: A Psychological Thriller" by Faith Gardner

Twentysomething Winona took care of her dying grandmother in Escondido, California, and is lonely and mourning now that Grandma Jane has passed.

At a support group, Winona meets a fellow mourner called Dakota, and agrees to go foraging with Dakota and her housemates.

The foraging is agreeable, and Dakota and her housemates are friendly.

Winona is invited over to eat the foraging feast, and it turns out the housemates live in the weird 'mirror house' - a house covered in mirrors - that's the talk of Escondido, with some people saying a religious group lives there. The housemates are Maude, Kristen, Dakota, Scarlett, and a man called Simon Spellmeyer. The atmosphere in the house is laid-back, with cooking aromas, guitar playing, vaping, and drinking......lots and lots of drinking.

Winona feels so comfortable that, when she's told there's a spare room in the mirror house, she quickly agrees to move in. Winona transfers her few belongings to the mirror house, and continues to work at her bookstore job.

It soon becomes obvious that Simon is the 'leader' at the mirror house. Simon is a psychologist, but his practice is 'on pause' and he's consulting about 'software engineering stuff.'

Nevertheless, Simon is functioning as a therapist for the women in the house, to help them get over their 'fears.' For instance, Kristin needs to stay on the wagon; Scarlett needs to conquer claustrophobia; Winona gets queasy at the sight of blood; and so on. Simon schedules private sessions with the gals for therapy.

Anyone looking in from the outside would KNOW this is a cult, but Winona just thinks she's surrounded by a new loving 'family'. Since alcohol flows freely all day long, Winona's perhaps not thinking clearly, but she's drawn in, day by day, to accept more and more control over her life.

As the story unfolds, Simon attracts more followers and things take a very ominous turn.

The book is told from Winona's point of view with excerpts from Scarlett being interviewed by a journalist. It's not a spoiler to say that Scarlett is speaking one year after Simon's 'girls' committed mass suicide.

This is a typical cult story, and as always when one is an 'outside observer', it seems unbelievable that the women are too blinded (or stupid‽‽) to see what's going on.

It you're interested in seeing how someone is drawn into a cult, inch by inch, you might like this book. However, the novel doesn't cover any new ground, being a standard cult indoctrination scenario.

Thanks to Netgalley, Faith Gardner, and Mirror House Press for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3 stars

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Barb's Book Reviews

Thursday, March 13, 2025

Review of "The Mirror House Girls: A Psychological Thriller" by Faith Gardner

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