Secrets In The Mirror was written by Leslie Kain and published by Atmosphere Press in 2022. You can purchase it on Amazon/Kindle and you can visit the author on Amazon and on social media.
This is a good first novel for Leslie Kain. She has the skills and the knowledge to improve her craft, going forward as an author.
Gavin and Devon are mirror twins- they are a physiological reversal of each other not just in how their body's organs are set up but in how they respond and react to the world around them. Their Mob-connected father approves of Devon and wants to mold him for his own needs, while Gavin is seen by him as a nerd and someone who is best suited to protect Devon at all costs. Gavin plays his role as the good and caring brother because he truly wants to help his brother but at the same time, he recognizes that his brother is a sociopath who has gotten himself involved in drugs and this evolves into dangerous escalating criminal activity. Bullied by his own dad and a victim of narcissistic gaslighting by his brother, Gavin's self-esteem has bottomed out. He looks to a few loyal friends who tell him that he can't save his twin, but he must save himself. Gavin begins a journey to do just that and to find success and love he flees to a place of paradise far away- but his sociopathic brother and the Mob soon find him. How does anyone escape narcissistic abuse and the dangerous life of crime when it's deeply ingrained in your family and in your DNA? Leslie Kain touches on all of these very important issues in this work of fiction, but these are very important topics that have a solid base in the reality of our own lives today. Other than being an author, she has had an education and career in psychology and government intelligence, and it certainly shows up on the pages here in her first published novel. The characters were well developed, and the plot was plausible and interesting but what held back the story from being more engaging was a lack of more conflict and plot twists around the characters in the beginning. But the author remedied that at about the midway point, where things really heated up and then, she totally pulled me into the story. It fell just short of a 4-star review. This is a good first novel for the author. She has the skills and the knowledge to improve her craft and I look forward to Leslie Kain's future works. Secrets in The Mirror is well worth the read.
I give Secrets In The Mirror 3 out of 5 stars.
Leslie Kain is a scheduled guest on The Writers Lounge Blog Talk Radio Show #124 on October 17, 2022
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