The Mist in the Mirror

In The Mist in the Mirror, Susan Hill expertly submerses the reader in a deliciously gothic tale. After his parents died, Sir James Monmouth was sent from his home in England at the age of five to live with his guardian in Africa. Of his life in England, he remembered little. Eventually, he became a world traveler, following in the footsteps of his hero, Conrad Vane. Decades later, Monmouth grows tired of his travels and decides to return to a wonderfully dark and dreary London, where he intends to pursue his studies of Vane. On his return, however, Monmouth experiences a series of eerie occurrences, which lead him to pursue his research and his own family history even more ardently, despite numerous ominous warnings.

Hill is clearly a well-regarded author. She has won the Whitbread, Somerset Maugham, and John Lewellyn Rhys awards and been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It is more than clear in Mist that Hill is a master at setting a scene. Still, this work moves slowly till the very end when it leaps suddenly to a conclusion. Furthermore, although the supernatural may not be completely explained, the conclusion feels incomplete and unsatisfying. Readers might be better starting with Hill’s other works.