Customer Reviews

Mirror

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mirror, a horror novel originally published in the late 80s, is one of Masterton's finest. The story is top notch, well-crafted, and well-delivered. When TOR was publishing horror novels on a monthly basis, you could always look forward to a new Masterton title at least once a year.

The story centers around an fan obsessed with a child star who was murdered fifty years in the past, at the age of eight. The fan was so devoted to keeping the memory of the child star alive that he writes a musical based on the child's life. However, Hollywood has no takers for filming it.

The fan later discovers that some of items belonging to the child are available for sale. He purchases a mirror, later discovering that the child is still "alive" in the mirror. Later, when things take a turn for the worse, the fan discovers the truth behind the child's presence in the mirror. Then the real terror begins...

If you can find a copy of this one, it would be well worth your time to read. If you can't, pick up one of Masterton's recent novels published by Dorchester Publications under the Leisure horror line.

This book earned Graham Masterton a place on my bookshelf next to King, McCammon, Straub, and Simmons; the masters of horror. Mirror is a brilliant, nightmarish novel about an evil child reaching out from the netherworld through an antique mirror. Hands down, it is one of the most gripping and entertaining horror novels I've ever read. If you consider yourself a fan of horror, seek this book out. Your collection has a huge gaping hole in it until you own a copy of this book!

Although I was utterly and completely terrified I found it very difficult to put down the book. I found it very interesting right from the beginning, very easy to read and always looked forward to picking it up again after I'd had a (well-deserved) break.

Very scary, and you will never look in any mirror the same again!

This was the first Graham Masterton book that I ever read and it is fantastic. The thin line between the innocent Alice adventures and the gothic horror which Masterton instills is without a doubt some of the most powerful writing ever published. The gore as always is only used to enhance the horror not overtake it, but it is the story which just makes this book the best out of all he has written. Fantastic.

This is a terrific book, that really sucks the reader into the story. Our protagonist Martin purchases a large antique mirror that once belonged to his favorite movie star Boofuls, a singing and dancing child star of the late 1930s who met a brutal demise. Martin soon discovers the mirror holds another realm in which little Boofuls has been living. And waiting. I couldn't tear my eyes away, I devoured this book even though it is quite lengthy. If you like anything concerning the dark and seedy side of Hollywood you will LOVE this. The novel has a great, well thought out plot with quite a few blood curdling scenes, and that "I just have to know what happens, so I'm going to keep reading." feeling. Get a copy, they are practically giving away used editions.

Mirror,

What happens when you buy a piece of Hollywood memorabilia from a little old, innocent woman? Boofuls happens, that what.

This book was a great read. I usually find Graham Masterton to be hit or miss. This time he knocked it out of the ballpark.

This is a creepy tale about a murdered childhood actor who wants his life back, and a poor unsuspecting down on his luck screenwriter who holds the key.

The writing was simple, straightforward and to the point. This time around, Mr. Masterton kept me interested with every new page I turned. I do not find that to be the case with some of his other works. (I wont mention titles)

It seems Masterton had Alice in Wonderland on the mind when he wrote this one. (More like Alice in Demon Land.) Horror and fantasy elements fill this book; the alternate worlds separated by the mirror give it this affect.

If you have not read Graham Masterton, this would be a great one to start with. He rarely gets better than this. (He may have never written better than this.)

i'd never read a book by g.m. before this one, but the cover looked very intriguing so i picked it. the book proved to be pretty intriguing too, not to mention totally terrifying! there's a whole lot of bizarre stuff happenning in this story: a strange alternate world on the other side of the mirror, the son of the devil and ultimately, the devil himself!

Mirror is a novel about a man fascinated with a deceased child star named Boofuls, who was brutally murdered. He purchases a mirror that once belonged to this star. Soon after buying it, he noticed strange things happening. He investigates and soon learns macabre details about Boofuls--details that have him realizing that the horror behind Boofuls' death is far from over.

Masterton is not a writer who is gentle. He does not let up on details and he does not gloss them over. The Mirror is delightfully creepy, particularly when crossing over into that mirror world. Ever since I read this story, I have read Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland with a more analytical eye, looking for the details Mirror references here.

This is one of Masterton's better stories. If you like being creeped out, check this one out.

I decided to try this book during one of Amazon's 'buy any horror novel for $1 promotion'. It had good reviews so I figured why not?

The premise of the novel is good. A mirror universe where everything is backwards and twisted. A mirror that holds the soul and releases a decades dead child movie star into the present day. A child who isn't nearly as innocent as he seems with a past as dark as they come.

Several things kept me from giving this book a better rating. First off it's very slow to start. Secondly I found the dialogue to be forced a times. A Jewish Hollywood agent that just HAS to work in a word of Yiddish in every paragraph? I found some of the characters to just be way too stereotypical and it just felt stunted as a result.

Secondly, about halfway through it was easy to tell where the author was going with the book. The idea of a demonic mirror is very cool and quite creepy and the way it forces its will on people was actually well done. There are several very gory passages in the book that made the novel worthy of it's horror billing. But as I said, about halfway through it felt like a mix of The Omen and The Exorcist and the book's path was laid out neatly and predictably.

Thirdly the ending. All that buildup and it ends entirely too suddenly.

Not a 'bad' book by any stretch, but it just seems dated and overly predictable to me.

Who is the scariest writer of all...

Even after reading as a many items by Masterton as I have, this was a Chiller in the Extreme.

Although it's hard to choose, I'd Rate MIRROR as a scare alongside of Masterton's CHARNEL HOUSE, PARIAH, and THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT.

Oddly enough the paperback copy I got had a double cover ( something I was told is rare)... however I'm not sure on that one :-).

Anyway, it's a real thrill to experience Masterton's topflight scare books.

When He Kicks the fright in, he does so better than most writers, not simply horror in the currently fashionable slash-gore sense, but Horror in the full sense of the "Touched by another realm" type of horror.

Masterton is consistently good, and fires on all cylinders in this and many other books.His first person narratives take you with him down the nightmare road that leads over and through the looking glass in this case. If you can find copies of this book, its worth it, as are copies of THE WELLS OF HELL, TENGU, PARIAH, THE MANITOU, REVENGE OF THE MANITOU, CHARNEL HOUSE ( The First Masterton Horror Book I read); all of Mastertons Horror genre work are first rate, and are so good that it is very clear that either his ideas have been ripped off, or he has sold his scripts on the q.t. and made his influence known. If you like Supernatural, real deal, spooky horror, then Masterton is the way to go.

Highly recommended.