Susan Hill's The Mist in the Mirror - Review

The Mist In The Mirror by Susan Hill

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A gothic ghost story from the modern mistress of the genre.

After several decades abroad, Sir James Monmouth returns to England for the first time since he was a child, intending to undertake research into the life of adventurer Conrad Vane, in whose footsteps he has followed since first encountering tales of his travels as a boy.

Yet around Vane appears to have developed an aura of fear and revulsion, and Monmouth is several times cautioned against pursuing his quest. Meanwhile, he feels consistently dogged by some presence he cannot see, lurking just out of reach.

By chance, he uncovers a link directly into his own past that may lead to discoveries about his family history that he never considered exploring. As his new quest threatens to consume him, it may expose a secret that unknowingly changed the course of his life.

'The Mist in the Mirror' is Susan Hill's second ghost story, following in the footsteps of the modern classic 'The Woman in Black'. Brilliantly evoking a gothic and ghostly atmosphere, it brims with classic gothic imagery, haunting descriptions gradually building suspense through each page, vividly swirling like mist, the novel maintaining its chill grip until the final moments.

Mystery and shades of supernatural phenomena heighten throughout, as we follow Monmouth's mission to discover more about the life of someone he greatly admires, only to discover he may not be worthy of the pedestal on which he has placed him - something which is all the more relatable in our age of scandals, social media and exposures of social and criminal injustices. As Monmouth becomes drawn into an obsession to find answers to questions about his own past, we feel his unsettling loneliness and the dislocation conjured by the missing pieces of his life, racing on with him to ultimately uncover a horror that can never be forgotten.

A thrilling and at times thought-provoking tale, 'The Mist in the Mirror' is a superlatively well-written and enjoyable ghost story, exploring how secrets haunt the living and the stain of evil forever haunts those it touches.



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