Steven Sidor The Mirror's Edge

The Mirror's Edge

Steven Sidor

St. Martin's, Apr 2008, $24.95

ISBN: 9780312354138

Independent reporter Jase Deering believes it was the disappearance of his brother Mathias who at twelve years old walked into the wintry woods and never came safely home. Now as one year has passed since the kidnapping of two-year-old twins Liam and Shane Boyle, Jase and his blind girlfriend Robyn Matchfrost decide to investigate what the police have classified as a cold case.

The Chicago police detectives who worked the official inquiry assist Jase and Robyn as much as they can as they want closure almost as much as the victims parents crave it. The journalist team interviews the Boyle former nanny who lives in total abject fear and shows them the term 'mirrorrorrim' that the abductor etched on her skin. That message leads Jase and Robyn to black arts cult leader Aubrey Hart Morick, who believed strongly in human sacrifice; however Morick was dead long before the snatch occurred. Jase turns to Aubrey's offspring and soon uncovers disturbing information that makes him wonder if the son is a chip off the evil father's block. Finding the twins and proof remain elusive as the years go by with Jase now a solo act digging deeper and deeper into the cult and the supernatural. He knows he is too late for the boys and for himself, but obsessively keeps drilling deeper in search of the truth

This is a one-sitting superb but upsetting suspense tale (keep the antacid tablets handy) that plays out like an investigative thriller, but is much frighteningly more. Readers will follow every disconcerting twist with macabre fascination as Steven Sidor keeps the audience mesmerized with what is going on especially in the obsessed mind of Jase. You will not sleep well thinking about what really happened in this unforgettable novel.

Harriet Klausner