Virginia Dean wakes at midnight beside a dead body, with a bloody knife in her hand and no memory of the evening's events. Dark energy, emanating from the mirrors lining the room, overpowers her senses. With no apparent way in or out, she is rescued by a man she has met only once before, but won't soon forget.
Owen Sweetwater inherited his family's talent for hunting the psychical monsters who prey on London's women and children, and his investigation into the deaths of two glass-readers has led him here. The high-society types of the exclusive Arcane Society would consider Virginia an illusionist, a charlatan, even a criminal, but Owen knows better. Virginia's powers are real-and they just might be the key to solving this challenging case.
Review
In book two of the Looking Glass Trilogy (an Arcane
Society spin-off), Virginia Dean is a rare, powerful glasslight talent in
Victorian London. When death occurs in front of a mirror, the dying person’s
energy is trapped inside the mirror. Virginia can see afterimages of the dead
person, especially if it’s a violent death, and know how they died.
Owen Sweetwater is on the hunt for a man who’s been
killing women with glasslight talent. When he finds Virginia in a compromising
position, he knows she’s innocent of the murder and employs her on the hunt. Owen
comes from a long line of psychic hunters—men with an extraordinary sense of
finding and killing human monsters—but he needs to find the one woman who can
off-set the darkness inside him and save his sanity. As Owen and Virginia
untangle a nasty web full of deceit, murder, and alchemic weapons, they find a
passion stronger than either ever imagined.
Virginia is strong-willed, smart, and business-minded.
She also holds a strong dislike for the Arcane Society. Owen, likewise, doesn’t
belong to Arcane, but the secretive Sweetwater family has started up a working
relationship with Arcane’s new paranormal detective agency, Jones and Jones. As
an assassin for hire, Owen is patient, intelligent, and devoted to destroying
evil. And like the other Sweetwaters, he believes he should be paid for his
services on occasion.
Gabriel and Caleb Jones play bit roles in the story, and I
would’ve liked more page-time with them.
Though I really liked the story, I couldn’t help but
wonder why the Quicksilver Mirror even exists in this trilogy. As with the
first book, the mirror played second string to the Bridewell Curiosities. Those
mechanical clockwork weapons seem far more important than an alchemical mirror
that shows up just once in the course of this story. Also, what happened to the
curiosities, the inventor, and the mirror at the end? It’s never said, but I do
know from reading the first book that some of the curiosities ended up in a
bomb shelter and the mirror ended up in the Arcane Museum. The fate of those
items and the inventor, Millicent Bridewell, really should’ve been explained
here to tie up loose ends.
As with the last contemporary book (In Too Deep) in the
Arcane series, this is the last historical Arcane book that I’ve been able to
find. I really hope Ms. Quick writes more.
4 Stars
Disclaimer – I bought this book for my own enjoyment. I
am not paid or compensated in any way, shape, or form for this honest review. I
will not change or alter this review for any reason unless at my discretion.
