All that are mysterious stories about personal identity attracts me with great pleasure. That kind of game between what a character seems to be and what he ends up being, or about the distorted perspective of his past or his present has an insurmountable psychological thriller point, if you know how to narrate with enough hook, of course.
The book of mirrors is a title perfectly adapted to the story, a brief synopsis that already anticipates that game of mirrors where the reflection is deceptive, where the protagonist of the story seeks a confused identity, in the style of the concave mirrors of Valle Inclán.
The plot puzzle begins as early as the first page when Peter Katz decides to read a manuscript, a common task as a literary agent. The work is also called The book of mirrors and in its development Peter knows the story of Richard Flynn, the very contact who sent him the work by mail.
From that moment in which we immerse ourselves in reading the manuscript, we become Peter and we know the unique story of Richard Flynn, a young student back in the 80s who established a relationship with the psychoanalyst Joseph Wieder.
Richard Flynn's life turned abruptly after a dramatic event that transformed his life. It is at that moment that he decides to undergo a therapy from the renowned psychoanalyst. And everything that happens from that moment becomes a miscellany of doubts. The reality narrated up to that moment becomes hazy, ambiguous, the characters that accompany Richard's narrated life seem to blur his identity.
But when the narration of the facts provided in the manuscript reaches its most transcendental part, the story closes without any signs of conclusion ...
Peter is trapped by doubt. He has Richard Flynn's contact, his address and phone number, but no one answers. It is then when he decides to launch himself for answers from anywhere, forcing contact with those people cited by the author.
And as a reader, the puzzle keeps you on edge. The need to sift the truth from the unreal leads you to a frenetic, restless, passionate reading. You just have a doubt as you turn the pages ... can this story be closed with a resolution at the level of the enveloping knot?
I assure you that yes, the ending produces a singular lace effect, in which what is read once again occupies the place of the particularity of reality in the case of Richard Flynn.
You can buy now The book of mirrors, the latest novel by EO Chirovici, here: