When John Copenhaver released his critically adored second novel, The Savage Kind, it was revealed to be the first part of a trilogy that would follow Judy Peabody Nightingale and Philippa Watson, tracking their friendship/relationship across a landscape of America’s history. The second part of the journey, Hall of Mirrors, is soon to be released and it more than capitalizes on the promise of that excellent series debut.
John Copenhaver plots Hall of Mirrors to almost guarantee as speedy a reading experience as possible. Once started, readers will find themselves compelled to continue reading, or if they are forced to set it aside, they will find it impossible to stop thinking about the characters and their complex situations.
Judy and Phillipa are once again at the center of Hall of Mirrors. Picking up in 1949, shortly after the events of The Savage Kind, readers witness as these two young women struggle to understand their place in society—both individually and as a romantic couple. The path is not easy and Copenhaver excels at allowing the reader into these emotions and doubts that may be unfamiliar to their own life’s journey.
Hall of Mirrors also introduces another central couple—Roger Raymond and Lionel Kane, an interracial gay couple who are the two halves of the successful crime fiction author published as Ray Kane. Because of social limitations and bias, Roger (the white partner) has become the “face” of Ray Kane, obscuring the contributions of his Black lover, Lionel. Fans of the series will immediately recognize the various ways this partnership mirrors that of Judy and Phillipa—remembering that this burgeoning lesbian couple is hiding the truth of Judy’s mixed-race heritage.
When the latest Ray Kane novel is a successful fictionalization of a true crime, Judy and Phillipa get the idea to send them all the information they have on the suspected serial killer Adrian Bogdan. Merging these two distinct orbits is about to have seismic ramifications for everyone involved.
As Hall of Mirrors opens, Roger is found dead in the burning apartment he shared with Lionel. With this occurring just after he has lost his job because of the actions of the Lavender Scare (the anti-gay crusade led by Joseph McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover), authorities immediately rule the death as a suicide, but Lionel remains unconvinced. Judy and Phillipa stand beside Lionel’s side as he hunts for the truth.
The majority of Hall of Mirrors unspools via the points of view of one half of each couple. Judy provides the narration for the women and Lionel—by necessity—is the storyteller for the male couple. Copenhaver demands attention from his reader as he refuses to tell this narrative in chronological order—a decision that helps to elevate both the tension and the ambiguity of the proceedings.
Hall of Mirrors can work as a stand-alone, but since so much of Judy and Phillipa’s emotional fallout is contingent on the events of The Savage Kind, it is definitely a more rewarding reading experience to start at the beginning—watching as life’s revelations alter their course at every turn.
At its heart, Hall of Mirrors is an examination of the various ways people pretend to be something they are not. Both as a means of survival and as a way to navigate a society where an unequal balance remains the status quo. Almost every character on the page is hiding some true part of themselves and Copenhaver uses the mystery plot as a vehicle to document their self-actualization.
Hall of Mirrors is a complex historical mystery that is told so expertly that any confusion that might result is mitigated by the deep characterization of the leads and the well-researched historical details that form the backdrop of the action. This one is highly recommended.
BUY LINKS: Hall of Mirrors by John Copenhaver
Disclaimer: A print galley of this title was provided to BOLO Books by the publisher. No promotion was promised and the above is an unbiased review of the novel.
