Spoiler Discussion for The Stranger in the Mirror

Have you read The Stranger in the Mirror by Liv Constantine? Need a plot summary? Want to discuss all the insanity? You are in the right place. This is my Spoiler Discussion for Stranger in the Mirror!

Spoiler Discussion for The Stranger in the Mirror

Wow, this book was WAY out there! Even the character list is filled with spoilers, so if you do NOT want spoilers, click here and check out my spoiler-free review of The Stranger in the Mirror!

If you’re good with spoilers, here is my Spoiler Discussion for The Stranger in the Mirror!

Characters in The Stranger in the Mirror

Addison: She’s a photographer who is celebrating her engagement.

Gabriel: Addison’s fiance of six months. His family owns a gallery.

Patrick: Gabriel’s best man

Darcy: Gabriel’s ex

Hailey: Gabriel’s sister and Addison’s maid of honor

Ed and Gigi: friends of Addison and her surrogate parents. Their daughter, Beth, was murdered ten years ago.

Blythe and Ted: Gabriel’s parents

Connor: owner of the Blue Mirror strip club. Dies.

Zane: Cassandra/Amelia’s first husband

Julian: A psychiatrist. His wife Cassandra is missing. He lives in Boston.

Valentina: Julian and Cassandra’s daughter

The Cassandras (this is where things get REALLY weird)

Cassandra: Julia’s original wife

Amelia: the replacement Cassandra, later called Addison

Addison: Amelia’s name after her amnesia

Plot Summary for The Stranger in the Mirror

In Philadelphia, Addison is at her engagement party. As her fiancé’s family toasts her, she thinks about her two year battle with amnesia. 

In Boston, Julian cares for his seven year old daughter Valentina and thinks about his missing wife, Cassandra. 

Addison has tea with her friend Gigi and recalls the night Gigi’s husband Ed picked her up at the side of a road two years ago. She meets with Gabriel’s mother, who urges her to consider a large wedding. Addison has nightmares about blood and dead bodies.

Blythe and Hailey meet Addison to shop for her wedding dress. Addison only tries long sleeved dresses and Blythe notices a scar on her arm.

Addison recalls how Ed and Gigi helped her steal the identity of a child who died.

Blythe hires a private detective. Addison and Gabriel travel to Florida, where a man approaches Addison and suggests she’s a stripper. Addison and Gabriel move up their wedding, alarming Blythe.

Addison tells Ed and Gigi about the guy who thinks she is a stripper. Ed approaches the guy, who says that Addison used to dance as Juniper at a bar called the Blue Mirror.

Addison is having an exhibition of her photography at Blythe and Ted’s Philadelphia gallery. Julian travels to Philly on business. He walks past the gallery and sees a photo of Cassandra herself. 

Julian approaches Addison at the opening of her exhibit and shows her a photo of the two of them. He tells her that her name is Cassandra, that they are married, that she is thirty-seven and has a seven year old daughter. 

Julian tells Addison that she vanished one evening. He explains that she was being treated for anxiety and depression as a result of her difficult childhood in foster care. He drives her to Boston to meet Valentina. 

Addison walks around their house, trying to remember living there. Julian tells her she was married before, to an abusive husband. Addison meets Valentina.

Gabriel contacts Addison but she also tells him she is going to try to move forward with Julian and Valentina.

Cassandra starts noticing that things are missing. She asks Julian to tell her more about her past, and her suicide attempts. He admits that she was very jealous of the gestational surrogate they used to have Valentina.

Julian says that Addison was prone to fits of rage, and that she heard voices that told her to hurt herself or Valentina. He says she drover her car into a wall shortly before she vanished, which required her to have surgery on her face.

Gabriel shows up at Addison’s house. He’s worried when he sees all the medications she’s taking. She tells him she’s fine. But she’s been hearing voices again. 

Julian tells Addison she killed Sonia, the surrogate, and that he got rid of the body.

Addison decides to kill herself and Julian agrees to help her. 

Four years earlier:

Julian’s wife Cassandra is dead but he has found a replacement. He is hypnotizing her to think that she’s Cassandra. Amelia has attempted suicide in the past. He tries to integrate Amelia into their life as Cassandra but she’s struggling. 

Julian is in a “secret room” with the real Cassandra. (It seems like real Cassandra is dead as she isn’t answering him but who knows). He remembers the day Cassandra found a diary revealing that he implanted false memories in Cassandra of her husband Zane abusing her. 

Cassandra is furious and threatens to leave him and take Valentina. He sedates her. Cassandra/Amelia pops up (this guy should really lock the door!). She sees (dead?) Cassandra and, not surprisingly, runs off. 

Julian wakes up in the hospital. He’s been hit by a car and Amelia/Cassandra is missing.

Present day:

Blythe’s investigator finds a newspaper story about a woman, Amelia, whose entire family was murdered.  

Cassandra’s husband Zane agrees to meet Blythe and Ed. He says that he and Cassandra were struggling with infertility and Amelia grew depressed. Her therapist convinced her that Zane had abused her and caused the miscarriages.

The therapist then convinced Cassandra to divorce Zane and marry him. Later he found proof that one of her alleged abuse incidents couldn’t have happened and shared that with Cassandra. 

Addison decides against suicide and Julian is enraged. He tells her that she was just a replacement for Cassandra. Her dreams of someone getting shot are memories of her family’s murder. Julian starts to attack Addison and she stabs him. 

Blythe, Ed and Gabriel go to Julian’s house and see the police there. Addison is fine. Gabriel wants her to be with him but she says she can’t leave Valentina.

Reveal: what happened the night Addison disappeared

Amelia/Cassandra came home to surprise Julian and heard him talking to Cassandra. She ran off with Julian in pursuit. He is hit by a car and she runs off. A creepy guy offers her a ride and then attacks her. She hits him with a rock and enters a fugue state, which is where Gigi and Ed find her. 

Amelia/Addison remembers discovering her entire family murdered by her father. She reveals that Julian had buried the real Cassandra in his backyard after he “accidentally” killed her. She visits Julian in prison and he says he wants to give her custody of Valentina.

Spoiler Discussion for The Stranger in the Mirror

Amnesia stories aren’t always my favorite, but they can add some suspense in a thriller. But this confused me a lot. Amelia was hypnotized to think she was Cassandra, and then got amnesia and decided she was Addison. It was a lot of names for one character.

This one just got a little too out-there for me. I mean, obviously Julian was shady, but he was just insane!

I know some people may disagree, but I liked the unresolved ending. Poor Amelia. First her family is murdered. Then she marries Zane and psycho Julian decides to steal her and convince her she’s Cassandra. Then she gets amnesia and meets Gabriel. Then Julian tells her she’s Cassandra. Maybe she will end up with Gabriel one day, but this poor girl needs to take some time to figure out who she is.

What did you think of The Stranger in the Mirror? Talk to me in comments!

If you’re a Liv Constantine fan, come check out my Spoiler Review for The Wife Stalker. We have a very lively discussion going and hope you will join us!