Too long by about 100 pages
928965
Writing is easy, editing is difficult. This book is too long by about 100 pages. There are just too many characters thrown in just to be killed off. Thriller means keeping the story tightly paced, making the reader not want to put the book down. Well, it was easy for me to put down this book and with all the twists and turns of Veronica Knox's loyalties, I got to a point of who cares? Balcacci could do much better. Must have been a deadline.
4348985
Too much travel info. If I wanted to read a Fodor's Guide to France, that's what I would have bought. This has a nice story line, but too much time and too many pages were spent on describing EVERYTHING in France. I get it that the author loves France, but I got tired of hearing how everything is better in France - the cheese, the wine, the bread, the culture, the people, the double cheek kisses (bises), the history, the buildings, the beaches, the sky, on and on ad nauseum. At least a third of the book was all of this kind of detail that was boring and tedious. I almost stopped reading it, but I managed to finish it. Too bad I don't feel like it was worth it.
4348191
The story was interesting but seemed to get bogged down with too many details that didn't really add to the story. I feel it would have been a better book if it were 100-150 pages shorter.
699058
Great story, parts of the book are too lengthy and will put you to sleep, better book if it was not nine hundred and some pages long.
2869286
The first half of the book was quite interesting. The last half dragged on. It could have been 50 pages shorter.
3476091
Good stuff in the book but way too long.  I think there is a lot of redundancy.  If it was a 300 page book instead of a 600 page book I would rate it a 5 star.
2479242
This book should have been only half as long as the nearly 700 pages it is.  Same points repeated over and over, and way too much on the detectives on the task force - which I really didn't care about.
4144033
This book is fine until the last 100 pages or so.  Up to that point, it had been a nice story about a simple guy struggling through life.  Then, for some reason, the author reaches for one literary device after another (no matter how peripheral to the main story) that they ruin the book.  It's profoundly disappointing.
633895
Well,  to be honest, I read the first 100 pages and lost my interest. It is not neccesarily the author but the story was not  good enough to keep me interested.
3352548
The story is pretty good. It is way too long. There were numerous stuff about unrelated matters  - it became tiresome at times. The author seemed to want to take as long as possible to tell the story. For me it almost ruined what could have been a good read.
502605
The book contains so much repetition it became laborous to read, the chapters were long and drawn out with too much emphasis on describing the environment around them(could have easily reduced the book by 100 pages I'm sure). I decided that I simply didn't want to invest the time to finish the book and stopped at about page 200. Not enough action or mystery to keep me turning the pages. While I'm sure it's someones cup of tea it just wasn't mine. It is a well written and edited book however
1194394
Should be 150 pages shorter....... too much time spent repeating repetitive material.
3054121
I'm a psychotherapist. The other reviews have it right. The first 100 pages are quite good but then the author starts wallowing into stories about his own growing up. Many of these are off-topic or useless. He also gets some of his facts wrong in these later chapters. The first 100 pages are 5 stars, the last 200 pages are 1-3 stars. Buy it, rip it up and keep the first part. Use the other part for cage lining.
3205701
The book was long, drawn out and repetitive.  The book could've been halve the length without losing the context.  The details of the discovery of the girl's body and the ultimate arrest of the murderer weren't revealed until at least three quarters of the way through the book.  The rest covered the multiple trials of the murderer.  The book was too long and often boring.
509205
I picked this up because I had read her "Impossible Things" and liked it, also because I liked the brief on the back cover.  I give this a two star rating rather than a one because the subject matter is interesting.  The chapters go on and on longer than they need to and the book sometimes seems like a first draft rather than a final copy because there are many things that haven't been taken out.  I sped through the last 80 pages not because I was gripped by the book, but rather, after reading the first 700 pages, I had invested too much and just wanted to be through with it.
1597500
Too long, too wordy, too much unnecessary detail.
4714683
Girl Before a Mirror would have been a great 150 page beach read.  Unfortunately, it is actually about twice as long as it needs to be.  The author's writing style was a bit hectic at first -- introducing so many characters in the first few chapters that it was confusing and chaotic at times. I liked the main character (a lot) and there were well developed secondary characters, but I found the descriptive writing and some of the ancillary story to be tedious.  I was engaged enough in the story that I wanted to finish the book, but I found myself skimming long portions at times.  I find myself a little perplexed as I write this review.  The author shows moments of brilliance and is able to create compelling characters with very real characteristics.  I related to the struggles of the heroine in allowing herself to be vulnerable.  She captured the games that women play in the office environment.  Maybe this is a case of a book where a more heavy handed editor was needed.  At any rate, I can't recommend it.  However, I'd be willing to give this author another try.  She has a voice that should be heard.