Loved this book. Didn’t want it to end. Highly recommend.

Love love love. Incredible book. Fabulous book club pick too

Paper Ghosts is gripping and disquieting use of dementia as a character trait amidst a serial killer story more haunting than gory. This is the 2nd Heaberlin I've read and I keep enjoying her fresh take on serial killer thriller.

A nameless young woman regularly visits Carl Feldman in a state welfare house, pretending to be his daughter. During his younger years, Carl was a documentary and fine art photographer, famous for his craft as much as for his alleged crime. But now he is old and suffering from dementia. Though already acquitted by the court, the nameless young woman obtained photographs taken by Carl incriminating him with the murder he was accused of as well as the disappearances of other women including her big sister, Rachel. So the nameless young woman lured Carl into joining her into a roadtrip across Texas to visit the places where the photographs were taken, hoping against hope that Carl remembers anything that will lead her to her missing sister.

I was instantly smitten by the premise. Roadtrips are intimate and suffocatingly up close that we mostly take them with family and friends, people whom we know, can tolerate and trust our lives with. So I was curious with this woman who will pack for a roadtrip with a possible serial killer. I was half hoping that she backs off (but then nothing will happen and there will be no book) and half cheering her to not give up until she finds the truth. The roadtrip style turned out to be both a benefit and a burden to the book.

Let me talk about the benefit first. Making the characters traverse a possible murder trail gives the author an opportunity to pepper the book with interesting people and places. There are glimpses of people they met along the way who left an impression on me. To mention a few: there is Trudy, a real estate agent selling the house where one of the murders occurred, who is paranoid not with the paranormal but with being alone in showing houses to strangers. There’s the feisty DeeDee, the deeply insecure woman who re-married the widow of a murder victim. Then Gretchen, the bestfriend of one of the victims. Even how Carl and the narrator perceive the patrons of a particular diner is interesting.

The travelogue aspect of the book is deftly handled. I got a grasp of the unforgiving side of Texas: a beach front where a girl goes into the sea and never comes back, an unmarked farm which may or may not be “an infinite burial ground”. Even the author’s description of mundane things like the clouds and the moon has this spellbinding ability to draw me in to the book. (Okay, there are a couple of the worn and tired “I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding.”, but other than that, the prose is beautiful) And it also helped that the book has a deep respect in photography. I am kinda creeped out but also somewhat agree with the book’s suggestion that when we look at people in the photos, especially the old ones, those people could be paper ghosts staring back at us. In between some chapters are actual eerie, black and white photos with chilling photographer’s (Carl’s) notes with them. The author in her acknowledgements mentioned that they are actually photographed by Jill Johnson and inspired by the works of Keith Carter.

Now let me get with the burden part. Aside from the casual thieving and lying by both Carl and the nameless narrator, the plot got meandering in the middle. The lull of the roadtrip has no sense of urgency especially when everything is dependent upon Carl remembering despite his dementia. The narrator can only express the immediacy of things through the days passing by (she only has ten days before the state welfare house comes looking for Carl) and her depleting resources (she set a budget money for the trip) but not through her actions.

The nameless woman narrator is always saying that she came prepared and trained for whatever danger that could possibly happen but when actual danger comes in, she is pulled back from the action. There’s this time when she can could have probably got some ass kicked but she got drunk and has to be saved by a Mysterious Man in the Dark ™. She does not even get to pull the trigger of the gun she is always anxiously holding. After ten days on the road, the book ended but the resolutions to the women’s disappearances came pretty much incidental. I think both the main character and Carl are a bit coddled, their roadtrip plot wanting more grit and macabre.

This book is not the typical thriller I read, but I couldn't say no after reading the synopsis. Our main character, Grace, is a young woman whose sister went missing when they were younger. She admired her older sister so much that she has built her life around obsessing over her disappearance. Though her sister was never found, she is presumed dead, Grace believes a serial killer was responsible.

Enter Carl. Carl was tried for the murder of a woman but was acquitted. He was a famous photographer once, but now he has dementia. After her plans are put in place Grace convinces Carl's caretaker that she is his daughter and would like to take him away for a week or two. The two embark on a ten day road trip across Texas in which Grace tries to get Carl to admit he is responsible for her sister's death.

This book got off to a great start - intriguing, fast paced, even funny. After a short while it hit a lull that it didn't really recover from until the last couple of chapters in the book. I liked the character of Carl a lot. Some of his antics were what kept me involved with this story. However, the slow creep of this book with uneventful action had a little trouble keeping my attention.

Readers who are familiar with and love Texas will be sure to want to pick this book up as the state itself is a big part of the book.

Reading Paper Ghosts is like watching a chess game or a tennis match. Back and forth, back and forth. Both individuals have their own agenda and are trying to outwit the other. One, Grace, is the sister of a murder victim who thinks she’s identified her sister’s killer. That man, who may now be suffering from early onset dementia, was formerly a documentary photographer who was acquitted on the one case taken to court. She takes him on a road trip to view sites of murders he supposedly committed. But her stories seem tenuous at best or nonsensical at worst.

The book consists of mixed media. There are photographs, photographer’s notes from Carl’s published book, lists and pages out of a youngster’s notebook. I liked the way this broke up the story and gave an added dimension.

There’s a delicious creep factor to the beginning of the book. It had me squirming. But as the story goes on, the tension comes and goes and in between, the book just seems to sag. Too many scenes that just didn’t seem to make sense. Grace is totally paranoid and not just about Carl and his proclivities. The plot didn’t hang together and the ending seemed anticlimactic and definitely out of left field.

If I rated this book at the beginning it would have been a five star. But by the end, it was down to a three. I felt like the author squandered a great premise.

My thanks to netgalley and Ballantine Books for an advance copy of this novel.

Grace has gone a lot farther to figure out what happened to her missing sister than anyone can imagine. She has trained in self-defense and to master her fears. She has scoured the dark web for information and false identities. She has cooked up lies to cover her tracks. She has done all of this to break a possible serial killer with dementia out of a halfway house to get the truth out of him somehow. Julia Heaberlin’s Paper Ghosts is a tense ride through Texas, following a trail that leads who knows where for a story Grace might not want to hear. The more I read, the more I enjoyed this book.

We don’t know much about either Grace or Carl Feldman at the very beginning of Paper Ghosts. In a few short chapters, we learn that Carl has dementia, he was a photographer, and that he might have killed Grace’s sister. We also learn that Grace is going to bust him out and take him on a trip to the sites where he took pictures and young women disappeared. Somehow it’s all going to work, in Grace’s head. It has to. She refuses to think that it won’t work. Carl, of course, is not talking about his past no matter how much she prods or tries to jog his memory. Instead, he makes demands for fast food; stops to pan for gold; and to pick up stray, wounded animals. He is not the kind of serial killer Grace expected, especially when he starts to save her life from mysterious pursuers.

The question of what Carl has and hasn’t done kept Grace (and me) guessing about what really happened to her sister and three other young women. Carl was on trial for one kidnapping and murder, but acquitted due to lack of evidence. There’s circumstantial evidence that puts him in the right time and place. There’s his cunning intelligence and charm that can be predatory or flattering by turns. He seems like he ought to be a serial killer. And yet, there’s a delicious ambiguity that runs through the entire book that is only finally resolved at the very end.

I wasn’t sure about Paper Ghosts when I first started it. There were a lot of short paragraphs to get the story moving that made me worry that there might be a lack of depth—characterization and backstory sacrificed for the sake of a fast plot. But Heaberlin is very skilled at embedding information in such a way that you learn more about what’s happening and why without loading readers down with exposition. She’s also great at building up an atmosphere and rich setting that made me feel like I was in the car with Grace and Carl, worried every minute for Grace’s safety and wondering what Carl would do next. This book is a fantastic thriller. It was so good that I want to go and read the rest of Heaberlin’s books.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration. It will be released 15 May 2018.

I have read her previous books and was looking forward to reading this book.

Since Grace's sister's disappearance, life has revolved around her solving case.
She was 12 when her sister, 19, rode her bike to babysit and never made it there.
Leaving not only her family, but, two boys that she babysat (played with) also feeling
and mourning her sister's loss.
Grace goes on a journey - looking for closure
Does she have a death wish or a brave wish?

I enjoyed reading her "My Survival Notebook" pages throughout book.

Insane. I was attracted to the cover of this book, then the blurb sent me over the edge. I never expected to story to live up to how high my expectations were for this! I was fascinated by the 2 main characters and felt a closeness to both of them even though they were both crazy. I want more from this author!

What a strange little book. I found the idea for the plot so unique and interesting, but the execution was so-so. I just felt like not a lot happened. The writing was really wonderful though and I definitely felt it was an atmospheric novel. The ending was a little unbelievable, but it did tie up most loose ends. Reviewed on Goodreads and will post on Amazon after release date.

Thanks to Netgalley for ARC.
This book sounded really good from thedescription, but i must say that I am disappointed. I am unable to get into this book and can not even finish it. It started off well but the more I read, the harder it is to make myself read it.
It is supposed to be a mystery, I think but has this goofy and quirky vibe going on with the 2 main characters. In my opinion, quirky and mystery does not flow well together. Too much quirky and not enough delving into the disappearance of the sister or at least not enough about the disappearance soon enough to catch my interest.

Got bored with this one pretty quickly. Couldn't finish it. What was wrong with it? Who knows! I just didn't click with me.

Grace has never gotten over the death of her sister. She has become obsessed with finding the answer. She tracks down Carl, the man she believes is responsible. Carl is living in a home for convicts with dementia. Grace pretends to be his daughter and takes Carl on a road try to try to get answers.

Is Carl a serial killer, does he really have dementia or is he manipulating Grace. Grace is totally obsessed with her sisters death and is determined to get an answer from Carl. This book moves slow at first and the writing style at the beginning was off putting to me, and I almost quit reading. I kept on a little longer and as the book went on it did capture my interest but it took awhile. Both the characters in this book are screwed up people. I had no idea where the book was heading. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

What a great read. I started this expecting to have one experience but on top of being a great thriller and having the twists and turns associated therewith, I also got a touching family story and the beginning of a friendship. Heaberlin writes wonderful, complex characters that come to life and have all the qualities and flaws real humans have. They come to life. The story of our main character, who until very late in the book remains unnamed, is tragic and intriguing as well as the tale of Carl. I loved every minute of this book and didn’t want it to be over. Pick this book up and love it too!

I didn't really know what to expect from this book and I went in a little blind. Basically, the creep factor was a lot of looking over your shoulder, waiting for the other shoe to drop moments. It was refreshing and different for me, who mostly reads romance.

The woman who is guiding the story is interesting, strong and brave, determined and clever. The photographer along for the ride is sneaky and maybe a genius. Genuine, can't totally figure him out. I think sociopaths are like that and I wonder if this is really a pretty close picture to what it's like when someone like that starts to get dementia.

I wish every little thing was answered, or more fully satisfied me. I know a lot was and maybe I'm just a little slow but I still feel like he kept his secrets til the end. I do find it interesting how things unravelled in an unexpected way. All in all this was an enjoyable read with cool pictures between chapters.

Paper Ghosts is a novel by Julia Heaberlin told in ten days with an epilogue. Paper Ghosts tells the story with some back and forth in time. Ms Heaberlin immediately draws the reader into the story. In some ways most of the book is an edge of your seat thriller because our "heroine" really can't depend on the actions of her traveling "companion". I was given an early copy to review.

I loved the pictures that were put into the book - it really made an impact! The main character frustrated me, at times, for her lack of foresight and perceived intellect. For all of the "training" she's put herself through, she seemed quite incompetent at times. Enjoyed the overall story, though.

A witty, edge-of-your-seat ride that kept me guessing and second guessing. Not to be missed.

Grace has never gotten over the loss of her sister who disappeared all those years ago. She believes Carl Feldman is responsible for her murder. Carl has after all been on trial for murder before. These days Carl is in a halfway house, supposedly with dementia, but Grace is not so sure he isn't faking. She hatches a plan to pose as his daughter, visiting him often so that it won't seem suspicious when she wants to take dear old dad on a road trip one last time. Grace finds out more than she ever expected to, and we find out that there is far more to Grace than just a grieving sister.
There were lots of twists and surprises to this suspenseful story.

'Lying is a delightful thing, for it leads to truth. That’s Dostoyevsky.'

This is a heck of a suspense story about a serial killer who may or may not have dementia. Can you ever really trust a killer? Sure, he’s an old man but isn’t dementia a convenient illness for someone with a lot of sins to hide? Carl Louis Feldman was a celebrated photographer, but it’s the girls he photographed that captivates the young woman who arrives at the half-way house where he lives claiming to be his daughter. She is going to take him on a trip to ‘dig up’ his lost memories of his darkness, and find out what happened to her beloved sister Rachel who disappeared when she herself was just a kid. “Death came to her like a summer’s dream.” Her years have been haunted by not knowing what happened, if she is dead or alive. An adult now, her obsession has driven her to deceive old Carl, but is his mind really filled with holes or is it just another deception in a dark life? He isn’t a fool, nor does he trust her. Her sister climbed out of a grave once, just what will Carl reveal, will she rise again?

With photographs as clues and with Carl in tow, she is going to unravel the great horrific mystery of her life. Though during his trial for another crime he was found not guilty and went into hiding, she always knew he’d ‘crawl out.’ Never could she have imagined she would become his ‘daughter’. He wants things, and only then will he help her. He tells her it’s an exercise in madness, he doesn’t remember! Then he gives her the list, and she will give in to his demands. He starts playing with her, leaving her little gifts meant to frighten her, and it works. There are flashbacks to her memories of Rachel, and now with Carl sharing her space, she is remembering things that once seemed inconsequential. She won’t be cowed by Carl, she knows her power is in never showing her fear, never flinching in his presence, never letting him know his effect on her. With two fingers on her flesh he says, “Bump, bump. That’s your carotid.” It just shows how he loves mind games, and a woman’s fear. She plays the game right back.

She wants to know everything, even if she risks her own neck. I didn’t have a clue how this story would end, not what I expected at all. It’s scores points for originality with the dementia angle. I really liked Black-Eyed Susans by Heaberlin, this one is a bit slower but still an interesting story. He is a killer, how the hell do you cozy up to a killer who plays the liar’s game so much better than you? They are both screwed up, and is strange to see how much she has in common with him. The story is more about their psyche than any of his victims, her sister included. Sometimes the answer is worse than what you thought you knew. The memories of a chid are distorted to begin with, colored by rage and grief carried into adulthood and truth becomes a murky diseased artifact. What has Carl done? Does he really have no memory of her sister because of his dementia, or is there something else?

Without a doubt one of the strangest books about a killer I’ve read in a long time.

Publication Date: May 15, 2018

Random House

Ballantine Books

Paper Ghosts is a serious of minds in that you never know when you'll find out the truth. Grace, who uses unorthodox means to get to the truth about her missing sister Rachel, takes probable serial killer Carl Feldman on a road trip to try and jog his memory. But Grace is no innocent. She lies, cheats, and does what is necessary to get what she needs. But will she finally learn the truth about Rachel's disappearance?

Paper Ghosts is a definite page-turner and readers will get lost in Grace's quest, Carl's frustrating knack for withholding information and the mystery of his disease. I had a hard time putting this book to the side because I really wanted to know what happened to Rachel. But I also wanted to see how far Grace would go to get the answers she so desperately wanted. I'm looking forward to reading the finished copy of this book.