This book kept me on the edge of my seat and intrigued from start to finish! Really enjoyed this mystery/thriller and couldn’t wait for it all to play out.

#thankyounetgalley
Reading The Ghostwriter kept me on my toes the entire time. From the moment I started, the story’s twists and turns pulled me deeper into a world of secrets, family trauma, and mystery. The writing is creative and well-crafted, with the plot alternating between past and present timelines that skillfully reveal bits of information at just the right moments without becoming confusing.

What I really enjoyed was the protagonist’s journey—Olivia Dumont, a ghostwriter who is unexpectedly hired to write for her elusive father, a man shrouded in suspicion and dark family history. Finding out who the next author she would be ghostwriting for became an intriguing puzzle in itself. The story artfully blends her personal discoveries with suspenseful twists, making every chapter a fresh surprise.

The narrative is more than just a thriller; it’s about unraveling the complicated ties that bind family and facing painful truths that have long been hidden. The compelling characters, well-written prose, and emotionally charged revelations made it impossible for me to put the book down. Overall, The Ghostwriter is a gripping, creative, and twist-filled read that kept me guessing until the final page.

Rating: 4.75 ⭐️

A ghostwriter in financial ruin agrees to write her estranged father’s memoir only to discover it’s a confession of a decades old family tragedy. This atmospheric thriller delivers suspense, family secrets, and a chilling exploration of legacy! If you’re a fan of psychological mysteries this one’s for you!

I didn’t have a chance to download this before it archived but I’ve since purchased and read it. The writing here was great. The delivery of the past events with current was done well. I enjoyed all the POV we get as added perspective.

Julie Clark’s “The Ghostwriter” is a twisty psychological thriller. I had a hard time putting this suspenseful drama down. I look forward to reading more of her books.

Ghostwriter Olivia Dumont has spent her entire professional life hiding the fact that she is the only child of Vincent Taylor. Now on the brink of financial ruin, she's offered a job to ghostwrite her father's last book. What she doesn't know, though, is that this project is another one of his lies. Because it's not another horror novel he wants her to write.

After fifty years of silence, Vincent Taylor is finally ready to talk about what really happened that night in 1975.

Love when a thriller keeps you guessing. I sincerely had no idea how this one was going to pan out. Found the middle a little dragged out but loved the surprise ending!

**Many thanks to NetGalley, SOURCEBOOKS Landmark, and Julie Clark for an ARC of this book!**

"No one grows up thinking they want to be a ghostwriter. No one plans on that job." - Hilary Liftin

Olivia Dumont wholeheartedly agrees with THAT statement...but yet, ghostwriting has become her life, her respite, and her chance at escape from the controversy that has surrounded her from a young age. As the only child of Vincent Taylor, it was in her best interest to try to live in the shadows: Vincent was the only child in his family that survived a murderous night in 1975 where both of his siblings, Poppy and Danny, were killed. Though he walks free, he has never been able to shake the accusations, the pointing, and the whispers, since many consider him to be the prime suspect. Despite this public scrutiny, Vincent was able to take his notoriety and spin it into a successful career...as a horror writer, no less.

But so many years later, he has one story left to tell...and it's a peek behind the curtain at that horrifying night so many years ago. Vincent can't trust just ANYONE with the painful and sordid details of that evening and all that came before it...and that's where Olivia comes in. Vincent decides it is none other than his daughter who should serve as his ghostwriter on this memoir and horror story all in one. Although Olivia has mixed emotions and a healthy amount of terror at hearing what REALLY happened to the aunt and uncle she never knew, financial desperation, curiosity, and a sense of familial loyalty take over and she agrees to pen the story. But when she learns that her father is suffering from Lewy Body Disease and his memories can't EXACTLY be trusted, she's forced to navigate those murky waters in a quest for the truth. With film taken by Poppy so many years ago and Poppy's diaries as Olivia's only other primary sources, will she have the details she needs to FINALLY expose the killer? Or will the truth about the murders make her question EVERYTHING she thought she could trust about her father...and confirm her darkest, most horrifying fear?

To say Julie Clark is an auto-buy author is an understatement: from time I slapped together the covers of the Last Flight (which I read ON A PLANE and practically in one flight's length, as it were!) she was CONFIRMED as one of my favorite female thriller writers I'd found in recent memory. The female distinction in this case is important because Julie so deftly weaves in women's issues and has SMART women at the center of her books each and every time, and I love that I can expect that from her. No boozy, flighty, pill-popping protagonists here: her characters are the type who could easily manipulate the aforementioned and have them slapped in cuffs or walking into a carefully laid trap while not breaking a sweat. Her standard thrill-a-minute narratives, complete with dueling female protagonist leads, are the kind of TWISTY psychological thrillers I crave, and when I saw this stunning cover and intriguing title pop up last year, this book FLEW to the top of my most anticipated 2025 reads list.

But the unfortunate thing about what goes up? It does, EVENTUALLY, come down...and this abrupt turn from twisty psych thriller to sort of an elevated traditional mystery with a possible unreliable narrator took this novel from the feeling of an exciting, nonstop ascent to a sort of boring, cruising speed...and much like a flight that suddenly started feeling very LONG and had me itchy to get off the plane.

Despite this departure from her first two thrillers, there WERE some Julie Clark Hallmarks that were still present here: the aforementioned cunning female protagonist, and a somewhat unique premise that had a bit of a cat and mouse flair to it. I was invested in Olivia's journey to get to know the man behind the mask, especially during the beginning half of the book, and felt the audience was being properly prepared for an unreliable narrator journey...and I was okay with that being the foundation for what I had HOPED would follow: all of the twists. Unfortunately, this sort of expectation started to fizzle and fade as the narrative wore on....and on...and ON. The last word I would have ever used to describe Clark's books prior to this one is 'meandering'....but somewhere along the way, that's exactly what this one became. Rather than being wrapped up in the relationship between father and daughter, we had to spend progressively more time in the past timeline...with a bunch of characters that were nowhere as intriguing to read...and this started feeling a lot more like YA than it needed to in order to get the point across.

This isn't a bad book by any means, and Clark's prose is mainly responsible for this: she keeps you just hooked enough to keep reading to get you from point A to B so you can get to the bottom of the secrets and finally get the FULL picture of what happened so many years ago. But the problem isn't the premise, or even the style of this one, although I'd argue it's far more of a mysterious cold case with sort of a thriller tinged plot than a psychological thriller. The main downfall of this read for me is that for the first time, a Julie Clark book reads more conventional than clever...and with such a sharp and intelligent author that in and of itself is a letdown. I didn't feel adequately 'got' by the ending and all of the sort of half-baked psych thriller twists I'd been cooking up in my head since early days (well, pages) didn't come to pass either...although in fairness, the true endings made a LOT more sense...for the conventional set, that is!

And while the premise of this novel focuses on Olivia as The Ghostwriter, I couldn't help but second guess if THIS novel was the one with a ghostwriter instead.

4 stars, rounded up from 3.5

An enjoyable read with interesting characters & storyline. I will be looking for more from this author! Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC.

The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark is an engaging psychological thriller that seamlessly blends twists and turns with a deeper family drama. From the start, I was hooked. The writing kept me turning pages, and I flew through this book in no time. It’s the kind of story that keeps you on edge, constantly wondering what's going to happen next, but also has a deeper emotional pull with its family dynamics.
I loved the dual timelines—one in the present and the other set in the Summer of 1975. The contrast between the two eras added a lot of depth to the characters and kept the plot fresh. The twists were unexpected and kept me guessing, which is always a plus in this genre.
That said, after finishing the book, I realized there are quite a few details that have faded from my memory. In the moment, though, I was completely immersed and satisfied with how the story wrapped up. It wasn’t a mind-blowing, unforgettable ending, but it was satisfying in a way that left me content with how everything unfolded.
Overall, The Ghostwriter is a solid read for fans of psychological thrillers who also appreciate a strong family drama at its core. Highly recommend for anyone looking for a page-turner with heart!

Olivia’s dad has never been like the other parents, and not just because he’s a mega-bestselling horror author. Since his teen years, rumours have circulated around his hometown that he’s the one behind the tragic murders of his brother and sister. Whether or not he was responsible, he’s a man marked by trauma, with the impulsivity and drinking problem to show for it. So after graduating high school, Olivia cuts contact with her father. Years later, now in early middle age, she has forged her own path as a ghostwriter. The last thing she expects is for her dad to hire her. He’s writing a memoir…and he’s ready to tell the truth. But he’s battling dementia, leaving Olivia to wonder if he even knows what the truth is.

This was a delightfully twisty thriller. It’s told in multiple timelines, so we see the story leading up to the murders along with Olivia’s quest to solve them. The depiction of 1970s teen life in the flashbacks was really fun and I could see this book appealing to fans of nostalgic media like Stranger Things. As a thriller fan, this book hit the spot.

I loved everything about this book. Give me dual timelines and a past and present mystery any day. And then a book about a writer? So many of my buzzwords!

Julie Clark managed to capture these characters perfectly and really left me questioning so many things. I loved the unraveling of clues and the past timeline chapters were so well woven in. The Ojai setting was fantastic she really captured the 70s so well.

Olivia has spent much of her life distancing herself from her father's legacy. Not the fact that he's an acclaimed horror writer. But in 1975 both of his teenage siblings were murdered in their home and he was a suspect. She's made a living ghostwriting, under a new name. But when her agent tells her, Vincent Taylor has asked for her by name, to ghostwrite his next novel sh wants to refuse the offer. But mounting bills and debts force her to accept.

When she arrived in Ojai she finds out the story her father wants to tell is about the murders. Still unsolved. Still so many questions. But is he finally ready to confess?

This was page turning and wonderfully written. I will read anything Julie Clark writes!

This book immediately sucked me in, and I enjoyed the narrative structure of the present and past storylines. As someone who has a family member with Lewy Body Dementia, it was interesting (and a little sad) to see this represented in a book. I always love when mystery/thrillers involve writers, and this book took that trope in a fun direction.

Olivia is a popular ghostwriter who faces her biggest writing challenge to date, she has the tell the story of her estranged father who was believed to have played a role in the double murder of his brother and sister in the 1970s.

A story told from multiple viewpoints, this is the the cautionary tale of how running from your past isn’t always the best option.

This was such a fun book for me! I truly loved how it felt like such a puzzle with our main character putting all of the pieces together to ghost write this book. Seeing the family dynamics between all of the different characters was very engaging for me, and I loved the home movie format sprinkled throughout this as well!! I do wish there were more emotional moments between characters, but I found this entertaining the whole time and wanted to know what was actually the truth! Such a fun format and concept. I have enjoyed from this author previously and will pick up her next release as well! Definitely recommend.

This book is a must read. I was excited about it when I read the synopsis and it delivers SO MUCH MORE. A thriller that keeps you on your toes with dual timelines and multiple POV.

Olivia is at her rock bottom. She’s in debt and has lost job opportunities as a ghostwriter after a much public embarrassment. But then she gets the opportunity of a lifetime, to help a horror writer write the story of his life. But he didn’t live any old life, his brother and sister were murdered fifty years ago. Olivia is hesitant to say yes, because this man, this author, is her estranged father

Her agent doesn’t know. Her boyfriend doesn’t know. But Olivia has always wanted to know what happened herself. After all, it is her family. She travels to her childhood home and finds her dad in poor condition. His notes for his memoir are all over the place and some nights he thinks Olivia is her mother

As Olivia breaks the rules bound by her contract, she starts to find clues about what happened that grave day back in 1975. Her father’s recollection of traumatizing and bizarre events aren’t exactly truthful. While he makes his older brother seem like the bad guy, all signs are pointing to her dad as the murderer..

Told in current time from Olivia’s POV, the author also takes us back to 1975 in the POV of her father, his sister, and brother. The events that led up to that dreadful day in June 75 all play a part. You will not believe what actually happened! I had so much fun reading this one and for a thriller, it also had a lot of heart in it too

Olivia Dumont is a successful ghostwriter trying to pick up the pieces of her career after a public falling out with another author. Her agent calls her with an offer that she doesn't want to take, but she has no other options. The offer is from her father, a successful thriller writer, to ghostwrite his memoir. Olivia and her father haven't spoken in decades. He is the surviving child of a gruesome night where both his siblings were murdered, and he was rumored to be the murderer. Growing up in Ojai as the daughter of the town's murdered that walks the streets was too much and Olivia left never looking back. Now she's back in Ojai determined to finally get the truth from her dad about what happened.

Julie Clark can do no wrong. I didn't want this book to end! The character development and slow unraveling of a decades old mystery was so beautifully done. It's not a fast paced thriller as the action has all happened in the past, but the puzzle coming together was perfection.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the ARC of The Ghostwriter.

This was an easy 5 stars! I was pulled in right away and could not put this down. I had no idea what was going to happen until the very last page. The family trauma mixed with the mystery kept me turning pages until late in to the night to find out where it was going. I loved the multiple POVs and seeing the story from different eyes.

As someone who can’t resist a novel about ghostwriters (see my recent obsession: FOOD PERSON), this was one of my most anticipated thrillers of the summer. Not to mention, I’ve loved Julie Clark’s last few books, so the second an early copy of this hit my Kindle, I was STOKED.

Olivia Dumont, an acclaimed ghostwriter working on memoirs, has spent her entire career hiding that her father is legendary horror author Vincent Taylor. He’s famous not only for his novels, but for being the prime suspect in the brutal slaying of his siblings back in the 1970s. When Vincent reaches out to Olivia to help co-write his memoir—while she’s on the brink of financial ruin after speaking out against a fellow ghostwriter who penned books for notoriously bad men—she has no choice but to accept or risk losing her house. When she arrives at his Ojai home, she finds that the book might contain the truth about what really happened to his siblings years before.

If you like thrillers packed with a heavy dose of family drama, you need this one in your life ASAP. Although it’s a slow burn in terms of action, it’s the perfect blend of dysfunctional family mess and murder mystery. I think people who are into true crime might especially enjoy it. Clark infuses tons of flashbacks which reveal exactly how unreliable our narrators are. There are a lot of twists and while some of them felt predictable, I was left pretty surprised and satisfied with how the narrative panned out.

The TL;DR? If you loved the breakneck pace of Clark’s other books, you might be let down by the slow burn nature of this, but I really loved the combination of mystery, family drama, ghostwriter life, and ‘70s California flashbacks.

TL;DR: fans of multigenerational family dramas and propulsive murder mysteries will find a lot to love in THE GHOSTWRITER, the latest whodunit from bestselling author Julie Clark. The story- about a disgraced author who takes a job writing her estranged father’s memoir in his final attempt to clear his name in the unsolved murder of his teenage siblings- is not only an incredibly twisty mystery, but a surprisingly emotional father/daughter story that kept me captivated from start to finish. It might just be my favorite Julie Clark book yet, which is saying something because I still consider the ending of THE LAST FLIGHT an all-time favorite.

This book pulled me in from the beginning. I loved the duel timelines and being able to get to know the characters from the past who couldn’t tell their stories in the present.

We were shown just enough of the past to try to figure out the truth of what happened. Some twists were predictable to me, but most were not.

This story showed how easily a family could be torn apart and how, with effort, it can be put back together again.

I would highly recommend reading this book.