This was such a great book. A slow burn unraveling of a decades old double murder filled with secrets, family drama, and super 8 film. You won’t want to miss this one!

Olivia Dumont is trying to put the pieces of her ghostwriting career back together when she is commissioned by the very well known and controversial novelist Vincent Taylor. Not only is Olivia not a novelist, but Taylor is her own estranged father. He wants her to help him complete his memoir which will be a final tell all of the horrific night in 1975 when his brother and sister were murdered when they were all teenagers. Will Olivia find out the truth or is her father too far gone in his dementia?

I liked this one but didn't quite loooooove it like I did with other Julie Clark books. I sat with my thoughts after reading the last page and wondered why some plot points never wrapped up, if I had gotten the details straight, or if the author even wanted me to. The plot was fantastic, her writing is phenomenal, characters were just...ok. I didn't really LIKE or connect with any of them (except for Poppy) which definitely made it easy to put down. I honestly feel like I need to re-read it to ensure that I didn't miss any key details and because certain things seemed to not make sense. For one....why didn't Olivia have a relationship with her mom? It didn't seem to fit why that might have happened. And, on that same token, what happened with Vince and Lydia that made her run off after they had a child? Maybe the problem here was me and I missed some explanations! I do still love this author and she will be an automatic buy for me no matter what. This one just didn't knock it out of the park for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read in exchange for my honest review!

Olivia severed all ties with her father, a bestselling thriller/horror author, years ago. Now he wants her to return home to ghostwrite his memoir. He claims he’s finally ready to reveal what really happened the night his teenage brother and sister were murdered back in the '70s. But is he playing her like a pawn? And can she uncover the truth when his memories can’t be trusted?

I was gripped by the storylines, told primarily through Olivia’s narration, with flashbacks of the months leading up to the murders from the teenage perspectives of her father and his sister. I did want my jaw to drop a little more at the ending. As an avid Julie Clark fan, I usually have no idea where the breadcrumbs she sprinkles are leading. In this book, the breadcrumbs felt slightly laid out like an arrow.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a very interesting book with an unique storyline that grabbed my attention and held it from start to finish.

I recommend it to fans of suspense. It is another great book by Julie Clark.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, "The Ghostwriter" and had difficulties putting it down. The way the story was told in past and future tense was a fantastic way to piece the story together. I kept changing my mind on who it was the entire time. I really enjoyed this mystery book and will look into more books by Julie Clark.

Mysteries aren't my go-to jam. I don't try to figure things out as I read preferring the story to unfold in front of me. This was kind of a slow burn.

Olivia is a ghostwriter and she is good at it but due to some comments she made about another ghostwriter her career is not going well and she owes $700K and she may lose everything. When she finally gets an offer to write a memoir it is her father, Vincent Taylor, a horror writer as popular as Stephen King, but he is suffering from Lewy body dementia and only wants Olivia to write his story.

Olivia's mother, Lydia, left her with her father when Olivia was young and he raised her alone but he was more interested in his career. In June of 1975 Vincent's siblings, Poppy and Danny, are found dead in the home and Vincent was always a suspect. Now Olivia is trying to find out the truth before it's too late. Poppy was a budding photographer and filmed people. Did she find out things she shouldn't?

The characters were complex and I had no problem understanding Olivia's motivation. The ending wasn't a nail biter but it wasn't neat either. It just ended like it was supposed to.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for providing me with a digital copy.

I didn’t have many expectations about Ghostwriter when I started to read. Ghost Writer was told in two periods of time - past and future. The main character was blacklisted as a ghostwriter after standing up for herself. She was on the verge of losing everything until she was offered a job. The main character had to return home, lie to everyone about what she was doing, and write her estranged father story. She has to uncover the truth to really find out what happened to her family.

This is perfect. I couldn’t stop reading. Ghost writer has you hooked from the beginning.

I’ve enjoyed Julie Clark’s previous books and this is another solid thriller.

The book is about Olivia, a ghostwriter, who agrees to help her famous but difficult estranged father ghostwrite a book about his siblings and their murders.

I enjoyed the writing and flow of the book. Clark is a masterful thriller novelist and I didn’t anticipate all the twists and turns. The characters were compelling and I enjoyed the multiple POVs.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Ghostwriter follows Olivia Dumont, a once-successful ghostwriter whose career crumbles after a public clash with a misogynistic author. Facing financial ruin, she reluctantly agrees to ghostwrite her estranged father fiinal memoir. As a bestselling horror novelist, he has lived under the shadow of accusations that he murdered his teenage siblings in 1975. As Olivia begins her work, she uncovers chilling truths that force her to confront her family’s dark past—and her own carefully constructed lies.

Clark’s storytelling shines through with multiple perspectives, primarily following Olivia in the present while unraveling the events of 1975 through the eyes of young Poppy and Vincent. This structure builds suspense, allowing readers to piece together the mystery alongside Olivia. The inclusion of Poppy’s diary entries and home movie transcripts adds an authentic documentary feel, making the investigation feel like you are right in the thick of it.

For me, the novel’s greatest triumph lies in its exploration of generational trauma. Olivia’s struggles with relationships, compulsive lying, and fear of abandonment stem from the toxic legacy of her family’s unresolved past. Clark masterfully portrays how children of notorious figures must navigate a world where their identity is forever tainted by association.

The Ghostwriter is a haunting, thought-provoking thriller that blends psychological depth with a gripping mystery. Clark’s ability to craft complex characters and weave suspenseful narratives makes this a must-read for fans of psychological drama and family dynamics. If you enjoy books that explore the corrosive power of secrets, this one will stay with you long after the final page.

Thank you Sourcebooks for my gifted ARC!

The Ghostwriter hurt my soul. I knew it would be good, because it’s Julie Clark. But what I did not expect was it to rip my heart out and stomp on it, and to mourn for these characters so profoundly. These kids. These poor kids. Talk about being failed by the adults in their lives.

There was such a tense build to this story. This was a story about secrets and memory. Grasping firmly to a story you have believed for fifty years, only to find out everything you’ve ever known was a lie. Can you imagine the heartbreak and the betrayal of your own mind, your own memory? Especially while your mind was already betraying you by way of Lewy Body Dementia. It’s tragic as hell.

Despite the shattering of my soul, I loved this book. It was atmospheric and raw, and I cannot recommend it enough.

Enjoyed this unique take on a mystery! I also appreciated that the mystery remained the main focus and plot line of the book, instead of also trying to weave in (and fail) multiple other directions. The different timelines and POVs kept the story moving along and the pacing was great throughout.

The Ghostwriter is a clever mystery and thriller novel. The story is told in multi POV, with one main character weaving together pieces of a mystery bound to her father’s past.

I loved how this story unraveled. It kept me guessing throughout the story, trying to connect the dots, and discover the true events. The ending was so satisfying, and unexpected.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this advanced reader’s copy.

An interesting take on how tragedies and secrets can affect familial dynamics, as well as the generational trauma that stems from the inability to properly address said tragedies and secrets.

I felt as though the pacing was a little bit slow at times, but I felt intrigued enough by the bits of anticipation sprinkled throughout. Once the momentum picked up, toward the end of the novel, I felt it impossible to put down until I hit the very last page. I'm not sure I could say that I was entirely satisfied by the ultimate reveal, but perhaps the bigger value with this particular work is in the journey, not the destination.

My thanks to the author (Julie Clark), the publisher (Sourcebooks Landmark), and NetGalley for providing the eARC through which I was able to read the work and write this review.

I should've read "The Ghostwriter" a bit more consistently, because I did lose track of the plot a bit with the multiple timelines expanding on different possibilities about the truth of what happened to Danny and Poppy. Even still, I really enjoyed this book! It definitely had that mysterious/ominous aura that I appreciate in a really good thriller, as well as an appropriately thorny central mystery.

I didn't love the characters and found our protagonist, Olivia, a little flat emotionally, but I did appreciate the complexity of their relationships with each other and how those layers were revealed throughout the narrative. Poppy's diary/home videos worked really well on that point, and as a secondary storytelling device they were unique and effective in raising both questions and stakes.

And in classic fashion, I was appropriately shocked by one major twist; but un-classically, I actually softly guessed a second reveal and was honestly more surprised to be right for once. Coup!

All in all, an intriguing and twisty mystery that kept me engaged and guessing, while hitting all the right notes in the resolution. If that's your vibe, definitely give this one a go! 4/5 stars.

[Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an advance reader copy of this book!]

I loved The Last Flight and The Lies I Tell, so I knew this would be no exception! She has us guessing until the end, in a way that I’ve never read before. I did predict the ending twist, but it’s nice to see characters so multifaceted and flawed. Really annoyed, and the quickest read!

The Ghostwriter has all the elements of a fantastic thriller. A well thought out plot that brings mystery to the story but enough substance to it that the characters can be fully realized adding a complexity not normally seen in your fast paced thrillers. The story hooks the reader from the first page, and you don't want to stop reading until all the secrets have been exposed and the truth from the past has finally been learned. Told in dual timelines, the plot is wonderfully paced, and the twists/turns happen organically. I think fans of past Julie Clark's novels will be supremely satisfied with this new novel. I know I have added her to my auto pick author for anything future she writes.

I was provided with an arc through netgalley. all opinions are my own.

When I first started to read this book, my heart sank. What a fine mess this one will be, I said to myself. Here's a character - Olivia Dumont - who has spent an entire life trying to escape someone who treated her miserably. But now, she suddenly capitulates when that despicable someone offers the potential for a bunch of money. Granted, she's broke and may lose her house, but still - do I, a person who traces her unwaivering support of strong women back to the '60s - really want to spend my precious time reading about someone who has no backbone?

But I sucked it up and dove in; after all, I'd accepted a copy from the publisher in exchange for a review, and I take that obligation seriously. Well, let me tell you this: insofar as everyday life would allow, once I started I didn't stop till I'd finished, even giving up my hotly guarded "me" time an hour or so before I hit the sack just to git 'er done. Like Olivia's decision to do her estranged father's bidding or not - and the jury's still out on that one - the story itself (and the expert crafting thereof) was irresistible. In fact, I'll go so far as to say this is one of the best books I've read so far this year.

The someone from whom Olivia has been estranged for years is her aging father, Vincent Taylor - a highly successful writer of horror novels who is dying of Lewy body dementia. Something like 50 years earlier, his two teenage siblings, brother Danny and sister Poppy, were found brutally murdered in the family home. The killer was never identified and the case long since went cold, but most of the locals believed - and still do to this day - that Vincent was the killer.

Before he dies, he wants to write a memoir that outlines what really happened. And since he's incapacitated he wants his daughter, a highly accomplished ghostwriter, to do the actual writing, using only a copious manuscript he's compiled combined with personal interviews. But at this point his memories, even those he's able to recall, are highly suspect - and as Olivia well knows, Vincent is known for his nefarious, manipulative ways and, of course, his ability to craft works of fiction. Is what he's sharing with her this time the truth?

From that point on, readers learn of Olivia's relationship (if you can call it that) with her father as well as flashbacks to what was going on prior to the event that changed the entire family's lives forever - all building up to an ending that will, for many readers, be a bombshell (I'll say only that I had an inkling, but suspecting and knowing are, of course, two different things). In any event, I'm left with the recollection of reading something quite special. Highly recommended!

In 1975 two siblings are murdered in their home and suspicion falls on their brother, Vincent. However, he has as solid alibi and the final conclusion is that a stranger was responsible for their deaths. Fast forward to 2024. Vince Taylor has become a famous writer and his estranged daughter, Amber, is a fallen-from-grace ghostwriter. When Vince decides to write about what really happened to his sister and brother, he insists that Amber is the only person he will allow to help him.

The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark is a well-written book with a very appealing premise. It’s about a dysfunctional family, the anguish of dementia and, of course, the unsolved murders. The story is told with three points of view, an unreliable narrator, and two timelines. This is just the type of writing I like.

After enjoying other books by Ms Clark, I had high hopes for The Ghostwriter. While it was a good book, it fell short for me in several ways. My main complaint is that the pace is quite slow. It occasionally picks up a bit, but it takes quite a while to reach the end. The final conclusion is somewhat nebulous in that much is revealed but not all of it is conclusive or even provable. Because of the dual timelines, the reader actually seems to know more than the present-day characters do. It’s an interesting and somewhat unusual way to end the story.

Overall all I enjoyed The Ghostwriter but not nearly as much as I thought I would. NetGalley provided an advance reader copy

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance review copy in return for an honest review. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. This was such a slow burn. I might have an unpopular opinion but I felt like it was so much build up for a pretty predicable ending.

The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark is the best book I’ve read in a long time! Julie is at the top of her game and kept me guessing throughout the story. I loved the chapters showing Poppy’s point of view, and it was fun to glimpse into 1975. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.