This taut, nerve-shredding thriller grabs you from the first page and doesn’t let go. Each twist is more chilling than the last, with secrets unraveling in a race against time. A masterclass in suspense, it ends with a gut-punch you won’t see coming.

This was incredibly grim and gruesome and yet I was always just so excited to pick it up to find out what would happen next! This was my first Julie Clark and I'm so glad to have found her work.

I really loved the 1970s California vibes that Clark set up - it felt easy to immerse myself in the time period and visualize the characters in that time period. However, I found present day Vincent to be extremely unlikable and his "treasure hunts" to be pretentious. Olivia was ok, but I felt like she could have stood up for herself more. Overall the book did drag a bit for me and I found myself skimming through the last few chapters. Part of the resolution (the Mr. Stewart of it all) felt icky and turned me off.

Olivia Dumont has had a successful career as a ghostwriter. She basically ruins that career during a meltdown at an important event. She's sued which is about to leave her bankrupt. She sure isn't getting any new jobs. About the time she's given up all hope, her agent calls her with an offer. She's shocked when she finds out it's with her father with whom she's lost contact.
Her father has become a famous horror writer. In his final book he wants to give the truth about what happened to him and his family 50 years ago. He was the only one of his three siblings left alive after two of them were killed in their own house. Many blamed Vincent for killing his brother and sister. Olivia is Vincent's only child. She really doesn't owe her father anything since he sent her away to school at a young age. After Olivia sees how frail and sick her father is she decides that she wants to know more about the past as well as the money involved.
Author Julie Clark takes the reader on a journey full of twists, turns and unreliable narrators. Will anyone really solve mysteries of the past or can be freed by some facts?

Although this wasn’t my favorite title by Julie Clark, it was still very well written! If you love a slow build mystery with family conflict, this one will be for you. I really enjoyed the dual timelines and multiple point of views, but I felt the pace was slow and needed more movement in the middle. Although the ending did pick up, I wish the encounter between Olivia and her mother, Lydia, wasn’t so abrubt and had more closure. Overall, I did enjoy the plot and the brief podcast at the end to tie it all together.

Tw: mentions of sexual assault, abortion, murder

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the opportunity to read a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

*Book publication date: June 3, 2025*
*Reviewed on May 31, 2025*

The Ghostwriter is a really engaging read that kept me hooked from start to finish. Clark skillfully builds tension with well crafted characters and a plot full of twists. The story delves into the dark secrets behind the writing world, and I appreciated how it explores themes of loyalty and identity. The pacing is generally smooth, though a few parts felt a tad slow. Overall, it’s a gripping novel with enough intrigue and emotional depth. Definitely a good pick for anyone who loves a mix of suspense and character driven storytelling.

The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark may be one of my favorite books of the year.

The story is centered around Olivia who is hired to write her estranged father’s memoir. Her father, a renowned author in his own right, is wanting to to tell the story of his brother and sister who were found murdered in the 1970s with him at the top of the suspect list. However, he was never convicted of any crime. Olivia is determined to find out what truly happened in her father’s childhood, no matter what.

I loved the writing in this. Kept me captivated. I would say a definite slow burn in the beginning that keeps you guessing on who can be trusted. You have to keep reading to find out what happened.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the author and publisher of this book for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have been a fan of Julie Clark from her very first novel, The Last Flight. I like how she weaves a good thriller with twists and turns into a story with some heart. this one did take me a hot minutes to get into, unlike her other books, but once I was immersed in the story, I had to keep reading to find out if her father was a murder that wasn't charged or if he was falsely accused. The endingwas twity and not expected. I am so glad I got into the book as I LOVED it

A little bit of a slow burn but I really enjoyed this book! Kept you guessing until the very end. Got me out of my book rut

Is there any better trope for thriller book lovers than a thriller with a book within a book and a story about an author? Julie Clark is a stellar thriller writer and this book shows it: full of twists, red herrings, and a dark, engaging story. Highly recommend for thriller lovers!

The Ghostwriter is a slow burn thriller, it started off super strong for me I was hooked and couldn't read fast enough until 25%. Then after that it started to fizzle out for me, I felt the pace dragged and stalled. It did pick back up towards the end, but for my liking it was a little too stretched out when it could've been revealed earlier with less fluff. It might be a me problem because it is getting amazing reviews, it just didn't hit the spot for me.

The characters were truly insufferable, I didn't like any of them. So it was really hard to root for them or actually care. I wasn't a huge fan of Vincent just dragging everything out for no reason and all the riddles, it was just repetitive and bugged me at some point. The idea and the story was really good, interesting, that's what truly kept me going and reading until the end. I was just wanting more from it.

Overall, it is not a bad book, for me it was just too slow. It wasn't what I was expecting in terms of thrills. It leans more on family dysfunctions and secrets. It will definitely appeal to a lot of readers!

✨️Thank you to @netgalley, @sourcebookslandmark & Julie Clark for my gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this atmospheric mystery! The framework, told in multiple character flashbacks and in the present by the titular ghostwriter, works well to unravel the central mystery. There were plenty of twists and I did not predict the ending. Thoroughly enjoyed this read!

Ghost Writer lingers like smoke after a match has burned out—quiet, bitter, and beautiful. A.R. Hadley writes with emotional precision, crafting a story that’s both painfully real and softly surreal. The characters feel lived-in, like people you’ve loved and lost in another life.

This isn’t a typical romance. It’s a meditation on grief, connection, and the strange ways we haunt each other. The writing is lyrical without being precious, and the pacing is intimate, almost confessional. I found myself rereading passages just to sit with the ache a little longer.

Wow …what a read! I have loved Julie Clark’s previous books and this one did not disappoint. While her other books are more fast paced, this one was a slow burn, but worth it for the ending. Olivia is a ghostwriter whose famous author father was once suspected of murdering his siblings. She gets offered a job to write his memoirs about what really happened that summer …and wow you will not see these twists coming.

After fifty years of silence, Vincent Taylor is finally ready to talk about what really happened that night in 1975., when he two siblings were found dead. And he elects to do so by hiring his daughter to ghostwrite his memoir.. The lines between fiction and reality begin to blur, as do the lines between her assignment and her personal quest for truth. The Ghostwriter is a twisty, emotional thriller, fast-paced, full of secrets, and packed with emotional depth. The book has been pegged as a psychological thriller but its really more of a character driven suspense, with a psychological puzzle story line so to speak. First time to read Clark. Great writer for sure and will be checking our her prior books. Book released June 3rd. Thank you Net Galley and Bookmarked for the advanced copy.

4.25 stars rounded to 4

I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!! I have never read Julie Clark before and now I am rethinking all my previous life choices of not doing so. I originally wanted to read this because in a way it reminded me of The Amityville Horror story... a tragic murder of siblings in the home of the Taylors with a surviving sibling living his life with accusations abound. When Vincent decides to become a horror author this only skyrockets the accusations more. Vincent's daughter, Olivia, becomes a ghostwriting for womens memoirs and is trying desperately to not being associated with her father to the point she changes her name. When Olivia's agent tells her she is needed to help on her father's last book, Vincent is finally ready to tell his story of what happened on that night in 1975.

This book was PEAK mystery for me. It was almost like a very creepy treasure hunt I couldn't look away from!

I will be reading every book Julie Clark has written!

Thank you NetGalley for finding a new auto-buy author for me!

Julie Clark's latest thriller jumps right into it and I love that about her! This was so deliciously dark. It pulled me in and wouldn't let me go.

I am a big fan of Julie Clark and thoroughly enjoyed The Lies I Tell and The Last Flight. I was thrilled she was publishing a new novel this summer, and it was released this week.

While both The Lies I Tell and The Last Flight were more suspense than thriller for me, so far The Ghostwriter has much more of a thriller vibe.

Olivia is a Ghostwriter who has spent her entire adult life distancing herself from her father, a famous horror writer who was implicated in the murder of his own brother and sister but never proven. Now, facing Lewy Body Dementia he is ready to write a tell all memoir revealing all that happened on the day in June of 1975 when his siblings were murdered, and he wants his daughter to be his ghostwriter.

Olivia has a lot of reasons to say no, but a recent scandal has disrupted her own writing career to the point where she needs the money, not to mention the closure for herself. Is her father really a murderer? And can she discern what is fact and what is delusional from his jumbled accounts?

This one hooked me right away and would not let go!

Olivia Dumont has tried most of her adult life to hide the fact that her father is the famous (or infamous) and best-selling author Vincent Taylor. She kept her ex-husband's name to further the distance. And, even though she is a writer as well, she remains behind the scenes through the anonymity of being a ghost writer. One day, her agent calls with the news that Vincent Taylor has specifically requested Olivia to ghost write what will be his final book. Should she take it? Does she want to re-open this door she has so desperately tried to bolt shut? Or will this finally provide answers to the mystery surrounding her family for decades?

I loved this book! Family drama. Mystery. All of the things that make you keep turning pages and guessing until the very end. Highly recommend!

Not personally for me I just couldn’t get into the storyline I think i was just in a big book slump though