3.5 Stars
This story is half mystery, half family drama. Maybe a bit more in the family drama. It's got some twists, but I felt that the core of the story was the relationship between Olivia and her father, Vincent. I guessed most of the twists but there was one that caught me off-guard.
My dislikes of the story were that it was repetitive at times, a lot of the characters were either unlikable or limited in character building, and I wasn't a big fan of the treasure hunt riddles combined with an unreliable narrator. Despite this, the story is a page-turner as I felt compelled to find out what happened to Poppy, who happened to be the best character despite being deceased.

The Ghostwriter is a fast-paced and twisty thriller that keeps you guessing until the very end. Julie Clark does a great job layering suspense with emotional depth. The story explores identity, secrets, and the blurred lines between truth and fiction. Overall, it’s a gripping and satisfying read. Highly recommend for fans of psychological suspense

What a chilling, twisting mystery swirling with long buried family secrets. Olivia Dumont has spent her life trying to escape the shadow of her family and has not seen her estranged father, Vincent Taylor, a famous author of horror novels, for years. She is also a talented ghostwriter whose name never appears in print, not wishing to expose herself to the notoriety of her family name and the tragedy that befell two of her father's siblings. But her father has now been diagnosed with Lewy Bodies dementia, and he summons Olivia to write the family's story, while he can still remember it. She is reluctant, but her financial situation leaves her little choice, and she returns to the family home, hoping to discover what actually happened 50 years ago. Julie Clark has written a gripping. haunting story of the tragic events that devastated the family, told through the eyes of Olivia and her investigation, the memories of her father, Vincent, and the voice of Vincent's sister, Poppy through her diary and videos she took all those years ago. I was completely captivated from the beginning to the surprising ending! Thank you to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy. The opinions of this review are my own.

I really love Julie Clark’s books and although this is different from her others, I still really enjoyed it. I would classify this as a mystery more than a thriller. It kept me captivated the whole time. It was an interesting take on the unreliable narrator. It was a creative, unusual plot that mixed past and present in an interesting way.

Olivia is a ghostwriter who blew up her career by calling out a fellow writer at a conference. She is struggling to pay the bills when her agent comes to her with an offer: write a memoir of famous author Vincent Taylor, who has long been suspected of murdering his siblings 50 years ago. The twist? Olivia is Vincent’s estranged daughter.

I initially gravitated towards this book because it is set in Ojai, a place which I love. But the story and the writing really drew me in. The twists and turns, the dual timeline of Olivia and Vincent trying to write the book coupled with flashbacks of the days and weeks leading up the murders, made this an excellent read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a digital ARC of this title!

I really enjoyed The Ghostwriter. When I feel like I could almost BE a character in a book (especially a main character), I know it's going to be a good one. This did not disappoint.

I really wanted to like this more - but it was very slow moving. Seemed to be a lack of direction and focus to the characters.

The Ghostwriter is a haunting story of the Taylor family forever torn by a violent act. Olivia doesn't know what to expect when estranged father hires her to write a book, but the truth is even far more shocking than she imagines. Among all the Taylor children, Poppy stands out - for obvious reasons - and your heart breaks at the thought of that young, promising life cut short. This was my first Julie Clark book and I'm bowled over by the descripting writing that took me back to the 70s. All-in-all, highly recommended!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

Another job well done by Julie Clark. Kept me guessing almost to the very end.

I enjoy an unreliable narrator; and the author did a phenomenal job of showing what conversations can be like at times with someone who is losing their battle with dementia of any form.

Great character development with Olivia from start to finish; and of course, all things tied up in a neat little bow leaving nothing more to desire which is something I’ve come to expect from Julie Clark. Honestly I’m not sure I can say I’ve read anything that failed to please yet by this author and I’ll continue to read anything and everything she puts out.

This was a good book. It did move a little slow for me and was repetitive at times, as it felt like they just kept going over the same events over and over again without moving the story forward much until the end. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how touching and heartbreaking the story turned out to be. It fell a little bit short of the hype for me, but overall it was an enjoyable read.

Julie Clark has written an atmospheric treasure hunt. Ghostwriter Olivia is hired to write the memoir of a famous author who also happens to be her estranged father. He has lived a tragic life having survived the murders of his brother and sister and been an on again off again suspect in the murders. His memory is going and he makes his daughter follow clues to uncover the secrets he has never divulged about what led up to the murders. This book is a slow burn because the father has no interest or ability in laying out a coherent story for his daughter. There are lots of twists and turns on the way as Olivia works on uncovering information about the murders and reconciling her difficult feelings for her father and how they have impacted her life. This is another winning novel by Julie Clark.

My thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an early ecopy. My opinion is my own.

This book had me hooked from the start. I love a good mystery about a dark past and Ghostwriter definitely held my attention until the end. The past and present timelines leading up to the murders really helped build the story, where sometimes you get a little lost. This was well thought out and researched. The drama, betrayal and revenge really keeps the pace and I was left in shock with the outcome. I really enjoyed this book and will recommend as I always do with Julie Clark.
Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks for providing me with a complimentary arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Landmark & NetGalley for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I think I got myself too hyped up for this one, and ended up let down because of it.

Olivia, a professional ghostwriter, has no choice but to take an unsavory contract after she shoots her mouth off publicly and ends up getting sued for defamation by a creepy male fellow ghostwriter who is known for "cleaning up" the stories of his subjects' lives. The contract? A biography of her famous horror novelist father, from whom she distanced herself years ago, even to the point of changing her name. Her childhood was not a happy one, after her mom left and her dad shipped her off to boarding school while he drank and drugged a lot and lived the jet-setting life of a famous author (lots of assistant-buying-presents-for-child material here). OH AND there's also that stuff about him being suspected of the murder of his two siblings for decades, stabbed to death in a home invasion incident when they were teens. Yeah, that.

I mean, the plot sounds amazing, and I can't quite put my finger on why I didn't love this book. Olivia is prickly and not super likeable (understandably), and I wasn't psyched to find yet another book giving me alternating timelines between two characters (can authors stop doing that, please?). I think the real problem for me was that it was too slow; it took a long time for anything to happen, meanwhile the MC is fretting about her deadlines and antagonizing her nemesis who has orchestrated her financial ruin. The ending was also kind of unsatisfying.

Sydney Books
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May 23, 2025
Fantastic. Julie Clark has never disappointed me. I was completely engrossed in this story the entire time and my theories NEVER stopped changing which I absolutely love.
It was a bit of a slower burn, but it totally works here-it only made me more invested in the characters and more eager to get to the reveal/conclusion. Ugh this was so good.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this amazing book in exchange for my honest review.

I will start off by saying that I have never read a Julie Clark book that I didn't rate 5 stars so I had HIGH expectations going into this one. With that being said, it lived up to every single one from start to finish. The plot grabs hold of you, carries you through it while feeling every emotion, and grips you to the very end. This is a must read!

“I see it all with clarity now, and everything looks different. This isn’t just a memoir; it’s a treasure hunt—our last one. And every story is a clue. I’d be impressed if I wasn’t so angry.”

🖊️ Genre: Thriller
🖊️ Profanity Rating: Moderate
🖊️ Steamy Rating: Mild

The Ghostwriter is a creative, twisty thriller centered around a deeply complicated father-daughter relationship. Olivia’s estranged father, a famous horror author, has long been suspected of murdering his siblings when they were teenagers. As he nears the end of his life, Olivia is asked to ghostwrite his memoir, which forces her to confront the past and investigate the truth behind her aunt and uncle’s deaths.

While it’s not my favorite Julie Clark novel (that honor goes to The Lies I Tell, one of my all-time favorites), I still really enjoyed this dark and emotional story. The tangled relationships and heartbreaking look into Olivia’s father’s childhood made for a heavy and entertaining read. It did start a bit slow, but the second half was faster.

Triggers: Terminal illness, animal abuse/death, rape, sexual abuse, alcoholism, abandonment by a parent, abortion, bullying, and dementia

The Ghostwriter, by Julie Clark, is a captivating, dark and twisty mystery about a ghostwriter who is hired to write the final story for a prolific horror author. Once the contract is signed she discovers that the story is not a work of fiction, but rather a memoir for a man long ago accused of the double murder of his siblings. Very few people know that the man is in fact, her estranged father who is apparently, finally ready to tell what happened that night so long ago.

This story is a complex mystery with shocking revelations as lies are unearthed, truths uncovered, and family drama dispensed. The suspense builds as the plot unfolds slowly, piece by piece, and the revelation is poignant, powerful, and ultimately satisfying.

While being a tension-filled, well-plotted, evocative mystery, the story also addresses the important, relevant topic of the inequality of women in the workplace. It’s done in a compelling, unforced manner and adds depth to the story. I thoroughly enjoy Julie Clark’s writing style, her gripping plot lines, and intriguing, fully fleshed out characters. Each of her stories are unique and diverse and I will continue to read whatever she writes.

I tend to enjoy Julie Clark's books, but this one wasn't one of my favorites. It started off a bit slow for me, but it did pick up towards the end. The writing was good and the mystery was okay. I just had a hard time staying interested in the story.

I was first introduced to Julie Clark via her book, The Last Flight. She's the type of writer that hooks you from the beginning, leaves you guessing the entire time, giving you just enough to keep you going, but not enough that you figure it out. The Ghostwriter was no different. I good whodunit keeps you strung along until the reveal in the final few pages. Clark is brilliant at that. Looking forward to more books written by her hand.

I enjoyed the pace of this story. I found the mystery to be really engaging, and the format of the book, past and present storylines, really kept me turning pages to figure out the true story.