I love an author who can cleverly deliver a story, and Author Julie Clark does this with The Ghostwriter. As the character Olivia finds her way back to her hometown to ghostwrite her father's novel, she is provided with a story based on his memories, scattered notes, possible witnesses of the past, and secrets that were thought to be buried forever. Yet, as told, it’s a treasure hunt as she attempts to uncover the truths.

The Ghostwriter was written in such a unique way that I found myself uncovering “who did it” at the same time as Olivia. Readers will be in the moment with her as the story is told to her because the story is being told to us as well. The Ghostwriter is indeed thrilling, suspenseful, and plot-twisty all the way to the end. And I enjoyed every moment.

Olivia Dumont is a ghostwriter who is down on her luck and looking for any job to pay off a lawsuit and keep her home. But she didn’t bargain for what comes her way: writing a memoir for her estranged father, best selling author and suspected murderer Vincent Taylor. When Vince was only 16, his two siblings were stabbed to death in their California home and everyone assumes the surviving sibling is the one to blame. He’s ready to write a memoir about the murders, but Vince has dementia and the memories are fading fast. Can Olivia unlock the truth behind the heinous crime before her father forgets everything?

This is my first book by Julie Clark and I absolutely loved her writing style! The twists and turns kept coming and the atmosphere of the plot was just right. Highly recommend reading!

Thanks to #NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my personal review.

I’ve waited what felt like an excruciating amount of years for Julie Clark’s next book and it was so beyond worth the wait. This is by far her best book yet.

Unraveling the mysteries in the current timeline while flashing back to Poppy and Vincent’s lives leading up to the murders added a suspenseful, impeding doom feeling that had me unable to put the book down. It’s definitely more of a slow burn but that added to my love of it. Julie Clark took her time peeling back the layers of this tragedy so we could feel everything the characters were feeling.

God, I can’t say enough good things about this one. Devastating, nostalgic, thrilling - I loved every second of it.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

I was totally absorbed in this book and the characters. With all the twists, I had no idea where it would take me next, and just went along for the ride. The characters were well developed and realistic, showing both heartbreak and joy. The characters were nuanced, with no one being all good or all bad. They were simply human, with a mix of characteristics, and different sides to them that would be seen differently by a variety of people. The story was masterfully crafted. Highly recommended. I am very much looking forward to reading more by this author.

I did receive an ARC, but this is my honest opinion.

This is the third book I’ve read by Julie Clark, and she’s done it again, so good!

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳 totally blew me away. The story follows Olivia Dumont, a non-fiction ghostwriter who used to work with some of the biggest names out there. But after she speaks out against another ghostwriter, her career crashes and burns. She’s broke, her reputation is shot, and she has a huge lawsuit settlement hanging over her head.
Just when things couldn’t get worse, she gets a mysterious job offer from a famous horror author who wants her to write his memoir. Here’s the caveat. He’s best known for being at the center of a decades-old murder mystery where his two siblings were killed in their childhood home. Oh, and he also happens to be Olivia’s father. Yeah, wild.
They haven’t spoken in decades, but now Olivia has to face her past and maybe uncover the truth about what really happened back in 1975.

Her grandmother used to say, “Very rarely do people like what they find when they go digging in the past.” And she might have been right.

This book had me hooked from the start. It’s eerie, emotional, and full of twists. Highly recommend!

Thank you to Julie Clark, NetGalley and Sourcebook Landmarks for the advance copy of this ebook.

3.75 rounded up.

Less thriller, more mystery. Which is fine by me. I enjoyed this book but I’m struggling to put my finger on why it didn’t stand out as a 5 star read.

Parts were kind of predictable. Parts were frustrating / secretive for no reason I could understand.

Julie Clark is for sure an auto read author for me though.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the eARC.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published June 3, 2025.

This is my first book by this author. The premise sounded good, but I just never got into it. I did finish it, but I was bored and did not even care who killed who.

Sadly cannot recommend.

Dementia is a horrible disease that takes away one’s memories. Sometimes the older memories are more fresh than what one ate for lunch. Regardless, at a certain point, everything is distorted or starts to vanish.

Olivia Dumont is a ghostwriter. Known for her ability to take on the life of the person she is writing for, she has written best selling memoirs for famous people. Until she decides to take on a male ghostwriter at a conference and on social media. Suddenly her career is pretty much over. She’s going to lose everything.

Her agent calls with an assignment, though it’s one that Olivia is reluctant to take. Vincent Taylor is known for writing spectacular horror novels. He has personally requested Olivia to collaborate, as a ghostwriter, on his next novel. Olivia is shocked that he’s chosen her, of all people. She truly needs the job, because it comes with a hefty salary. Only Vincent Taylor, unbeknownst to almost everyone, is her father.

What follows is an amazing story of family and tragedy. The atmosphere of the 1970s when Vincent was a teenager is spot on. The characters are so well developed. The story is progressed through current events and 1975 seamlessly. I never was once confused about the timeline.

I really loved this one. Great premise and storytelling.


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The Ghostwriter will likely be one of my top reads of the year. There's so much packed into this story, and not once does the narrative falter. It's riveting, thrilling, emotional and deeply thought-provoking.

Olivia Dumont is a ghostwriter. In a bold move, she challenges a male author and lands herself in legal trouble. To avoid financial ruin, she agrees to ghostwrite the memoir of a very famous author. But taking this job means unraveling and confronting her own painful past.

I couldn't put this book down once I started. I didn’t even peek at the ending, it was that good. Trauma plays a central role in this story, particularly the lingering effects of intergenerational trauma, which are subtly but powerfully portrayed. The title The Ghostwriter is so fitting not just because of Olivia’s profession, but because it captures the essence of what it means to reclaim and rewrite your own story. Sometimes, to find peace and closure, we have to become the ghostwriters of our own lives.

The characters are deeply affected by their trauma, and due to the time period the story is set in, they didn’t receive the support they deserved, making them vulnerable to predators. I do wish Danny had a narrative of his own, like Poppy. His voice would have added another layer to this powerful story.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for this book.

Content Warning: Some scenes may be disturbing. I won’t include specific warnings to avoid spoilers, but please proceed with caution.

5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

WHAT I LOVED - Pretty much everything! I seem to really love stories that go back in time to what happened, and this used a lot of film to go back, which was different and interesting. And a little creepy.

WHAT I LIKED - The twists. I had some ideas about them that were mostly correct but were still shocking.

WHAT I DISLIKED - Mr. Stewart. I will leave it at that.

WOULD I RECOMMEND? Absolutely! I recommend every book by Julie Clark. They have all been page turners from the very first page.

Thank you, NetGalley, and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for this eARC for review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an ARC of The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark in exchange for my honest review.

I love a twisty mystery when I need something propulsive and my brain wants to work through a puzzle. I am a fan of Julie Clark’s previous books. So, I was very excited to get my eyes on The Ghostwriter.

Olivia Dumont, a well-regarded ghostwriter, who unfortunately has gotten herself into some financial hot water, has no other choice, but to ghostwrite her estranged father’s memoir. However, if that wasn’t complicated enough, Olivia’s dad, Vincent, has been the long-time suspected killer of his two siblings Danny and Poppy, who were murdered in their teens, back in 1975. Cue the eerie music!

Told in alternating timelines and POVs, with present day in the voice of Olivia, and past timeline narrators moving between Vincent and Poppy, the mystery that has haunted Olivia and the small town where the murders occurred for decades, slowly unravels.

This story was both a slow-burn and a page turner. It was one of those books where most of the chapters were the perfect length, and I could tell myself, just one more chapter, before setting it down again. Additionally, the alternating POVs and timelines kept me engaged, even when the chapters didn’t necessarily propel the plot forward.

I was fully invested in what led to the deaths of Danny and Poppy. I found Poppy’s voice and POV to be quite compelling. In my opinion, her character was the most fleshed out and had the most authentic voice. More character and plot development of Olivia, Vincent and Danny would have enriched my reading. Within Poppy’s chapters there was always something new to learn, whereas with the other POVs I felt there was some repetition in the narrative storytelling.

Suspenseful reveals, twists and red herrings kept me interested throughout. Although, I made some pretty good guesses, nevertheless, I found myself trying to wrap my head around the ending.

If you enjoy the nostalgia embedded in a 1975 summer setting, and go into this dark and haunting family mystery knowing it’s a bit of a slow burn, you will want to add this to beach bag.

3.75 Stars

Ooh this was so fun to read! I was definitely on the edge of my seat (erm, bed) as I waited to figure out what was going on. Great red herrings. The multiple perspectives from both alive and deceased characters was also really great.

Olivia is faced with a difficult decision on whether to ghostwrite a book for her estranged dad, who is a renowned horror author. Left in financial difficulties and not getting any work, Olivia decided to take the job. Soon she is faced with family secrets around her dad's involvement in the killing of his two siblings.
This was a very slow burn and didn't really grab my attention until the last fifty pages. The writing is excellent; I was just hoping for a little more thrill. I was able to see one of the twists early on, but that didn't take away my enjoyment. Olivia was a pretty solid and relatable main character, and she definitely saved the book for me. I also enjoyed the flashbacks, especially Poppy's chapters. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I found the premise of Ghostwriter to be compelling. Julie Clark delivers an intriguing setup that pulls readers into the world of a woman living in the shadows, writing other people’s stories while hiding her own. Olivia has told the world a fake story of her upbringing because her mom left when she was young and her dad has the suspicion of a double murder lingering around him. She has even lied to the man she is dating.

While the delivery didn’t quite match the punch of the premise at every turn, the novel still kept me interested. There were moments where the pacing lagged, and certain sections felt a bit drawn out. However, the narrative always managed to regain momentum, and the central mystery remained compelling throughout.

Clark does a solid job building suspense, and the character development—especially of the protagonist—was a highlight. This is a good choice for fans of psychological thrillers who enjoy slow-burn tension with satisfying twists.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for advanced copy, and I give my review freely.

I was intrigued in this one based on reading previous Julie Clark books, and I think it is a serviceable thriller whose plot conceit stretches the book longer than necessary. Olivia, a ghostwriter, ends up stuck working on her estranged novelist father's memoir due to becoming "toxic" in the publishing world. Her father happens to be the only surviving sibling of a double murder, and is suspected of being the murderer in question.

The novel follows Olivia as she tries to piece together the facts surrounding this murder, which is made even more difficult by her father undergoing lewy body dementia and experiencing hallucinations and memory loss. Her chapters alternate with her dead aunt's perspective from the time period prior to the murders, which are contrasted with the evidence Olivia finds in the present. Ultimately I think this is where I struggled - the novel tries to keep the suspense about what happened, and thus her aunt's chapters are full of misdirection that don't really make sense, and make it so this seems dragged out. The book is drowning in red herrings, and the ending is a bit contrived. I also felt like the novel didn't quite know what to do with Olivia's mother - that's all I'll say on that.

Overall I think I liked the concept more than the execution, but the writing is compelling and kept my interest throughout.

Talk about a mystery thriller, this one has it all. Olivia Dumont is broke. She is a ghostwriter who got into some legal trouble and owes a lot of money in legal fees and to an arrogant author she can not stand. Her publisher calls her and wants her to ghost write the memoir of Vincent Taylor. He is an author of horror but is also the person everyone believed murdered his siblings in 1975. Oh, did I mention, he is also Olivia Dumont's father!
Vincent only wants Olivia to write the book and since she is in desperate need of money, she agrees. Her publisher does not know that she is Vincent's daughter. The murders took place in 1975 and the story goes from that time and back to the present day all throughout the novel. Olivia never had a great relationship with her dad and when she arrives at his home she is told by his caregiver that he has Lewy Body Dementia. He has good and bad days. He did write his story on yellow legal pads but as Olivia starts to read them she realizes that she is not sure if everything written down is true. So, she starts investigating. She looks through boxes of stored items. She goes to the house where the murders take place to find clues. She does find out a lot of interesting clues about the murders. There are some POV's of the murdered sister, Polly and Vincent from 1975. This was a very fun, twisty and interesting read. It kept you wondering and guessing. You also become involved with the relationship that Olivia is having with her father for the first time. It is very heartfelt. I highly recommend this book.
Thanks to #netgalley, #sourcebookslandmark & @julieclarkauthor for an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

I have a very select list of authors that I keep tabs on and seek out their next release, that I will buy on release day and Julie Clark is now one of them. Another fabulous read. I love how the author can take what could be a farfetched storyline but write it in a way that is completely realistic with twists that are so satisfying and believable.

40 years after the murder of his siblings, now a famous author, Vincent hires his daughter (a famous author in her own right) to ghost write his memoir and finally dive into the events of the past where it's been long presumed but unproven that Vincent was the perpetrator. This book is the perfect cure for any book slump you maybe in. When you are done go back and read the author's other works.

I have been in SUUUCH a reading slump, and this was just the book I needed. Relatively short chapters, making this so easy to just keep flipping. Dual timelines, as you get perspective from Poppy, Vince, and Olivia. A twist I didn’t see coming?!? Definitely recommend!

The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark

In addition to the mystery of what happened to Vincent Taylor’s siblings the night they were murdered, The Ghostwriter is a story about a father and daughters’ secrets and lies – half truths, lies by omission… and the impact on both of their personal relationships. This makes The Ghostwriter a great book club discussion read.

Estranged from her father and deeply in debt, Olivia Taylor takes on a ghostwriting assignment for her father memoirs during the time of his siblings murders. A horror fiction writer, he is suspected murdering his siblings when he was a teenager. Olivia interviews her father while he is able (he is suffering from Lewy Body dementia), and is motivated to learn what happened by investigating, on her own (there are plenty of boxed memorabilia, old bills, etc. available to her to search through). This book has plenty of twists and turns, so it kept me guessing/reading, wondering who was responsible? What happened? Why?

Thank you to Julie Clark, NetGalley and Sourcebook Landmarks for the advance copy of this ebook.
Will review on Amazon on pub date.

Great suspenseful read from Julie Clark. It took me a little bit to into it due to multiple POVs, differing timelines and a lot of characters. I binged this in one day. A lot of sad events took place and you can related to some of the decisions that were made. I would definitely recommend this one.

Thank you for the ARC!