I received an advance ebook copy of The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark from netgalley.

4.5 stars

First, there are some trigger warnings needed. Child SA, harm to animals are the top warnings.

Overall, I really liked The Ghostwriter. The storyline was so well written. I really liked jumping around to different characters point of view throughout the time-line.

This book kept me on my toes guessing all the way to the end. I spend multiple nights in a row staying up way too late to read.

I definitely recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an audio copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I found myself immediately sucked into the plot and loving all of the twists and turns. I wanted to keep reading but I also wanted to savor this story. I will recommend this to people who are looking for a suspenseful thriller. 5 out of 5 stars!

The Ghostwriter will be an easy and immediate recommendation from me going forward - I absolutely loved it.

Premise:
June, 1975.
The Taylor family is torn apart in a single night when two teenage siblings are found dead in their home. The only surviving sibling, Vincent, never escapes the whispers that he was responsible. As the decades pass, the tragedy becomes legend - especially as Vincent finds fame as a horror writer.

Olivia Dumont, a seasoned ghostwriter, has spent her life hiding the truth: she's Vincent Taylor’s daughter. Now facing financial ruin, she's offered the job of ghostwriting her father's final book. But this isn’t just another horror novel - it's something far more personal. For the first time in fifty years, Vincent is ready to reveal what really happened that night.

Thoughts:
This is a slow burn - but a captivating one. I was constantly reworking my theories as I read, and shockingly, my most far-fetched guess ended up being right.

Julie Clark masterfully weaves subtle details throughout. There were seemingly throwaway lines that ended up having huge significance. (Mild spoiler ahead!) <spoiler>A quick mention of “not letting their daughter live with a murderer” was so perfectly placed - it stuck with me, and in the end, answered two major questions with just that single line. Brilliant.</spoiler>

The characters were complex and beautifully written. There’s one in particular I felt so conflicted about - by the end, I hurt for them and those around them. It captured the heartbreaking truth that sometimes, victims create more victims.

This is easily one of the best thrillers I’ve read this year - haunting, emotional, and memorable. It will stay with me for a long time. The Ghostwriter was my first Julie Clark novel, but definitely not my last. I can't wait to read more of her work.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This had a bit of a slow start for me and I can't remember at what point that changed and I found myself skimming because I just had to know how Olivia was going to ghostwrite her father's novel based on their family murder tragedy. Just when I thought I had the murderer pegged, the story would take another twist, which I love when reading thrillers! Set in Ojai in the 70s, that vibe was perfect for summer reading.

I was hooked from the first page. The way the author wove the past and present and multiple PoVs and managed to keep a story that didn’t lull in any way is admirable. I read most of it in one sitting and definitely had that “I can’t put this down” feeling, which I haven’t had in a good long while.

This thriller felt like smart Riley Sager’s early works, but better. That’s the best way I can describe how I felt as I read the book.

I would not necessarily call this one propulsive, but it was one I wanted to keep reading to find out what happened. I wanted to know the secrets and I was enjoying that we found out each piece with Olivia rather than for shock value.

All the clues were there, but I didn’t find myself guessing, moreso wanting to play the puzzle game with the main character.

I think my favorite aspect of this was that yes, there was an unreliable voice in the story, but it wasn’t the perspective we were following. Olivia was a main character who was smart, resourceful, and knew how to find out the truth in ways that didn’t feel like she was the master, but I also love that she was desperate in emotional and financial ways.

It made for a character who had to do the job no matter what, had all the stakes in, and had a lot to lose.

I wanted to know what happened to Poppy and Danny. I wanted to hear how the story unraveled.

With so many thrillers out there nowadays, I really love that this one had the deeper family story that was meaningful. I enjoy this one and I am purposely trying to steer clear of spoilers in my review just because I don’t want to give anything away.

But just know this is a smart thriller if you like the genre, with a good main character.

4.5 stars rounded up!!

This was a bit of a slow build for me, especially as a book I expected to be a super fast paced thriller, but the slow burn was rewarding in the end. I liked the way the story was told through past/present lenses and how details were revealed through investigation. Vince as an unreliable character kept the momentum going when things felt a bit slower. While i’m not totally satisfied with the ending, I think it is the best ending we could have gotten with the story unfolding as it did.

Definitely recommend to anyone interested in family drama/lies & deceit/cold cases and slow burn mystery.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for a drc in exchange for my honest review!

For the most part, I really enjoyed this book. It started off really really strong. It just ended up getting a little long and muddled by the end of the book. Felt like it could’ve been a bit of a tighter story. But overall liked it.

This book took awhile to warm up and was pretty obvious. Did I enjoy it? Yes. But it wrapped up way too neatly and was just okay.

Thank you to Julie Clark, NetGalley, and SourceBooks for this ARC

Olivia has a tragic family history and has been able to escape her past by separating herself from her family and become a ghost writer. Her father, a best selling novelist, decides to write his memoir as one last book. He makes his publisher hire his daughter to write it. This sets off an uncovering of family secrets and what happened in the past when her fathers siblings were murdered.

This is dysfunctional family drama meets murder mystery. There are tons of twists and turns that keep you guessing until the end. Honestly I didn't trust either one of them, but that made the story even more mysterious.

Thank You NetGalley for the free e-galley.

Julie Clark delivers another sharp and suspenseful read in The Ghostwriter, blending emotional depth with a tense, fast-paced plot. The story follows a down-on-her-luck writer, Olivia, who accepts a mysterious and lucrative job ghostwriting a memoir—only to discover that the truth behind the book is darker and more dangerous than she ever imagined.

Clark excels at building psychological tension. The layers of deception peel back slowly but satisfyingly, adding dual narration to deepend the perspectives and tie the plot together. The protagonist’s personal struggles make her relatable without slowing the pace. The exploration of power, manipulation, and the cost of truth adds real weight to the suspense.

I found the plot to be a bit of a slower burn than I would like at times, but overall, I found this to be an entertaining read. I am glad for the opportunity.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Julie Clark is amazing. I loved this book so much! The end of it left me wanting more of some type of closure, but I guess I can believe whoever I want in the story.

What a mysterious vibey book. I loved it. I was fascinated by the entire plot. This author knows how to paint a picture with words. I was hooked.

I really enjoyed this book. I was hooked and couldn’t wait to get to the end and find out how things were going to turn out. Though it was a bit predictable I didn’t mind that. I loved how the author wrote and I was so invested in the story I couldn’t wait to see if I was right.
4.25 stars!

I was really looking forward to reading Julie Clark’s newest book, “The Ghostwriter”. I had heard great things about her previous books and thought that this would be a great introduction to her work.

I really enjoyed the premise of the book - I think Clark has taken a really interesting career and shown aspects of it that we would have otherwise not known anything about.

My only complaint was the pacing. It felt very slow and the stakes were not as high, so it wasn’t a thriller that I felt I needed to finish in one sitting. Generally speaking, when I read a thriller, I expect some sort of anticipation or excitement, and I think the plot was really drawn out.

I did enjoy the book, however, I do feel like it could have had a little more of a “thrill” to it.

Thank you again for the early copy!

This is my second book by Julie. The lies I tell was my first and I really enjoyed it. Let me tell you, The ghostwriter was a hugeeee step up! It was so good in ways I wasn’t expecting?! I don’t even know what exactly I was expecting but it was really good! I will be looking forward to her next books and of course reading The last flight!

Ghostwriter by Julie Clark is a well-written ‘what really happened the night of (a horrible tragedy)…’ tale, steeped in trauma, secrets, and lies. It kept me guessing and wondering and definitely switched things up on me several times, in a good way. With accessible clean prose, keen characterization and character development, the writing and plot grabbed and held my attention. Though I wouldn’t classify this one as a breakneck, psychological thriller because it is not; rather a better fit with general women’s fiction and mystery. It’s about a very complicated, damaging relationship and a gradual unwinding, much like life. The author nailed the story structure with an apt execution of multiple timelines and POVs which really worked for me, compelling me to flip to the next page. There’s a strong beating heart at the center of this story and I felt a depth of emotions I didn’t expect to. I found this one to be a solid authentic read. I’ll look for more books by this author.

4.5/5 rounded up to 5

I thought this was excellent. This was a great unreliable narrator and the ending was perfect. Julie’s writing is always consistently strong.

"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭."

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗚𝗛𝗢𝗦𝗧𝗪𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗘𝗥 is another winning thriller from Julie Clark! There's an engrossing family drama that unfolds with the murder mystery and I'm always here for books about writing and publishing. It's dark, twisty and atmospheric, and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark for the copy to review.

One of my favorite reads of the summer so far! I had a hard time putting it down! There were so many different directions this could have gone as I was reading and I was never really sure how it would end.