Olivia Dumont has had problems in her career, when she has to take the only job offered to her it will change her life. As the only child of famous horror author Vincent Taylor did not make her childhood easy. She left that life behind and has not been in touch with her father. When he plans on writing his last book he wants her as the ghostwriter. As she tries to decipher the notes on his life she also sets out to learn the truth of the killing of Vincent's sister and brother. This read combines just the right amount of mystery, family secrets, angst and drama. I was back and forth on who I thought killed Danny and Poppy but oh what a surprise at the end. I also loved how Olivia came to terms with her childhood and in the end found peace with it. This is the first book I have read by Julie Clark and loved her world building and character development.

The Ghostwriter is an intriguing, sometimes gritty, deep dive into one family’s dark past and the secrets they've kept locked up for decades. I found it easy to race through the pages, wondering if it was fated to be a second-chance story of family redemption, or become a manifestation of a woman's worst fears instead.

Olivia Dumont has spent years tuning out the whispers in the community that blame her father for the violent deaths of his brother and sister, who were brutally murdered when they were just teens. Olivia left town and changed her name as soon as she could, determined never to revisit the shadow that plagues her family. But years later, her father, now a famous horror writer, is sick with dementia and has asked for her help in penning his memoir. Will Olivia be able to unearth the truth from his muddled mind, or will the identity of the killer die along with him?

Clark’s sharp and lean prose hooked me immediately and never let up. I correctly guessed the culprit, but not the motive. The estranged father‑daughter arc lands with satisfying emotional weight, with believable growth for both characters. While some secondary players could have benefited from a bit more depth, there are plenty of potent family dynamics to go around.

Bottom line: Even if veteran mystery fans outpace the whodunit, The Ghostwriter still rewards readers with tight pacing, layered secrets, and a twisty finale.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark, and Julie Clark for an advance copy for honest review. 4.5 stars rounded up.

The Ghostwriter is a gripping, emotionally charged thriller that keeps you guessing. It follows a professional ghostwriter who gets caught up in the dangerous secrets of her latest client, a reclusive author with a hidden past.

Clark is a master at building tension as she slowly drops hints and clues to the hidden layers of truths. The characters are complex, flawed and make questionable choices but as more details are uncovered you begin to understand and relate to their actions. I’m not usually a fan of multiple POVs but this was so beautifully done it was seamless.

If you're a fan of psychological thrillers with a literary twist, this book is a must-read. Clark's storytelling is top-notch, and she creates characters that you can't help but be drawn to.

What a great mystery. This story is told with dual timelines one being the 1970's. So that was a bit nostalgic. We have siblings Danny, Poppy and Vincent. Who fight just like everyone else does with their siblings when they were early teens. But the boy's fights get to be very intense and that is where the story takes its turn. The story centers around the killings of Danny and Poppy and everyone believes Vince is guilty of the crime, but he has an alibi and goes on to live his life as a successful author. It was not an easy breezy life with this behind him and everyone thinking he is the guy that got away with murder. Now in his elder years, he is very ill and wants to write about what really happened on that horrible day and he wants his estranged daughter to write the story.

His daughter Olivia gets an offer that she really can't refuse due to her circumstances in her life at the moment. So, we get to the bottom of that relationship as well as her relationship with her estranges mother who left her when she was five to be raised by her father as well as the true story of what happened that day. I honestly had about five different ways this story could have gone, and she got me. I did not guess the ending. This was a great thriller and to be honest, I was worried it was just going to be another domestic drama, nope! I truly enjoyed this and will definitely look forward to more from this author.

A complimentary copy was provided by Sourcebooks Landmark via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I have read Julie Clark's other books, and this one is my favorite by far!
The story had so many twists and turns, I couldn't put it down! I loved how the story was told in alternating POVs of timelines and characters. The characters were well written and developed. The twist at the end was brilliant.
Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Julie Clark knocked this one out of the park! The Ghostwriter shows how years of family secrets and tragedy can muddle the waters of what actually happened. Ghostwriter Olivia is hired to finish an autobiography of her long estranged father. Through his story of twists and turns, Olivia has to decide which is fact and which is fiction. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

Absolutely loved this book! The unfolding of each level helped moved the story in a satisfying slow-burn. The way Ms. Clark developed each character and their perspective within the overall story was nothing short of amazing. There are many "Easter Eggs" sprinkled throughout and perfectly place. The POV of each character made the tangled, complex relationships very realistic. You can understand the how and why of that moment. As an avid reader I know not every writer has this talent.

I am very appreciative to SOURCEBOOKS Landmark and Julie Clark for the opportunity to read this ARC. The above review I offer freely and honestly. Thank you for such a well-written story! I will search out other titles from Ms. Clark.

This book sort of had two premises running concurrently (two siblings murdered and the killer unknown, a woman ghostwriting her father’s book) but they came together in a satisfying way. I really enjoyed the balance of present day and flashbacks chapters — it was a great way to make all the characters feel real and built the tension surrounding the mystery. Sometimes I wanted the pacing to pick up a bit but it felt worth it for the payoff in the end.

The Ghostwriter is a thriller that follows Olivia, a ghostwriter who hasn't worked in over a year due to an argument she had with another author that resulted in legal issues. She's in financial trouble, on the verge of having to sell her home, when her agent tells her that famous horror author Vince Taylor wants to hire her to help ghostwrite his latest book. Olivia is shocked by this news; unbeknownst to anyone in her life, Vince is her estranged father. Olivia is reluctant to accept, but due to her financial situation, she says yes. Once she meets with Vince, she finds out the book he wants her to ghostwrite is his memoir of the summer of 1975, the summer his two siblings were murdered in the family home, a murder he has long been suspected of. As she tries to deal with her complicated relationship with her Dad, Olivia is also trying to discover if her father is a killer, or if the real killer is still out there.

I really enjoyed this one. The mystery at the heart of the story was very compelling. I loved the flashback chapters, I felt like they added an extra layer to the story, and really helped us see how complex everything that happened that summer was. I also really like how we delved into the relationship between Olivia and Vince, and were really able to see how generational trauma plays out when it goes un-adressed. The final twist requires you to suspend your disbelief a little bit, but was still a very enjoyable ending to the story.

Told through a mix of past and present timelines, this story weaves Olivia’s present-day perspective with flashbacks from Poppy and Vincent’s POVs set in 1975. It’s a multi-layered story centered around a decade’s old murder and there were certainly some creepy and interesting twists. The concept was unique, but even as the mystery came together, I just never felt totally hooked by the story.

This was definitely a slow burn, and honestly, the pacing felt a little too slow for me at times. I also wanted to like the characters, but aside from Poppy, I just really didn’t care for them, especially the main character.

If you’re looking for a mystery about family secrets, fragmented memories, and a long buried murder, you may enjoy this book more than I did!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an electronic ARC of this book!

Olivia has spent her whole career separating herself from her dad, even though they are in the same industry of publishing. She has never forgiven his decision to self-medicate and send Olivia away as a teenager, not to mention the accusations that have continued to follow him following the mysterious death of his two siblings. But now, they have been brought together out of desperation on both their parts, and Olivia has been hired to ghostwrite his final book about those two murders.

This was such an intriguing premise, and I was captivated from the beginning. We slowly unravel the events of that harrowing day from her father's unreliable memory, interviews with friends, and memorabilia Olivia comes upon by chance.

The incorporation of the treasure hunt was an intriguing one. However, despite Vincent's deteriorating condition, his personality seemed inconsistent and incongruent with how he was depicted in the past. At times, he is angry and secretive while at other times, he is very easygoing and open with his past.

There were parts of the book I really enjoyed, but there were also parts that seemed unrealistic.

It must be an impossible task to be a ghostwriter but what if it was your estranged father's tale you were hired to tell? Olivia needs cash so she isn't in a position to turn down this job even though it is to translate her dying dad's notes and tell the story about the murder of her teenage aunt and uncle. The murders everyone thinks her dad committed. Julie Clark weaves a dual timeline of a troubled family that led to another troubled family. She deftly peels back the onion layers through a found journal, home movies and possibly unreliable memories of Olivia's ailing father to reveal an array of secrets and violence. Moving at lightening speed this will appeal to readers looking for gritty crime and family secrets. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

I’ve read Julie Clark twice now and she is quite a talented and competent storyteller. That is where she shines. The seeds of her stories are interesting and book-browse-catching. You read the jacket cover and think, “Now this is one I need to read.” Once you do, her writing moves with a momentum that propels the book forward and before long you’re in the thick of the narrative and still moving.

The Ghostwriter is a brisk, interesting read with a plot that is professionally crafted and captures your attention the whole way through. It’s a mystery delivered with the ease of someone who knows what they’re doing and how to do it well.

Two big categories in writing, of course, are plot and character, and this novel had plot nailed down. The characters in Ghostwriter are well-defined, but I wouldn’t say that I connected with many of them. They won’t leave their presence with me for long after I’ve finished. One or two maybe, but on the other end, it felt like a couple of characters in this story were there purely as function for another and maybe even to only be a suspicion magnet.

Another thing, though, I do enjoy about Clark (twice now) is that she earns her endings. She’s not afraid to give her readers a tougher ending when the story calls for it. She’s won’t hand-deliver an ending that would be more palatable and perfectly wrapped. The story leads where it leads and The Ghostwriter is certainly better for it—even if the characters won’t necessarily call to me much after the final page.

Recommended for readers who love solid genre fiction, prefer great plot over character, and anyone who enjoys being the hands of a good storyteller.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for providing an uncorrected ARC via NetGalley.

After Olivia Dumont landed herself in hot water about a year prior, she hasn’t been able to land a work project and is desperate enough to agree to ghostwrite a memoir for famous horror author Vincent Taylor. The catch is that Taylor is her strange father, a man she has stayed away from for close to 3 decades and she doesn’t even understand the reason he needs a ghostwriter.
She’ll go back to the small town she was born and lived in until she was 14, to find a broken man at the end of his life trying to grasp memories from 50 years ago, the summer his siblings were killed, a murder most of the town suspects his guilty of and Olivia is tasked with unfurling the tangled web of half-truths to write the book her father ultimately wants.
This was my first read by the author and I was surprised to read such a compelling book. A true thriller that deals with severe generational trauma of all parties involved. How somehow neglectful parenting, sibling rivalry and, ultimately, a young girl’s curiosity brought tragedy to a seemingly normal family and allowed outsiders to judge a young boy based on emotions or circumstances.
The story is interesting, and well written. I had a little trouble keeping up with the back and forth between the past and present, but can see the need the author had to present the book this way. In all, it’s a good thriller, never letting the reader know who the culprit is until the very end and also an emotional journey as both Olivia and Vincent reconcile with their pasts and how their decisions affected their relationship as a family.

I want to start out by saying I have loved Ms Clark’s previous two books immensely. I was so thrilled when I was given the advance copy of her latest book

Ghostwriter is a mystery that weaves a story of woman who is estranged from her father who had had the burden of speculation that he murdered his two siblings. The story does not have the heart pounding intensity of Last Flight or the creativity of suspense in The Lies I Tell. There’s an interesting story there but the middle gets bogged down quite a bit by its lack of forward motion in development. Overall, it felt like the outcome was not quite as original as her first two books. Enjoyable story but quite forgettable among others in this genre. 3.5 stars.

I love Julie Clark's writing. Her female characters are always sharp and interesting and Olivia was no exception. I loved both the feeling of how one returns right back to being a kid when they go back to their home and how hard she worked not to abandon herself.

So much story to unpack here and i loved the way it unraveled piece by piece. Early on, I guessed a big part of the puzzle but I was both totally right and totally wrong at the same time which I loved. Because it showed that she could still surprise me while dropping crumbs I could pick up. That, in my mind, is the best kind of skill.

Can't wait to read more of Clark's work.

with gratitude to netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

Julie Clark is a must read for me so I was excited to receive an advanced reader’s copy. Loved the premise of the ghostwriter who ends up actually being part of the storyline. Love the play on the unreliable narrator. I did guess a couple of the plots twists early on but definitely didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for this ARC. Ghostwriter Olivia Dupont was requested to ghostwrite a memoir for a famous horror writer Vincent Taylor. However, not many people know that Vincent is her father whom she hasn't spoken to in over twenty years. Low on funds and options, she agrees to the project. At the first meeting, he explains that he is ill and this last book will explain the long, unsolved murders of both his siblings that most think he is responsible for. I ripped through this book...I had to have the answers and as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for! #TheGhostwriter #JulieClark #SourceBooksLandmark #June2025

3 from 3 Julie Clark! I loved The Last Flight and Lies I Tell so was super excited for a new book from her. I ate The Ghostwriter up, it was so addictive and easy to get lost in the pages. Who doesn’t love a ooo about a writer, and we have 2 here! It was very cleverly written with past and present day chapters, as well as chapters from different characters points of view. I didn’t figure it out until close to the reveal, I spent the rest of the time bouncing ideas back and forth in my mind.

As the title tells us, Olivia Dumont is a ghostwriter. She gets a call with an offer to write with a famous horror author, Vincent Taylor. She doesn’t want to take the job but she can’t turn it down when she is so much debt. What nobody else knows is that Vincent is her estranged father. She thinks she is going to help him with his latest novel but when she gets there, he tells her he want to finally tell the truth of what happened to his brother and sister in 1975, something that most people believe that his guilty of.

This book just blew me away as did her previous thrillers, we slowly find out what was happening back in 1975 and with Vincent suffering with a type of dementia, we don’t always know what to believe. Very well done and kept me in my toes throughout.

Thanks so much to Sourcebooks Landmark for my early copy to read.

This was a fun, twisty mystery by a reliably great author. I found it a bit slower-paced and less tense than The Lies I Tell and The Last Flight; it was more of a mystery than a thriller. It will appeal to fans of amateur investigations of true crimes.