The Ghostwriter's setup is genius: a professional ghostwriter, receives an invitation to ghostwrite a memoir for a famous mystery writer. What her agents don't know is that the famous writer is her father, who may or may not have been a part of two grisly crimes 40 years ago. What the ghostwriter doesn't know is that her father has Lewy body syndrome, a form of dementia which makes him a very unreliable narrator.

The story plays out using dual timelines. We hear from the father and one of the victims in chapters from 1975 which alternate with the present day. Olivia's father drops tantalizing clues which even he can't even be sure are true. Wanting to write the real story and not just her father's fractured memory of it, Olivia tracks down these clues, including visiting her childhood home and interviewing people who can hopefully corroborate details. This leads her on a twisty journey where each revelation make the details even more confusing.

I enjoyed the book, which is really more of a psychological thriller than a suspense novel. I even thought I had it figured out but of course the final reveal was a complete surprise, Many thanks to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for the opportunity to receive an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Hands down my favorite Julie Clark read to date. Kept me guessing and questioning right up until the very end. The multiple POVs and the shifting between 1975 and the present worked so well. Fans of Riley Sager and Alex Finlay will enjoy this twisty thriller.

4.25 🌟

This book grabbed me from the beginning.

As a fan of Julie Clark I was so excited to get this book and it was SO SO good. Seriously. I loved the dual timeline. The book read so quick. And while I did guess one twist, the ending had me 😲.

Thanks, Netgalley for the ARC of this book!

This book was smart, twisty, and totally addictive, pulling you in with a juicy premise and ever-increasing tension. The setup is catchy - a ghostwriter in desperate need of clearing her name and a famous author with a messy story to tell. The story blurs the lines between truth and fiction in the best way possible.

The first half was a bit of a slow burn, but trust the process! As you get to the heart of the story things start to heat up and the pace quickens until you are hit with twist after twist. I love a messy story with unreliable characters and this one sure hit the spot.

Julie Clark’s The Ghostwriter is a masterfully layered novel that blends psychological suspense with emotional depth, delivering a slow-burn mystery that lingers long after the final page.

The story centers around Olivia Dumont, a struggling ghostwriter who reluctantly agrees to pen the final book for her estranged father—none other than infamous horror novelist Vincent Taylor. What begins as a transactional job quickly turns into something far more personal, as Vincent reveals he’s ready to unearth the truth about the night in 1975 when his two siblings were murdered—and he became the prime suspect.

Clark crafts an atmospheric narrative, alternating between past and present, that keeps the reader questioning everyone’s motives, including Vincent’s. The emotional tension between Olivia and Vincent is especially compelling. Their fractured father-daughter relationship brings an unexpected poignancy to a story driven by long-buried trauma and public speculation.

While the pacing is deliberately measured—especially in the first half—the payoff is satisfying. Some plot turns require a bit of suspension of disbelief, and a few secondary characters could have used more depth, but the central mystery is both chilling and heartbreaking.

Clark’s prose is evocative and precise, and she skillfully explores themes of legacy, identity, and the stories we inherit versus the ones we tell ourselves. The Ghostwriter is less a whodunit and more a why-did-it-happen, and that emotional core is where the book shines brightest.

A compelling read for fans of character-driven mysteries and literary suspense.

Another roller coaster thriller from Julie Clark. This is the 3rd book of hers I’ve read, and all have been page turner mysteries. This one changes directions so many times, you might get whiplash, especially at the end.

When 2 teenage siblings are found murdered in their home, the town all points their fingers at the surviving brother, but no one is charged. Fifty years later, he wants to write a book, telling everyone what really happened that night but because his memory is failing, he hires a ghostwriter to assist – his estranged daughter. Can she put all the pieces together to figure it out? Wanting to know what really happened fifty years ago, will hook you quick. I really enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the complimentary copy of this book. As always, the opinions expressed within this review are completely my own.

2.5 stars. Just engaging enough to keep me reading to the end, but ultimately a slog and not worth it. On paper this seems like it should have all the elements of a good thriller, but just didn't manage to build any suspense or tension in either the present timeline or the flashbacks to 1975. By the end, I still felt no connection to the characters and I didn't even care who killed Poppy and Danny, I just wanted to finish this book. There are so many thrillers out there, I would recommend reading another one instead of this.

This is an engrossing mystery about a murder that took place fifty years ago. The story jumps back and forth in time between the present and the weeks leading up to the murder and is narrated by multiple characters, including one of the people killed. The reader is fed bits of information along the way with plenty of misdirection. I kept guessing what the outcome would be but couldn’t quite solve the mystery.

Because of the dual timeline, something I found confusing at times were the many references to mother and father because in some cases they were the parents of the main protagonist, Olivia, and in other cases, they referred to her grandparents (from the point of view of her father or his siblings).

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars. Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark & Net Galley for the ARC.
I really enjoyed this one. I love Julie Clark’s writing style and I enjoyed the flashbacks from different POVs.

A grisly crime in the past, fractured family dynamics in the present and a compelling premise where father and daughter reunite to write his memoir: it makes for a page-turning novel! Personally, I didn’t feel the impact of the ending like I hoped and wasn’t super surprised by how it unfolded. I’ll continue to read this author since I enjoyed her first two novels! Thanks for NetGalley for the digital arc.

Love a good Gothic-esque, horror story with a historical mystery to solve. Great plot. Easy to connect characters. Hooked me from the start. Solving a 60ish year old murder and writing a book about it all at the same time makes for good reading!

Thank you to Net Galley and Sourcebooks Publishing for an early copy of The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark

The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark begins with a tantalizing premise that had all the ingredients for a first-rate thriller. A female ghostwriter is hired by her author father to write a memoir that includes facts about the murder of his brother Danny and sister Poppy as teenagers in the 1970s. The daughter is in need of funds due to a debacle with a former client, and she hesitatingly takes the job.

From the start, problems are rampant: her father, Vincent Taylor, is suffering from a syndrome leaving him little time to complete his story; the ghostwriter is told she must keep her work secret and is forbidden from interviewing prospective persons of interest; the family is dysfunctional at best with a mother/wife who deserted them.

As her work progresses, Olivia learns more about a local teacher who seems to be too involved in the lives of the teenagers he instructs. Here is where the story takes such an unlikely turn. The Ghostwriter seems to hint that life in the 1970s was rampant with teachers who would host drinking parties without parents catching on, hints that no one locked their doors in the 1970s (totally untrue as there were two local murders in my suburban town in the 1970s involving teenage perpetrators and everyone was on edge). and Olivia is able to get inside Vincent's childhood home by simply finding an unlocked window and she discovers video tapes created by Vincent's younger sister found under the floorboards of Poppy's bedroom, overlooked by the professionals who originally investigated the murders.

Julie Clark's many fans will likely find The Ghostwriter to their liking, especially if, like me, they enjoyed The Last Flight.

Another fabulous book by Julie Clark! I can always count on this author to write fast-paced and immersive stories, and this one nailed it yet again. I loved the exploration of the story through different narrators, and especially enjoyed the chapters told from Poppy's POV. I think weaving Poppy's truth into the storyline gave her character the justice she deserved amidst unreliable narrators and the general chaos of discerning what really happened back in 1975. I also enjoyed seeing some parallels in personality and social beliefs between Poppy and Olivia, which gave more emotional depth to the story too.

4.5 stars!

I’m new to this author, but what an emotional rollercoaster ride it has been! The writing is superb, the narrative is gripping, and I found it nearly impossible to put this book down!

The story unfolds in June 1975 when two teenage siblings are found dead in their home, leaving their surviving brother, Vincent, burdened by accusations of murder. As Vincent's career as a horror writer flourishes, so does the dark legend surrounding that night. Fast forward decades later, his daughter, Olivia Dumont, a ghostwriter who has kept her family ties a secret, faces financial struggles and is offered a chance to ghostwrite her father's final book. Unbeknownst to her, this project isn't just another horror story; Vincent plans to reveal the truth about the tragic events of 1975.

Wow, we get to bounce between timelines and explore multiple points of view, all executed with finesse. The main character, Olivia, is a struggling yet talented writer, and I love the air of mystery that surrounds her. As you peel back the layers of her character page by page, you find her both relatable and endearing.

The settings Olivia visits are vividly described and chilling, making it hard to turn the pages fast enough! I was on the edge of my seat, eager to uncover whodunit and why. The family tragedy at the heart of the story remains tantalizingly unanswered until the very end. It’s difficult to fathom the challenges her father faced in his youth, and the family dynamics are laid out in a way that invites you to make assumptions. But we all know what happens when we assume, right? Sometimes, things are not what they seem, so it’s essential to dig deeper to grasp the bigger picture. The tragedy is handled with sensitivity, and I guarantee you’ll be on your toes until the final reveal. The characters are distinct and easy to connect with, each adding their own flavor to the story.

If you enjoy tales of small-town family tragedies, playing detective, and uncovering long-buried secrets, this book will captivate you. Just make sure to clear your afternoon—trust me, you won’t be able to focus on anything else! Bravo to the author for this thrilling read!

Thank you, Sourcebooks Landmark, for the digital ARC copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

A unique thriller!

I really enjoyed this one. I feel like so many thrillers are similar these days so it was great to read something different. The tension-building was spot on and it kept me turning the pages. The characters were so well developed and their family history was gripping. The unreliable narration had me questioning everything. I gasped at the ending … I truly did not see it coming.

Read if you like:
🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒 thrillers with family drama & secrets
2️⃣ dual timelines
🐌🔥 slow-burn thrillers
🗣️ multiple POVs

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. Will post my review on the publication date.

This book wasn’t bad, but also not anything special. I thought it was just a bit too slow and ultimately kind of unforgettable. The twists didn’t blow me out of the water and I wasn’t desperate to keep picking this up to get to the end. I feel like the ending wasn’t fully clear.

A twisted mystery with a dysfunctional family. A family drama and a unique mystery that spans back to when her father was a child. The secrets that we keep and how the affect us. Would recommend.

Julie Clark’s thrillers really don’t miss. She always comes up with great characters and an inventive yet believable story to tell.
The Ghostwriter tells the story of Olivia, a career ghostwriter, who is hired by her sick estranged father to write his memoir. Vincent, her father, is the only survivor after his two siblings were brutally murdered half a century earlier. Olivia has to sift through her father’s unreliable memories and obfuscations to write a book that reveals the truth of that horrible event.
The truth is revealed slowly through Olivia’s research and flashbacks to her father and her Aunt Poppy in 1975. You will be racing to the finish of this book to find out what actually happened on that terrible day. If you enjoy a really interesting and propulsive thriller The Ghostwriter is definitely a book you should be reading this summer.
Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an advanced copy of this book.

I love Julie Clark's books. She always writes interesting characters with great plot twists. The Ghostwriter was no exception.

The story opens with learning that Olivia has been contracted to write her dad's memoir. They have an estranged relationship, but a variety of circumstances compel her to take the job and reenter his life. From there, we get flashbacks to the 1970s and the unsolved murder of Olivia's teenage aunt and uncle. Olivia struggles to reckon with generational trauma, her dad's ailing health and memory, and her compulsion to get to the bottom of a mystery that changed her family forever.

This is a great summer read for fans of family dramas and well-written mysteries!

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an ARC of this book.

Olivia Dumont is a ghostwriter whose recent public confrontation of James Calder lands her in hot water both career wise and financially. When she gets a call from her agent that bestselling horror author Vincent Taylor has asked for her specifically to write his memoir detailing the murder of his siblings in 1975, it should be the excitement of a lifetime, except there’s a catch. Olivia’s last name is actually Taylor and Vincent Taylor is her estranged father.

With no other choice but to take the job or lose her home, Olivia agrees to face her father after years of no contact. Upon arrival, she learns her father is battling lewy body dementia and this memoir is looking more and more difficult than she’d originally thought. Olivia must face her grievances with her father and work on one of the most challenging projects yet, all while trying to find out what actually happened the night her aunt and uncle were brutally murdered.

This is the second Julie Clark book I’ve read and I really enjoy her writing style. The Ghostwriter was a bit of a slow start for me, but Clark makes sure she leaves no unanswered questions with rich plot lines. It comes from multiple point of views between Olivia present day, and Holly and Vincent’s in 1975. The story was excellent and gives a satisfying ending.