Ghostwriter Olivia Dumont, her finances and career in shambles, reluctantly accepts the lucrative assignment to ghostwrite the last book of famous horror novelist Vincent Taylor, a man everyone believes murdered his teen siblings in 1975, when he was 16. Dumont has spent most of her life hiding the fact that Taylor is her father and hasn’t seen him for 20 years, but she needs the money.

From the moment they are reunited it’s clear there’s more to the project than Olivia anticipated. Her father is in failing health, with severe memory issues that make him un unreliable narrator to his own life. In searching for the truth, Olivia must follow a disjointed series of clues.

The story is told from the points of view of the murdered sister, Vincent, and Olivia, and in the process can feel a bit circular, but it works and in the end we get the true story of what happened back in 1975.

This was an entertaining read and I’ll definitely look into other books by Julie Clark. Thanks to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark and the author for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

First thank you to source books and NetGalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis: Vincent Taylor is a famous author who grew up in with a horrible family tragedy. His daughter Olivia was sent away to boarding school which caused a rift. She is estranged from him for many years after starting her career as a ghost writer. She is called back with an offer to help him write his memoir of the family tragedy.

What I liked: Julia Clark has a way of writing mysteries that fully engrossed you. I truly felt like Olivia and was following along with the mystery and get mad when she did or sad, angry or confused. I really loved the relationship with her dad. I thought it felt realistic with their history. The mystery was a slow burn. At first I wanted to speed things up but like the time it took which was long I’m just impatient. I think she revealed the clues and gave you enough information to keep you guessing and turning those pages. She has turned into an autobuy author for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the opportunity to read an advance copy of The Ghostwriter by Julia Clark in exchange for an honest review.

As someone born in the '70s, I found The Ghostwriter not only compelling but eerily familiar in its atmosphere and emotional undercurrents. There’s a certain grainy quality to the storytelling that reminded me of old home movies and newsprint headlines—those echoes of a time when secrets lived in the walls and families kept them there, quietly and indefinitely.

This novel doesn’t rush. Like the stories we grew up with—ones told around the dinner table or heard through slightly ajar doors—it unfolds deliberately, layered with meaning and anchored in memory. Though it’s marketed as a mystery, Julia Clark delivers something far more introspective: a story that meditates on grief, fractured relationships, and the ways truth can shift over time.

At the center is Olivia Dumont, a ghostwriter who’s made a career of speaking for others while keeping her own past buried. When her estranged father—Vincent Taylor, a horror novelist whose fame was shadowed by family tragedy—asks her to write his final book, Olivia returns to a place filled with echoes of her childhood. What follows is both a search for answers and a reckoning with the silence that shaped her life.

The novel's dual timeline—moving between present-day interviews and the events leading up to the tragic deaths of Vincent’s siblings decades ago—creates a structure that feels like peeling back layers of wallpaper in an old house. You sense something buried underneath, but you’re never quite sure what until the end. I appreciated that the narrative didn’t offer easy answers; instead, it let me sit with the ambiguity and piece things together, the way we often do when reflecting on our own pasts.

The depiction of Lewy body dementia hit especially close to home. I’ve watched a loved one lose themselves to this disease (my grandfather) and Clark’s treatment of it was sensitive, painful, and beautifully authentic. Those moments added an emotional weight to the story that made it feel incredibly real.

While The Ghostwriter might be a departure from Clark’s more plot-driven works, this quieter, character-focused novel is a standout. It speaks to those of us who remember what it felt like to grow up in a time when certain things just weren’t talked about—and how powerful it can be to finally give voice to them.

A strong four-star read. Thoughtful, slow-burning, and full of emotional resonance—I recommend it to readers who value depth over flash and appreciate a story that lingers.

3.75 ⭐️

Clever.
Original.
Intriguing.

The Ghostwriter was uniquely engaging. Like many other readers, I was captivated by The Last Flight. Having loved The Last Flight, I proceeded to read two other novels by Clark, The Ones We Choose and The Lies I Tell. In comparison to her successful 2020 novel, both of these novels were lackluster. That said, I didn’t have high expectations for her newest production, The Ghostwriter, and to my surprise, I was entertained by this slow burn psychological mystery.

The Ghostwriter followed Olivia Dumont, a ghostwriter, who was hired to help her estranged, famous author father, Vincent, write his last novel. What she didn’t know was that the novel was about the past, specifically the murder of Vincent's siblings decades ago, and he was struggling with something that may have prevented him from telling the truth.

I loved the alternating past and present timelines. The flashbacks revealed events from 1975; and the present timeline showed how Olivia pieced together clues from Vincent’s notes, her mother’s diary and interviews. The multiple perspectives allowed for a better understanding of the characters and deeper appreciation for the circumstances they were involved in and the motivation behind their actions.

Aside from the dual timelines and multiple point of views, Clark expertly explored themes of identity, betrayal, and redemption. Olivia tried to figure out who she was since she had been struggling with her career and accepted a job that she didn’t realize would force her to confront her own past, the truth about her father and the events that shaped their lives. Even more, this story explored the complexities of family relationships, generational trauma, and the impact trauma had on their present lives. As the story came to a close, redemption was portrayed through the reconciliation of Olivia and her estranged father, Vincent which led to her healing and finding a sense of peace and self-acceptance.

I greatly appreciated how this mystery gradually built tension as Olivia’s investigation unfolded and clues uncovered a complex web of secrets. The unreliable narrators also added to the intensity of the ambiguous plot leading to a more gripping narrative.

Having read all but one of Ckark’s novels to date, this wouldn’t necessarily be my first recommendation of Julie Clark’s work, but it is definitely a close runner up. If you like slow burn psychological mysteries with dual timelines and multiple point of views, you’ll most likely enjoy The Ghostwriter.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting read - the book didn’t originally catch me from the beginning. It was a bit of a slow start and had me wondering where the author was going with this story. The main character was missing something for me up until the last 50% of the book when she started asking deep questions and going against what she was meant to do. It was nice to get some backstory from Olivia’s father on what happened in his life that made him who he is. I do wish there was more about them mending their relationship, because Olivia did truly have a traumatic childhood. The ending wasn’t super surprising, but this was a fast read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC.

I found this to be the work of a real professional writer who knows how to create suspense and credible characters. I read it nonstop in a day and my attention never lagged for a moment. I hope this book is very successful...and it's another reason why Julie Clark is one of my favorite writers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for a complimentary early release copy of The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark.

The Ghostwriter is an intriguing read that had me hooked from start to finish. There were many aspects of this book that I enjoyed. I liked the characters, the characters felt throughly fleshed out, I liked their personalities, quirks, and even flaws. I enjoyed the past and present character perspectives, I liked how the story incorporates both timelines to make things add up with each other and give further context to what had happened in 1975. The plot did a really good job with keeping things suspenseful without making it feel like things were dragging on.

The Ghostwriter is an equal mix of suspenseful, thrilling, and heart breaking. The relationship dynamics between the family members both past and present is another element that had kept me invested in the story. I do feel just a tad bit confused as to a few things that had happened in the past timeline but otherwise this was a good story. Julie Clark did a fantastic job on The Ghostwriter!

Olivia Dumont has spent her adult life ghostwriting memoirs for women with reputations to protect: politicians, celebrities, business icons who want just enough vulnerability to feel real but not enough to get messy. She makes their stories sound honest while hiding all the sharp edges. Then she moves on. No one knows her real name is Olivia Taylor. Not her agent. Not the publishers. Not even her boyfriend. Because she’s the daughter of Vincent Taylor, a horror novelist so famous his Wikipedia page has a body count. And yeah, he's also the prime suspect in the brutal 1975 murders of his teen siblings, Danny and Poppy.

Now Olivia is out of options. Her career has gone down in flames after a very public and very expensive feud with a fellow author, and if she doesn't come up with a massive chunk of cash soon, she’ll lose everything. So when her agent calls about a ghostwriting gig, she jumps. Then she hears the name: Vincent Taylor. The client is her father. He wants her to write his final book.

He’s dying. Lewy body dementia is closing in, taking his memory with it piece by piece. And for some reason, he’s finally ready to talk about that night in 1975. Olivia doesn't want connection. She wants a check. But what she walks into is her childhood home, her father’s fading mind, and decades of secrets packed into a house that still smells like the past.

This isn’t a twisty thriller. It’s a psychological excavation with flashbacks that bleed and ache. We get dual timelines. Present-day Olivia, clawing through her father’s incoherent notes. And the 1970s, where we hear from both Vincent and his sister Poppy — she through her diary and footage, he through fractured recollections that may or may not be the truth.

Imagine if Stephen King’s estranged daughter showed up at his crumbling old estate to ghostwrite a memoir about that one summer her father maybe murdered his siblings. That is the energy here. Olivia is a fortress. She’s not here for healing. She’s here because life imploded. Watching her try to stay detached as the walls close in is brutal and brilliant. Vincent is cagey, complicated, and just coherent enough to make you wonder if he’s still manipulating everyone. And Poppy. God, Poppy. Her voice is so tender and precise it feels like grief pressed into silent film reels, every frame a scream no one can hear.

The pacing takes its time, especially through the middle, but that slowness is the point. The suspense builds like a storm no one sees coming — one flickering light at a time. Every detail is a breadcrumb in a life haunted by memory, not ghosts. Is Vincent finally telling the truth? Is he rewriting the past before his mind disappears? Or is he just legitimizing the lies he’s been telling himself for fifty years?

The final chapters don’t explode. They devastate. Quietly. Personally. It’s not about solving a murder. It’s about whether Vincent can finally name the pain that’s shaped his entire life... and whether he wants to. And if he does, what does that mean for Olivia, the daughter left to live with it?

Four stars. It’s not perfect. A few characters are flat, and the mystery doesn’t crackle the way some might expect. But it stays with you. It’s sharp. It’s layered. And it hurts in all the right places.

Whodunity Award: For Turning a Ghostwriting Gig Into a One-Woman Cold Case Investigation

Huge thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the ARC. This one absolutely wrecked me in the most narratively satisfying way.

Wow !! This was such twisty eerie thriller. I could not stop reading it. I loved the concept of the author's estranged daughter hired to write his story. I liked the little clues throughout the book. I did not see the ending coming. I think the addition of Poppy's point of view through her home videos was a great addition to the overall storyline. I highly recommend giving this one a read if you enjoy a well written thriller.

Thank you Netgalley and SourceBooks Landmark for the digital arc in exchange for my honest review.

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!