A really good read with a twist at the end. It definitely kept me guessing. As someone who has a parent with dementia; I enjoy seeing it talked about in books lately.

This is by far Ms. Clark's best book yet! Down on her luck as a ghostwriter, Olivia has been blackballed in the publishing industry due to a snide comment to a famous writer during a roundtable workshop that went viral. Looking for work and hoping to keep her house, she gets a strange call from her father's agent to write his memoir. Olivia has been estranged from her father for many years, as he was a workaholic author prone to drinking, that sent her off to boarding school as a teenager.

But the main reason she left and changed her name, is because her father was accused of murdering his brother and sister as a teenager!! The killer was never found, he had an alibi, and went on to become a famous horror author. This sets the stage for an awkward family reunion to say the least. Olivia would not even have considered the job, but she is desperate for cash, and curious to see why her father finally wants to talk about what happened that night, and what he saw.

She returns to her childhood home in Ojai and finds her father, Vincent, in various stages of mental decay due to lewy body dementia, a form of alzheimers. So sometimes he appears lucid as he's telling her his story, but sometimes she can't tell what's a lie, and what's the truth. The story is told in two timelines-Ojai in the 70s, and Olivia's present day. The author does a great job infusing the feel and essence of 1970s southern California here with the hot dry days and cool nights. It's as if you can smell the night blooming jasmine and eucalyptus as Olivia interviews people that knew her parents during that time, and starts to decipher what really happened. When she finds her aunt's Super8 camera and diary, things get even more tense as the truth starts coming out. Once I thought one character was the killer, a complete twist was thrown at me. I could not put this down! This was almost an ode to Vincent's sister Poppy as she narrates the diary and what her life was like, and why it had to end so young.

A brilliant thriller and amazing read!!

Another impeccably written and expertly plotted thriller by Julie Clark. I'm impressed by how she can craft very human stories and very real character, while dropping them in such disturbing situations.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a tad confusing but I liked the back and forth alot. I also enjoyed the main character. The ending was a nice twist.

Julie Clark delivers another gripping, twist-filled thriller with The Ghost Writer. The story is smartly paced ad filled with tension, blending suspense with emotional depth. Clark excels at crafting complex, layered characters, and the protagonist's voice is both compelling and relatable. The plot unfolds with just the right amount of mystery to keep you guessing until the very end. A must-read for fans of psychological thrillers.

In this chilling exploration of family secrets, a struggling writer Olivia Dumont, is forced to confront the darkest chapter of her family's history when her father—a famous author long suspected of murdering his siblings—finally breaks his fifty-year silence about that fatal night in 1975. Olivia's journey from reluctant collaborator to truth-seeker unravels like one of her father's horror novels, except this time the monsters aren't fictional and the ending isn't written yet. Is Olivia's father, Vincent Taylor, finally clearing his conscience or crafting his most manipulative story yet? What begins as a daughter's desperate grab at financial salvation transforms into a haunting meditation on how family trauma echoes through generations, and whether some truths are better left buried in the past.

**Thank you NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark and Julie Clark for an eARC of The Ghostwriter.

Book: The Ghostwriter
Author: Julie Clark
Publisher: Sourcebook Landmark
Genre: Mystery Thriller, Family Drama
Pub Date: June 3, 2025
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Stars!
Pages: 368

Story is told from the POV of Vincent, Olivia, and Poppy ~
In two time periods then- 1975 and present day.

Fifty years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Taylor return home after an evening at the movies in Ventura and find a heartbreaking tragedy ~~ the bodies of two of their children eighteen year-old Danny and fourteen year-old Poppy. The sole survivor is seventeen year-old Vincent, who was not home. Vincent was a suspect but was cleared as he has had proof he had been with his girlfriend, Lydia Greene and their teacher Paul Stewart who lived next door.

However suspicion continued to follow him. He did marry Lydia and they had a daughter, Olivia. Vincent became a successful author of horror thrillers.
When Lydia no longer could take the suspicion that followed; she disappeared and changed her last name to Dumont. When Olivia was fourteen Vincent sent her to boarding school in Switzerland where she stayed and then went to college in France. She took on her mother’s name Dumont and never returned.
Olivia spent her entire professional life hiding the fact that she is the only child of Vincent Taylor, famous not only for his novels but for being the prime suspect in the brutal slaying of his siblings.
Olivia is now forty-four and her father is still a writer. He recently learned he has Lewy body dementia. He has good and bad- his memory comes and goes. He has written a draft a memoir of what happened all those years ago but he does not have the mental ability to complete it. He has asked for Olivia to be the ghostwriter on what will be his last book.
Olivia is having financial issues and her father’s offer would certainly help. She reluctantly accepts- knowing working with him will be difficult as she is like most people and believes he has something to so with the deaths.

Poppy’s POV is very interesting as were her diary entries!

Story was a twisted emotional mystery that kept me asking – What is the Truth?
Wow Has my vote for ‘Best Read’ this year!

I loved the “A Conservation with the Author” I encourage reader s to take time to read it.

Ms. Clark tells us her motivation for writing the story via answering questions.
She also tells us the hardest part of the book was keeping track of who knew what and when.
(I laughed at that- I was thankful for Kindle highlighter as I definitely used it!)

Want to thank NetGalley and Sourcebook Landmark for outstanding eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for June 3, 2025.

* I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All thoughts are my own.

The Ghostwriter is a slowwwww burn thriller that never really picked up for me. There were some points where I was like “oh!?” but then not much came of it. I thought the ending was frustrating. The characters weren’t super interesting to me either.

Not one I’d recommend to anybody. I think there are better thrillers out there and I liked The Lies I Tell by this author much more.

A satisfying and propulsive read - ghostwriter Olivia has been through the wringer lately. Standing up to misogynist bullies doesn't pay the bills, but it does get you labeled as difficult to work with and eventually sued. Struggling to figure out how to afford her home, Olivia ends up accepting a job from her estranged and ailing father, a famous horror writer with a dark past. Despite her father's insistence that he tell his side of the story of the deaths of his sibling when he was a teen, his broken mind and desire for secrecy make deciphering the truth a near impossible task for Olivia. Read this if you like unreliable narrators and redemption stories.

The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark had lots of elements of a superb thriller - unreliable narrator, desire to keep the truth hidden, protecting others and their memories, unfortunate deception, revenge….At the same time, the story had a convoluted ending, leaving me wishing for more clarity. Seeing glimpses of a ghostwriter at work, crafting the story, was fascinating.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the opportunity to read this ARC.

An awesome premise and a strong mystery kept this thriller going strong until the end! Your mind will bounce from suspect to suspect as the story unfolds. I love the dual timelines, multiple points of view, and how everything came together in the end. A super solid thriller!

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for access to this arc!

Mystery / Thriller

The author’s writing style, characterization, multiple POVs & timelines kept the story going at a nice pace. I was pretty sure I knew who did it, but alas I was wrong.

If you like books with dysfunctional families, tragic events, heartbreak & long buried secrets, then this book is for you!

I’d love to see this as a mini-series on Netflix or Prime & am very excited to read more by this author.

Favorite Lines:
“Life is easier if you don’t ask questions.”
“It’s not a matter of what needs to be said, but how the story should be told.”
“You can’t erase the past by not thinking about it.”
“She was sunshine personified, and when you were around her, you felt like anything was possible”

Thank you to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark & the author for an advanced reader copy in return for an honest review.

A special thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this advance copy of Julie Clark’s newest book, The Ghostwriter - set to publish this upcoming June, 2025.

I loved Clark’s debut The Last Flight and remember speeding through it needing to know what happened, and this one had similar feelings - in this book, we follow Olivia, a ghostwriter with a past who after a scandal is hoping to get back to work. Olivia has separated herself from a family secret that has rocked a small town in California, and her father requests her services to write his memoir as the only surviving sibling following the murder of his brother Danny and sister Poppy. Olivia’s father Vincent is ill, and is looking to tell his story.

This one is told from mainly Olivia’s viewpoint, with flashback chapters from Vincent at first, and Poppy towards the second half of this book - I thought this was an interesting choice because for awhile, you think you have it figured out, before it switches everything on its head. I loved the pacing of this one, and I couldn’t stop reading until we got to the answers. Highly recommend this one if you liked The Last Flight, it’s similar in terms of readability, pacing and character development.

Thank you again to NetGalley, the publishers and the authors for this ARC in exchange for my thoughts and honest review. Pub date: 6/3/25

This is my first novel by Julie Clark and I’m blown away by how much I loved it!

The Ghostwriter introduces us to Olivia Dumont, a ghostwriter who’s a little down on her career luck. She owes a peer and her lawyer a lot of money and can’t figure out how to pay it back. When her editor comes to her with an opportunity to ghostwrite the famous Vincent Taylor’s memoir, she can’t refuse. Not only was Vincent the center of his siblings double murder in 1975, he’s also Olivia’s estranged father. Olivia’s fiance, Tom, is excited for her landing a job, but Tom also has no clue where Olivia came from because she lies to everyone in her life about her family tree.

Once Olivia gets to her father’s home and starts to write, she learns he has been diagnosed with Lewy and her time is limited. She quickly begins to unravel just what happened that night in 1975, when her aunt Poppy and uncle Danny met their demise.

This story kept me engrossed the entire time, I did Not want to put it down. Poppy’s final chapters hit me like a brick. They were so raw and sad and unexpected. Highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a solid thriller with well hashed out characters.

All I can say is wow, this book blew me away with how good it is! I had to read it all non-stop within five hours. Julie Clark can write! I found out her other books are on Kindle Unlimited so I'm already reading another one!

The Ghostwriter is a slow burn kind of story that is far from boring. The plot moved along perfectly to me, everything was revealed at the right time. Olivia agrees to work with her estranged father Vincent on his memoir. She really needs the money or she wouldn't be there. She finds out he has Lewy body dementia so time is of the essence.

Eventually he tells her the book isn't a memoir but a true recounting of the day his brother and sister were murdered in their home. It's always been him that everyone suspected even if there wasn't evidence to prove it. Olivia is motivated to get to the bottom of things. This kind of book would have her set money wise. But she also would like to know once and for all if her father is a murderer.

The parts set in 1975 were so well done. Vincent would have Olivia believe his brother Danny was full of rage and bullied him. But Vincent was also a very angry boy. The whole town saw him as a creepy mean boy and Danny was perfect. They didn't know what the family was really like. All I can say is I felt so bad for the sister Poppy and wish she could have gotten out.

Olivia has her work cut out for her, piecing together what's provable facts and the things Poppy left behind that tell some of the story. Olivia is a great character, she's smart and sensible. I wouldn't mind reading about her again, solving another cold case perhaps?

Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the ARC.

📚 BOOK / REVIEW ✍️

Full transparency, I almost DNF'ed this book 🤪 It was a very slow burn, with not a ton of action til the very end. Books like that really drag for me normally - but I am happy I stuck it out.

I loved the premise behind this - a female ghostwriter hired by her estranged author to finish his memoir before he died. Seems cut and dry til you find out he was all but convicted for the murder of his 2 siblings 50 years ago. 👀👀👀

Given his age and condition (lewy body dementia), he made for the perfect unreliable narrator. I really didn't know if he was innocent or guilty, but that made plodding through this one worth it.

It was unique and interesting - but make sure to read some trigger warnings before opening. There are some really sad topics discussed in this book that I wasn't prepared for.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 - thank you @netgalley @bookmarked for my #gifted copy. This comes out June 3, 2025!

Many thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. I enjoyed it. A strong four stars.. Enjoyable twist to the usual dysfunctional parent/child relationship.

I was so excited to have been selected to read an early copy of The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark. It was on my list for one of my most excited to read books of 2025. I loved how the story was told between different timelines and through multiple points of view. The way in which Julie Clark wrote made me feel like I was sitting on the sidelines watching these events as they were told from the pages of the characters. From 1975 to the present there is so much to be revealed and brought to light. Complex family relationships and secrets kept that shaped so many lives. I was hooked and invested as soon as I started reading. All I wanted to do was sit in a comfy chair and binge read but life didn’t allow that. And I’m actually glad because it gave me more time to get to the ending. When I was reading the last 10% I stopped for an about a half hour to absorb and sit with the latest piece of story I had just read. It was heavy and left me with so many feelings. I can’t recommend this book enough. I absolutely loved it. Mark your calendars for June 3rd and get yourself a copy! Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Lamdmark for the ARC!!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!
This book was so tedious. The main character Olivia, was a ghostwriter who was not able to get a job and was losing everything she had worked for because she spoke out against another male writer. She finally got a job, but it was ghostwriting for her father whom she had not spoken with for several years. He was a famous writer who was suspected, but never convicted, of murdering his brother & sister in 1975. This job would be Olivia’s comeback. If she could stomach being around her father, and complete the job, she would be able to pay off the slander suit against the male author she spoke out against and keep her house.
The problem was, she hated her father. He was an alcoholic/drug addict but was also the man who raised her, made her fun & exciting scavenger hunts, and sent her away to Europe to get an amazing education. Her mother had left them both when Olivia was very young. Both parents were together during the 1975 murders. They were each other’s alibi along with a high school coach.
It took me forever to get through the first half of this book and it didn’t get binge worthy until about 70% in. The ending was predictable.
I usually love a mystery/thriller and the book’s description was very enticing. This one just didn’t hit the mark for me.

Another hit for Julie Clark! Wanted to read this book because her other books were so great - but this one blew those out of the water!

A family suspense that has it all - murder, estranged family members, parents with memory altering conditions, even an absentee parent.

Lots of twists and turns and even a mildy happy resolution. A really great read;