Olivia Dumont has spent much of her adult life distancing herself from the Taylor family—her family. After marrying and subsequently divorcing, she chose to keep her married name to avoid any association with her father, Vincent Taylor, a well-known and successful horror novelist, or any of the haunting stories tied to the Taylor name.
As a ghostwriter, Olivia has built her career behind the scenes, but when she finds herself in desperate need of income, she reluctantly agrees to ghostwrite for her estranged and gravely ill father, whom she hasn't seen in years. To her surprise, the project isn't another of his fictional horror novels; instead, it's an account of the tragic events surrounding the murders of his teenage brother and sister fifty years ago. With much speculation casting suspicion on Vincent himself, he now claims he's ready to unveil the truth.
Relocating from her home in Los Angeles to Ojai, Olivia moves in with Vincent and his caregiver. Upon reviewing her father's writings about that fateful night, she quickly realizes it's filled with falsehoods. Determined to uncover the truth, Olivia embarks on an investigation, reaching out to friends of the aunt and uncle she never knew.
This well-crafted and captivating story that comes to life as each page is turned. It is difficult to put down until the actual facts become known and the 50-year-old mysterious death of Danny and Poppy is brought to light.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. All comments and opinions are my own.

Julie Clark is an author that I have loved and this book had me hooked from the beginning! I felt like I was back in the 1970's at a home in California at times in this book during the flashbacks for Vince and Poppy. The present day timeline with Olivia was also fantastic as she is "ghostwriter" writing her own father's story. Olivia was a character that I liked as she made herself vulnerable being back at her father's house and facing situations she hadn't faced in her childhood. I feel like it matched the time period. The dementia aspect was well done in that it made Vince unreliable with his challenging diagnosis and advanced age. I highly recommend this book and it will be out on June 3rd 2025. Thank you Sourcebooks for an early copy from Netgalley!

The Ghostwriter
by Julie Clark
Pub Date: June 3, 2025
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Ghostwriter Olivia Dumont has spent her entire professional life hiding the fact that she is the only child of Vincent Taylor. Now on the brink of financial ruin, she's offered a job to ghostwrite her father's last book. What she doesn't know, though, is that this project is another one of his lies. Because it's not another horror novel he wants her to write.

After fifty years of silence, Vincent Taylor is finally ready to talk about what really happened that night in 1975.
This is my third read by the author, and I’ve enjoyed each and every one of them. I wouldn’t say this book is super suspenseful or twisty, but it sure held my interest enough that I did not want to put this book down once I started reading it.

I picked this up because I had just read The Last Flight and was blown away.

This starts out as a slow burn, but still gives you enough to keep you intrigued and wanting more the whole way through. By the time I reached the end of this book I was BLOWN AWAY. Julie Clark has absolutely done it again, and I'm so grateful I got the opportunity to read this one via NetGalley.

I will highly recommend this book to friends and absolutely give a glowing review once it releases.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this book.

This is the first book by Clark that I have read and I really enjoyed it. While I do feel like this trope is a bit used lately in different books I've read I really liked the back story. I would have liked to delve more into Vincent's history and what he wrote about but that was ok. I did kinda figure out who did what about halfway through but that did not make the story less enjoyable.

Really enjoyed this book! Figured out the twist pretty quick but there were aspects of the end that were surprising- the author kept my attention in one place so I didn't see the surprise coming from somewhere else!

I wish the treasure hunt ideas would have been better developed in the present between the main character and her dad and taken center stage in her figuring out the clues. Overall I'd recommend!

Another winner by Julie Clark! Absolutely loved the atmospheric setting in THE GHOSTWRITER & the dual timelines. I loved that Olivia & her dad were able to reconnect and I definitely did not see any of the twists coming! Thanks for the early copy Sourcebooks!

4.5 stars rounded up. This was a very fun dysfunctional family thriller/murder mystery. At a high level this was relatively predictable, however there were some great twists sprinkled throughout. The book really shined through Poppy's flashbacks and tapes. This is my favorite book I've read by Julie Clark!
Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the eARC!

I normally LOVE Julie Clark’s fast-paced, jaw-dropping writing style. This book, however, felt completely different. While I enjoyed the suspense of finding out who killed Danny and Poppy, this was definitely a slow-burn whodunit type of novel. I also thought that Olivia’s angst with the secrets she’s been keeping from her boyfriend felt like filler and did nothing to move the plot forward or develop her as a character. Overall, I liked it but I didn’t love it. Although it wasn’t my favorite, Julie Clark will still be an auto-buy author for me.

4.5 stars

I’m glad I got my grubby little hands on an advance digital copy of THE GHOSTWRITER by Julie Clark. It’s her best one yet. If you are a fan of the author or enjoy a good mystery thriller, definitely check this one out.

Ghostwriter Olivia Dumont cut ties with her father, famed horror author, Vincent Taylor, years ago. Back when he was a teenager, his brother and sister were killed and Vincent was a suspect. Decades later and the case remains unsolved but Vincent is willing to tell his side of the story in his next book. He hires Olivia to research and ghostwrite and she accepts the job only because she desperately needs the money. While she might finally get answers to this family tragedy, it won’t come easy.

The strained father/daughter relationship added an extra layer of tension to the novel. The story alternates between the present with Olivia interviewing her father and the past which shows everything leading up to the killings. You get pieces of the puzzle along the way but it’s up to the reader to make sense of it all. I had multiple theories floating around in my head. It’s a stay until the end situation as I never had strong confidence in any of my predictions as to what really happened to the brother and sister. I just had to wait until the author laid everything out on the table. Thankfully, I was reasonably satisfied with the conclusion.

I loved The Last Flight and The Lies I Tell, so I was so excited to read Julie Clark's latest, but unfortunately, I found it disappointing.

My biggest issue with the book was pacing. The story moved so slowly for no reason and the slow reveal of details and various side plots (/red herrings) in the 1975 timeline weren't enough to keep me engaged. I don't always need a super fast-paced plot, but in the absence of that, the characters have to be more compelling to keep me reeled in. Unfortunately, this was lacking as well: there was little to no character development and the main character Olivia was frustratingly dense at times. Why on earth didn't she just go talk with her mother sooner?! I felt so frustrated to know that she could've just gone to see her sooner and learned what happened.

About 30% of the way in, I had considered DNFing, but I decided to keep going just to see if it would be redeemed by a great ending. I didn't feel it delivered that either, making this an unsatisfying read overall.

“The Ghostwriter” is a mystery thriller with a dual timeline perspective and multiple character’s point of view, following Olivia Dumont who is contracted to ghostwrite her estranged father’s memoir.

While the book was initially slower paced than I typically enjoy, after about halfway through it definitely picks up and the twists and revelations will keep you turning each page so quick!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Bantam for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I'm still chasing that reader's high from The Last Flight, which I absolutely adored. And while The Ghostwriter hooked me with a compelling premise (and the cover is perfection), it ultimately fell flat for me.

Unfortunately, there just isn't enough tension or suspense to hold my interest. The murders aren't recent and the whodunit element just drags on repetitively. It's pretty clear who the killer is and the whole thing is just a little too cliché for me. Additionally, the characters are all a bit flat. I'm so incredibly over the women are victims at all times trope, so Olivia is a quick turn off, and everyone's voice (yes, including Vincent) sounds like an overly hormonal teenage girl. I did like Alma, though. And given that the American Left has been protesting from time immemorial, my protest fatigue is at an all time high. So the activist-y theme of the book put me off pretty quickly. By the time Kamala and AOC were dropped I was done. DNF at about 50% and then skimmed through the rest to see if my predictions were accurate.

Special thanks to Sourcebooks for inviting me to read and review this through NetGalley; I'm just not the right reader for it.

All the stars!!

The Ghostwriter was truly fantastic. I loved the mystery surrounding it all. Also it was such a unique concept to bring father & daughter together to write a memoir. The dual timeline & multiple POVs from 1975 definitely gave an extra layer of depth to the story. I felt like I figured the twist out about halfway through, but NOPE. The Ghostwriter is a page-turner of the finest caliber - I finished it in less than a day.

Also, shout out for the excellent music references.

The Ghostwriter: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.25

The Ghostwriter follows Olivia as she visits her long estranged father to finally tell his story about what took place when his two siblings were murdered in 1975.

I had a hard time getting through the first half of this book. It was a slow buildup for about 50%. However, it keeps you intrigued with the plot of trying to figure out who really killed Danny and Poppy.

We get present and past timeline POVs, helping us piece together the treasure hunt.
Just like any good thriller, I couldn’t put down the last half of the book. While the pacing struggled in the beginning, it picked up near the middle.

The ending is a bit ambiguous and I surprisingly liked that about it! I would recommend to fans of slow burn thrillers that are looking to be kept on their toes the whole story.

Julie Clark’s The Ghostwriter is an atmospheric stunner—equal parts haunting family drama and razor-sharp psychological thriller. With her signature precision and emotional depth, Clark delivers a story that is as gripping as it is devastating.

The layered narrative expertly weaves past and present, drawing us into the long-cold mystery of two siblings murdered in 1975, and the rippling trauma left in its wake. At the center are Vincent Taylor, the reclusive horror novelist with a dark past, and Olivia Dumont, his estranged daughter who’s spent her life hiding from the very legacy she’s now being paid to write.

Olivia is a phenomenal protagonist—introspective, conflicted, and fiercely resilient. Watching her confront her father’s secrets, while battling her own guilt and desperation, is both emotionally raw and utterly compelling. As truths are slowly unearthed, Clark keeps readers questioning everything and everyone.

The reveal is powerful, satisfying, and shrouded in emotional complexity, exactly what you'd hope for from a thriller that doesn't just want to shock you—but move you.

The Ghostwriter is Julie Clark at the height of her storytelling powers: elegant prose, impeccable pacing, and a plot that lingers in your mind long after the final page. A must-read for fans of slow-burning suspense, generational secrets, and deeply human mysteries.

I love Julie Clark, and she can really write a thriller. This one was a little slow for me, still a good slow burn, but I found myself having to read it in pieces. Definitely will recommend - just not as fast-paced as her previous novels.

This was an enjoyable page turning mystery. The storyline kept the reader turning pages to see what happens next. There was good character development as well as a few twists and turns that added to the suspense. This is a book which I would recommend to those who enjoy a good mystery.

It took a bit to get into but once I was in, I was HOOKED. I really had no idea who killed poppy and Danny up until the end- the author did a great job bringing us along the twists and turns and the different directions Olivia’s investigation took her.

I enjoyed the premise of this book, and I liked how the main character was enlisted by her estranged father to be the ghostwriter of his memoir, which was heavily focused on the murder of his 2 siblings (whom people speculated he killed). There were a lot of layers here that needed to unravel, and there were some unexpected twists along the way. I appreciated the writing style, and this book kept my interest the whole time. Thanks NetGalley for early access to this title!