Laura Lippman’s latest outing, Dream Girl, is rich with allusions to classic literature and theater. It also contains refences to the current age, thereby illustrating some enduring connections in themes and character arcs. In Lippman’s version, Gerry Anderson is an author who is riding a wave of popularity based on his titular third book. When he needs to move to be closer to his ailing mother, he sees this as an opportunity for a fresh start—and a convenient exit for a stale relationship. As soon as he transplants to Baltimore, Gerry is harassed by his agent looking for the next bestseller that he hasn’t yet started. As he is grappling with all these major life changes when he takes a tumble on the stairs that forces him to be bedridden for a few months. His sole visitors are an assistant and nurse providing full-time care, and the unwelcome woman he tried to leave behind. In his drug-assisted recollections Gerry remembers why he had had his accident. He had been startled by a note he had received from a person claiming to be Aubrey, the fictitious protagonist of Dream Girls. The note disappears and phone conversations show no trace of that the communications took place. The author is also unsure of their reality, given his increasing use of medications. He remains helpless as he mentally scours his memories to resolve the mystery. As Gerry’s flashbacks arise, it becomes clear to the reader that Gerry has done some terrible things in the past and is unrepentant. Dream Girls moves along at a nice pace and has some interesting, if implausible twists. This book would suit fans of Stephen King’s Misery or the Lincoln Rhyme collection by Jeffrey Deaver.
Thanks to the author, William Morrow and Edelweiss for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Laura Lippman’s new novel is an irresistibly satisfying read, her best yet in an increasingly ambitious oeuvre spanning 24 years. Shot through with sly ironies, Dream Girl returns a double dividend: It’s a precisely paced whodunit dropped with a splat onto today’s hype-driven literary culture.

Dream Girl’s protagonist is 60ish writer Gerry Andersen. Once lionized as a hotshot for his debut novel, Andersen today is a rich, thrice-married celebrity litterateur. Sadly, he has never quite lived up to the acclaim heaped upon his first book. You may recognize the type.

Because his mother is dying, Gerry has traded the Parnassus of Manhattan for his dreary hometown of Baltimore. Within days of her passing, a freak domestic accident has him sidelined in his newly acquired luxury penthouse. The doctors have fitted him out with a traction-enforcing hospital bed. He faces months in isolation, pinioned above the homely cityscape of his youth, attended only by a demure personal assistant and a sullen nurse caregiver.

Lippman has always distinguished herself with well-tuned interior monologues. That’s the key here — used to marvelous effect — as Dream Girl’s plot casually tumbles along a beat or two behind in the headlong surge of Gerry’s ruminations. Framing chapters fill in some gaps, revealing seemingly random moments in his earlier life.

Gerry rumbles on, as self-absorbed as Philip Roth’s Nathan Zuckerman, though a good deal more comically sententious and inclined to self-dramatizing bon mots:

“[He] always felt more in step with the writers of the previous generation. They were the little pigs who built their houses of brick, whereas Gerry’s peers tended more to straw and wood.”

All the while, a little mystery germinates. Gerry is troubled by messages — and a creepy midnight visit — from an unknown person purporting to be the real-life model for the love object in his famous first book, his own dream girl. He has always insisted that he invented the character whole, despite the incessant probing of reviewers and lit-media groupies after her “real” identity.

To unmask the impostor, he calls in a prominent Baltimore private eye, introduced with an authorial wink as Tess Monaghan, whom Lippman fans will recognize as the protagonist in her early series of detective novels. Tess interviews Gerry, then politely declines the case as unworthy of her time. We get it, but he seems blithely oblivious to the irony.

His suspicions fasten onto his slinky former live-in (“Only the best men could afford a Margot.”). But Margot soon ends up dead, and at last we have ourselves a proper mystery, stocked with the first of several trailing corpses to come. Plus, there’s a corker of a surprise ending that puts the riddle to eternal rest.

As a novelist, Lippman may labor under what some see as the limiting burden of “genre author.” Early in Dream Girl, she has Gerry opine on the subject:

“By college he was mildly embarrassed by his affection for the private detective genre…although he recognizes there are a few outstanding practitioners working within crime fiction, albeit almost accidentally.”

No accident has triggered this writer’s growing range. Her ambition, depth, and skill have been impressively apparent in her last several novels, notably Wilde Lake (2016) and Lady in the Lake (2019). Looking back, it’s clear that Laura Lippman has labored hard to expand her creative reach beyond the bare scaffolding of story-driven whodunits. Dream Girl’s subtle, allusive brilliance would appear to promise much, much more to come.

Novelist Gerry Andersen has recently lost his mother and he is struggling to write his next novel. After a freak accident leaves him confined to a hospital bed in his apartment, he relies on his assistant Victoria and night nurse Aileen. He begins to receive strange phone calls in the middle of the night, from a woman who claims he wrote his hit novel 'Dream Girl" about her. No one else believes he is receiving these calls and the main character in "Dream Girl" is complete fiction. Gerry struggles to find out who is calling him and how to make it stop.

This is book has a slow build up, but it's worth it for the ending. With shades of Stephen King's "MIsery", this focuses on Gerry's internal struggles more than anything. He gives us frequently glimpses into his past relationships, both with his parents and his 3 ex-wives. It gave me a bit of a disjointed feel at times, but it also really built up the anticipation for the climax. Gerry is not a real likable character, but most of the characters in this book are hard to like.

Available June 22, 2021.

I received this book from NetGalley and William Morrow in exchange for an honest review.

Ostensibly about an older male author who becomes injured and stuck in bed…this novel is about so much more. It’s a thriller the #metoo age, a story of a man who has always “tried to the right thing” and that really looks like.
It’s told in flashbacks and present day, mostly from the viewpoint of the Gerry, the older author who is stuck in bed and includes a few chapter from the point of view of the women in his life. Because Gerry is kinda an awful person, this isn’t always *fun*. In that aspect, it reminded me of “Fleishman is in Trouble” by Taffy Brodesser-Akner.
This novel is a slow-burn psychological thriller - is Gerry experiencing dementia? Is he imagining things? Or is he being tortured?
Not a lot happens, but I found the ending satisfying.

A psychological thriller just slightly reminiscent of Misery as an injured writer is being taken care of by a controlling nurse. Some interesting twists.

A clever tale about a writer, Gerry Andersen, in his waning years but not into retirement just yet. Recently sold his place in New York City and bought a luxury apartment in Baltimore, to be closer to his mother in her final days of dementia. Unfortunately for Gerry, the floating staircase and concrete flooring, while modern and sleek, was fairly dangerous. A minor slip and fall, the accident leaves him bedridden for months to heal his broken legs. Now ensconced in a rented hospital bed in his apartment, his assistant helps even more during the day and brings in a nurse for the nights.

Bedridden and taking pain pills, sleeping pills and calcium Gerry becomes the ultimate unreliable narrator and unsure when things are odd if he is dreaming, hallucinating, or what exactly is going on. Gerry weaves between his past and present, while trying to deal with an ex-girlfriend who won’t leave him alone and a mysterious woman who claims to be a fictional character from him most successful novel, Dream Girl.

The text is generously peppered with literary references. This book is highly readable, and enjoyable with a mystery and current social references. Despite the cringeworthy main character you just want to slap, there is something about Lippman’s novels that are just a joy to read.

Novelist Gerry Anderson has moved back to Baltimore to take care of his ailing mother. He sells his apartment in New York and buys a beautiful modern place in the Baltimore Harbor. But his mother dies soon after he arrives and now he is stuck in Baltimore. Then he takes a terrible fall and ends up in a hospital bed with multiple broken bones. He hires a night nurse and relies upon his assistant to help him during the day. And then the telephone calls begin. Someone claiming to be the protagonist of his most popular novel is calling him late at night, saying she has damning information on him. Gerry cannot figure out what is going on...then his ex-girlfriend shows up, demanding Gerry take care of her. Things begin to spiral out of control....This book is a slow burning fire until the flames erupt about 2/3 of the way through the book. I was almost ready to stop reading, but Lippman caught me and held me through to the end. I am not fond on timelines that move back and forth, hence 4 stars, not 5, but that is my personal issue.

There is no other way to describe Dream Girl, by Laura Lippman, but as a true psychological thriller. This rather "trippy" read has you questioning your understanding from the very start. What is real, what is a dream, who exists in real life, who is just a book character? Is anyone as they seem, is anyone even part of reality? We meet some interesting characters, or figments there of, along the way. Thought processes run amok. Funny how your own sense of guilt can play the meanest tricks on you. And, of course, there is karma. Safety and trust are never a given. Assuming you must survive on your own thoughts and experiences, it's probably best to be sure your mind is clear and fully functional.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this title in exchange for only my personal opinion.
#dream girl #lauralippman #netgalley

Gerry Andersen is a famous writer who moved back to Baltimore from NYC to take care of his (now dead) mother. After a freak accident, Gerry is confined to his bed and starts receiving middle of the night phone calls and mysterious letters from a woman claiming to be the inspiration for the main character in his most famous novel.

My favorite part of the book is that Gerry is an extremely unlikeable character -- he felt like a Philip Roth protagonist to me -- he's an old school misogynist who can't quite wrap his head around why he's not allowed to do and say certain things anymore and thinks he's smarter than everyone but also that everyone should feel sorry for him. He's the absolute worst, but I still kind of loved him.

Gerry's drug-addled confusion, isolation, and fears of dementia combine into an entertaining novel of psychological suspense. I sort of hated the ending, but overall enjoyed reading this book.

"Was it a dream? A delusion? The drugs? Some combination of the three? The drugs, he decides. It has to be the drugs. Please let it be the drugs?"

This book enters on fiction writer Gerry Anderson. Laid up in bed after a fall, the plot develops slowly. As we learn about his past. His most famous work, Dream Girl, features Aubrey. While recouperating the phone rings and the caller claims to be the real Aubrey. His old girlfriend Margot suddenly appears. Except for his night nurse Gerry is alone and confused by these events. This is a slow paced book with dark twists and turns.

A thank you to Netgalley for sharing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm sad to say that I don't have a whole lot to say about this one. I've enjoyed a number of the author's previous books, and I'm typically a fan of unreliable narrator stories, but overall this just fell flat for me. Although it has a number of things going for it, I found myself rather bored more often than not, which I admit came as a surprise. Oddly, it might make for an interesting movie though and I remain a Lippman fan.

At the end, this book aroused no emotion in me at all…no excitement, no sorrow, no anticipation, no eagerness to see what was going to happen next. Well, maybe one emotion: relief at having finished it.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC to read and review.

Dream Girl is a twisted psychological thriller in the vein of Misery. A fast-paced read that many of our readers will enjoy.

This is the story of an author that, due to a freak accident, is stuck in a hospital bed at home. Gerry must primarily rely on his assistant and a night nurse to help him recover. The novel jumps between past and present where we see that Gerry has been married three times and really isn't very good at understanding any of the women in his life, including the two women he is currently depending on. He begins to question his nurses abilities and becomes annoyed with his assistant. To make matters worse, Gerry begins to receive messages from the character in his most successful book. All of this leads Gerry down a path in which he is questioning his own sanity.
This book was a unique read. Gerry was not likeable and at times he seemed just clueless about his poor behavior. This story was very character driven, beginning with Gerry and including all of the women in his life. This story pays homage to Misery but make no mistake it tells a very different story.



Thank you to Netgalley for proving me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
#NetGalley #DreamGirl

This was not at all what I expected! My mind was taken in so many directions. I felt a Rear Window/Misery vibe. Our author is stuck in bed after a fall down his spiral staircase. He is left in the hands of his assistant Victoria and his night nurse Aileen. He also is getting phone calls and a letter from a woman who says she is his muse for his character of Aubrey in his bestseller Dream Girl. Gerry goes back in forth in chapters talking about his mother and father, his wives and girlfriends, his students. We learn a lot about him and he is a pretty self-involved person. Things take a turn when there is a dead body and the secrets unfold quickly. The ending is stunning!

Thanks to William Morrow and Netgalley for a copy of this book.

Gerry Anderson may be losing his mind. His mother suffered from dementia, and now he thinks he may be following her path. He's been getting phone calls in the middle of the night, from a woman claiming to be the main character from his book, Dream Girl. She cant be real, Aubrey is his creation, a complete work of fiction.
It could be the sleeping pills or pain meds that cause him to hallucinate a woman in his room at night. Or he could be losing his mind. Discovering the dead body on the floor in the morning, makes everything a lot more real.

Dream Girls is not like any other Laura Lippman book I have read. Most of the book is about Gerry's relationships with women, and his desire to be anything but his father. The timeline jumps back and forth a lot, almost too much, to follow each woman. I found it very hard to follow because of this. Only some of the women's stories were necessary. Lippman was trying to make a point, and it was made.
I got a huge Misery vibe in the middle of the book. This is where the book finally gets interesting. Aileen is a great character. I picked up on her importance immediately, and was thrilled with her involvement in the eventual twist.
If you can get past all of Gerry's women, the story is good. I really only enjoyed the last few chapters.

A bed-ridden author’s life unravels in Laura Lippman’s “Dream Girl”

Famous author Gerry Andersen’s life has been filled with missteps, but none greater than his purchase of a glamorous Baltimore apartment. The dutiful son, Gerry has recently returned to Baltimore to care for his ailing mother. When she unexpectedly dies, Gerry faces the dilemma of whether to sell the apartment and return to New York City, or remain in the place that spawned his best selling novel, “Dream Girl.”
Fate decides for him when Gerry tumbles down his floating staircase, breaks his tailbone and is indefinitely confined to a hospital bed. For the first time in his life, Gerry’s life spins out of control. He becomes isolated from his friends, his agent and the literary world. He becomes dependent upon his apathetic assistant and his disinterested night nurse, and Gerry becomes imprisoned in a dream world fueled by painkillers and the paranoia of an inherited early onset dementia.
The plot thickens when Aubrey, the protagonist in “Dream Girl” comes to life. A woman claiming to be the “real” Aubrey calls him, writes him letters, and provocatively tweets about him. Are these communications real or is he going crazy?
The Aubrey mystery is the tip of Gerry’s iceberg. After a tragedy occurs in his apartment, he really doesn’t know what to think. Is he the perpetrator or a pawn in a “gas lighting” scheme?
Through flashbacks, Gerry exposes the good, the bad and the ugly of 60 years, as he grapples to understand the current circumstances. He relives his father’s abandonment, and his lifelong devotion to his beautiful mother. He revisits his college friendships, which blossomed along with his writing talents and his winning the prestigious Hartwell Prize. And he dissects his three marriages to smart, beautiful women, which occurred during critical stages of his mercurial literary career. Mostly, he remained faithful to his wives and lovers, in spirit if not in body. Convinced that these women bore him no ill will, he still wonders whether a former friend, acquaintance, lover or wife could be instigating the Aubrey pranks.
No aspect of his life is exempt from his obsessive search for Aubrey. He exams his successful career for potential enemies, all the while believing he has been the model of civility, professionalism and sexual equality. But the reader realizes he has been fooling himself.
The snapshots of Gerry’s existence reveal a man so egotistical he has been clueless to the emotions and needs of others. Despite his protestations, his views of women, politics and sexuality are archaic and inappropriate. Seducing, controlling and objectifying women have been motivators throughout Gerry’s life, and it is ironic that his assistant and caregiver become his gatekeepers when tighten their grip on him.
Despite the money, awards and fame, Gerry finds himself alone. There is no one to help him discover the truth about who is taunting him or why, or to save him.
In “Dream Girl,” Lippman has drawn a character study of man who is clearly the product of his past, and relates to the world through the lens of the cultural milestones-books, television shows and movies-of his time. Gerry Andersen is a dinosaur, stuck in the glory days of his literary triumphs and unable to navigate the rapidly changing world.
As I read “Dream Girl,” Stephen King’s chilling “Misery” and Fellini’s masterpiece film “8 ½” were brought to mind. In the former, a famous writer is held captive by his number-one female fan after an accident. In the latter, an author reflects on his relationships with the women who shaped him. Each of these works addresses the theme of assuming responsibility for one’s actions. Like Gerry, these male protagonists failed to accept blame for the injury they caused, and paid the price for their chauvinism.
Lippman’s “Dream Girl” is a psychological thriller focusing upon the moments in a life. Each event has an intermediate implication, and a long-term impact, upon each successive event. Stitched together, they comprise a patchwork quilt of one’s life. Through Gerry’s flashbacks, Lippman drops breadcrumbs, enticing the reader along the path to the “Aha!” moment, long before Gerry arrives there.
As a writer, Gerry Andersen took pride in devising the plot, the climax and the ending in his novels. And keeping the identity of his “Dream Girl” secret. In Lippman’s “Dream Girl,” she has woven a complicated web of deception, hubris, power and sexual politics, with a fitting, and surprising, conclusion to Gerry’s story and legacy.

A book that pays homage to Stephen King’s Misery. It’s the story of a writer, recuperating from a car wreck, who thinks he may be getting messages from the title character of his best selling book. But, she’s not real…or is she?

This moved slowly at first, picked up speed, and had a satisfying conclusion.

This was a difficult story to follow, as it jumps timelines to provide background on what is happening in the present day. Best-selling author Gerry, a wishy-washy, unlikeable guy, is laid up in bed due to a fall and is relying on two women who may not be who they seem to be. I found I didn't really care what happened to Gerry. Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow and Custom House for providing an ARC.

Gerry Andersen, 61, is a well-known author living in Baltimore. He moved there from New York to be with his mother who passed away recently from dementia. Lately, he is beginning to fear that he may have the disease as well.

Gerry fell down the stairs in his home severely tearing some muscles in his leg. Now, he is confined to a hospital bed in his home with his leg in traction. He has an assistant, Victoria, who handles his mail, and other business matters. He has a night nurse, Aileen, who ensures he gets his dinner and his medication on time. He does not like the pain medication, but knows it’s better than hurting.

Gerry is most known for his book “Dream Girl” which brought him fame and money. He has been married and divorced 3 times. His last girlfriend, Margo, has tried to get back with him, but he wants nothing to do with her.

He starts getting phone calls from a woman calling herself Aubrey, the woman from his book, “Dream Girl” saying she will see him soon. This has him truly upset and he wants to know who is pulling this stunt.

Good grief. This book had me rolling my eyes. So much name dropping of authors and their novels which says to me: look how well-read I am. Gerry Andersen is a boring little man. He lucked out and wrote a good book that made lots of money for himself. Now, he finds himself in a situation that is ridiculously unbelievable. I’m still shaking my head. This story is not for me.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.