I’ve been a big fan of Ms Lippman since her contemporary noir Sunburn and this one was also very enjoyable all the way up to the ending, which was surprising and, I felt, maybe a bit clumsy.

Gerry Anderson is a successful author, a college professor, and a good person. Right now, he’s suffering from writer’s block and, following an accident, is immobilized in a hospital bed in his apartment in a luxury highrise in Baltimore, tended only by his assistant and a night nurse.

Out of the blue, he gets a phone call from a young woman claiming to be the inspiration for the title character of his breakout novel, Dream Girl. But Gerry knows that there was no such inspiration, so who is she? Maybe the mix of painkillers and sleeplessness is giving him hallucinations? It gets even more out of hand when he wakes one morning to discover the body of his ex-girlfriend laying on the floor with his letter opener through her eye.

Mixed into Gerry’s hazy present are chapters about his relationships with women, from his mother to his three wives and some casual flings along the way. Could any of them be Aubrey, his dream girl?

The author does a great job of keeping the tension rising and keeping us guessing what’s going on. Gerry is a marvelously oblivious character: he believes he is a good person but has quite clearly left a wake of destruction behind him with women he is close to as well as the cavalier treatment of those he isn’t. It makes him a little unsympathetic as a protagonist but as the other characters are pretty uniformly unlikeable, I found myself rooting for him by default.

Midway through, there’s a class reading and viewing list for one of Gerry’s classes. Attentive readers will spot some of the plot from these novels and films in this novel. Nice tip of the hat by the author.

Thanks to William Morrow and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

First line: Gerry dreams.

Summary: After an accident that leaves author Gerry Anderson immobilized strange things begin to happen. He keeps getting calls from his fictional character, Audrey, from his bestselling book Dream Girl. Even though he knows he is talking to someone neither his nurse nor his personal assistant have heard the phone ring or heard the mysterious woman on the other end. Then one night he wakes up from his drug addled sleep to find a body on the floor by his bed. What is happening? Is he starting to lose touch with reality like his mother?

My Thoughts: I felt like this book had a lot of promise. Lippman has written some really great thrillers but this one was boring. It took nearly half the book to reach the point where the body appears. There is lots of time hops and characters. Everything seemed to drag on and on. I kept waiting for some crazy reveal or big shock but when something finally happened at the end I was underwhelmed. It was a big letdown for me. And none of the characters were likeable. I got really annoyed with the main character, Gerry. He was constantly trying to worry about how he is perceived in the new “woke” society and #MeToo movement. It got old.

FYI: Check out Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman. Much more fun.

The suspense and satire along the way kept me riveted. Gerry's thoughts and actions were truly riotous.

I thought I would give this book a try but in all honesty, I could not engage with the story.
Therefore I feel I cannot give a honest opinion.

Book Review for Dream Girl
Full feature for this title will be posted at: @cattleboobooks on Instagram!

I have several of her books on my TBR shelves and I’ve been meaning to read Laura Lippman for years. I’ve been wasting those years! This was a stunner!

Dream Girl is the place where Stephen King’s Misery meets #metoo and kills (pun intended) the suspense game.

I really don’t know how to talk about this book without spoilers, except to say it’s the dissection of a mind meeting its past and coming face to face with the gravity of truth, without the filter of lies we tell ourselves. It is a reckoning and it’s a realization, but it’s also a line of sight into a human’s ability to commit the most atrocious of acts and excuse the behavior.

It also takes a deep dive into the true complexity of human nature. It speaks to the ways in which our minds romanticize our history and choices making them far more palatable than reality. And that what we think we are doing or have done is more likely our own inability to see our true intentions.

Or perhaps there is far more to be said for personal perception?

5/5 ✨

Early on in the book, I thought I was reading Stephen King's Misery.

I'm not sure what repurposing stories are but this was predictable and unoriginal.

Author Gerry Anderson suffers a severe injury that leaves him confined to his home and in traction. Poor Gerry, as we come to find out, is less than a sympathetic character. While recovering he receives a letter and then phone calls from a woman claiming to be the inspiration for a character in his most successful novel who insists she will be visiting him soon. With neither his assistant and night nurse to confirm the calls ir letter, he begins to doubt his own sanity.

A wild ride, a runaway chariot that spun around in every direction until ....

THUD

The suspense and satire along the way kept me riveted. Gerry's thoughts and actions were truly riotous.

Gerry is a famous novelist laid up in bed while he recovers from a fall. He is asleep more than he's awake. He is often not quite asleep and not quite awake. His nurse, Aileen (enter Drama!) looms over him serving pills with his dinner. She is a "cheerful Lady Macbeth, humming as she works." He wonders if he is having delusions or hallucinations.

A mystery caller, missing letters , a fictional tweeter. Gerry asks repeatedly, "Do I know you, who are you?"

This train was off the rails, someone truly does steal the show and I loved every minute of reading about it!

Gerry has been in an accident and now requires the assistance of others in his daily life. He has written several fiction novels, one titled Dream Girl. Now he is getting phone call from a woman claiming to be Dream Girl. Who is calling, could it be one of his ex wives? There are plenty of twists in the book. My main reason for the 3* is I never connected with Gerry, the main character. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

Gerry Anderson has broken away from the woman he was dating and moved in to a strange looking house in a different city. He has been having trouble sleeping, which has been keeping him from his writing. He falls and hurts himself pretty badly and is on bed rest, so he has to depend on his assistant and home health aide. Then all of a sudden, he receives phone calls from a woman claiming to be the "real" Aubrey--the main character in his wildly successful book from years ago. But there is no real Aubrey, so who is making the phone calls? And why does the night home health aide never hear the landline phone ring? This book was crazy intense and had me questioning who was doing what and what was going to happen next. Really enjoyed it!

I read Dream Girl in one day. This well plotted, infectious tale that weaves past and present like a medieval tapestry kept me on the edge of my seat. The story shifts from Baltimore to New York and back and resonates with the feel of Baltimore from the 1960s to 2020. Family dysfunction; an author with writers block; scenes that remind me of Hitchcock’s Rear Window; a series of ex-wives; murder; mystery; gaslighting; and wonderful literary references.
A great appreciation to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this galley in exchange for an honest review. Laura Lippman knows how to craft twists and turns. This novel had me guessing until the satisfying last page.

I love Laura Lippman, and was super excited to get a copy of Dream Girl from William Morrow / Custom House and NetGalley in exchange for this honest review. It is compared to Stephen King’s Misery and Lippman herself has referred to it as her first horror novel.

I’m a fan of psychological suspense/thrillers, but not a big fan of horror. Also, the protagonist is a man, and one I didn’t particularly care about or for. He is an author named Gerry Anderson who has had several novels published, with his biggest success being Dream Girl, the one that everyone has fun trying to figure out the identity of the inspiration for the protagonist. Gerry is seriously injured in a freak accident, and has to be totally cared for by his assistant in the daytime and a really dim-witted nurse at night.

Gerry gets a phone call, ostensibly from the Dream Girl herself…who could it be? One of his ex-wives? (yes, plural) Lots of strange phone calls and letters, plot twists, and surprises. I have mixed feelings about it. Again, I love Ms. Lippman, but really didn’t care for Gerry Anderson. I’m being harsh and rounding down to three stars, although many people will LOVE it, as evidenced by many glowing reviews.

Adult Lit. Written in a form of stream of consciousness. Gerry, author and professor of sorts, lives his current uneventful life (after three failed marriages and many failed relationships) feeling as if his past failings and current, dismal life are not of his own making. Although he is reliant on others for his most basic needs, he is distrustful of the most mundane conversations and fancies himself above everyone else. A visit from a woman of his past begins a chain of disturbing memories and events that could do worse than discredit him.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Meh. Got to 40% of the audiobook and ended up requesting the digital book so I could skim and find out what happened.

Some books don’t read as well as an audiobook and I think Dream Girl is one of them as it skips all over the place chronologically and hard to keep track.

Gerry is a successful author living in Baltimore. After an accident, he is housebound with only his personal assistant with him during the day and a mediocre nurse at night. He keeps getting calls from someone saying they are from his past. Is it real or not?

I kept thinking of Stephen King’s Misery while reading Dream Girl. Silly plot with a silly ending.

A bestselling novelist confined to bedrest in his penthouse after an accident begins to receive phone calls from a woman claiming to be his most famous character. Attended only by his assistant and a night nurse, Gerry feels increasingly isolated and worried about his sanity and safety. He even tries to hire a private investigator - a brief cameo by Laura Lippman's series character Tess Monaghan, who quite frankly blew it by passing on what turned out to be a doozy of a case.

Gerry embodies older white male privilege. He acknowledges that he's a bit of a dinosaur, but his self awareness doesn't extend to grasping who amongst his three ex-wives and sundry other women might hold a grudge. Despite his pledge not to be like his philandering father, there are many candidates, revealed through flashbacks. I did guess the involvement of one person early on, but an unexpected twist led to a surprising and kind of crazy ending.

An enjoyable thriller with shades of Misery and Zuckerman Unbound. Recommended for those who enjoy literary references and who don't mind an "unlikable" protagonist.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

Acclaimed author Gerry Anderson is bedridden, recovering from a fall. Hi assistant, Victoria, cares for him during the day and at night, the taciturn Aileen is there. Gerry has a lot of time to reflect on his life, his three ex-wives, his famous book DREAM GIRL. But when a woman starts calling and claiming to be the main character of DREAM GIRL, things get weird. Lippman takes us on a wild ride with her usual great writing and engaging characters, but this novel is very different from her other books. Lippman says this her first "horror" novel, and I agree!

Laura Lippman’s latest delves into the life of Gerry, who is bed-ridden and recovering from an injury, relying on the help of an assistant and a caretaker. When strange things begin to happen, Gerry questions his own sanity.

This book is unlike any of Lippman’s others. It has a male narrator and the story alternates between present time and multiple past times. I did not particularly care for this, as I found it to be confusing at times and I had difficulty keeping track of what was going on. I felt like the book was more of a character study of Gerry than a suspense. I did not like Gerry or any of the other characters so it was hard to become too invested in the outcome of this. Overall, this one was just so-so for me.

Gerry is a prize-winning author who has moved to Baltimore to care for his dying mother. After her death, he is living in a new apartment, and takes a fall that leaves him incapacitated and requires him to hire home care people. He is not sure if it’s his medication, but he begins to receive various communications from a woman claiming to be the fictional main character of his most popular book. He is also visited by his last romantic entanglement who proceeds to threaten him. Is his night nurse a help or a danger? That is the question!

I am a fan of Laura Lippmann’s novels and was excited to have an opportunity to read ‘Dream Girl’ courtesy of NetGallery and the publisher, William Morrow in exchange for an honest review.

This is going to be a short review as I quickly discovered my excitement was misplaced. I disliked the book.

A wealthy, successful novelist finds himself bedridden after a nasty fall in his spectacular high-rise penthouse in Baltimore. He is completely dependent on two women he barely knows: his incurious young assistant, and a dull, slow-witted nurse. To make matters worse, he is being stalked by a woman who claims to be the inspiration for his bestselling novel. Okay, so far so good. But....

It is impossible to be sympathetic or even care about Lippman’s primary character - novelist Gerry Andersen. He is crass, despicable, cruel, sexist and etc. The other primary characters - the nurse and assistant are equally so. Compounding the problem is that Lippman tells the story non-linearly, and in such a way that it's nearly impossible to know who is doing what to whom and when. It just didn’t work for me.

The book has garnered good reviews and it's probably just me. I just believe that Laura Lippman has written much better books than this.