Laura Lippman’s books are always good and very different. This book does not disappoint. The characters are well defined and unique. The ending was very…..ummm….different and unexpected. I had to read the last chapter over again just to make sure I read it correctly! Be prepared to be surprised. Good book. Highly addictive, and recommended.

I enjoyed Dream Girl quite a bit. Read it quickly, in about 2 days. It's a thriller without too many thrills, but it's an easy read that kept me engaged. I was left wanting "more" with the ending and perhaps "more" throughout the whole book.... more thrill, more character development, more plot.... but again, I definitely liked it and am glad I read it.

I’m a big Laura Lippman fan. And Dream Girl immediately drew me in. Gerry Andersen is bed bound, the result of a fall down his stairs. So, when he starts getting letters, tweets and calls from a character in his wildly popular novel, he initially puts it down to his pain meds.
Now as a Baltimore girl, who knows exactly what it means to go to Gilman, who knows Grauls, Locust Point, even Windy Valli and the ponies, reading Lippman always feels like a trip home. I even got a chuckle that Lippman has Tess Monaghan make an appearance. Gerry and I are also of a similar age. So, despite the fact he’s a bit of an a**hole, I could relate to him. And I did enjoy his thoughts on writing and the comparisons of books to movies. Yet, at times, he felt much older than his 61 years. I would have expected his total cluelessness to be more appropriate for a man in his 70s.
But my problem here was that it took forever for something meaningful to happen. It needed more oomph! to the story. Once things start to move, it does become more enjoyable. There is definitely a sort of Misery vibe to this story, which Lippman admits to in her author’s notes. And I was really curious to see how Gerry would be able to get himself out of his predicament.
I will always be a huge Laura Lippman fan, but this isn’t one of her best.
My thanks to netgalley and Faber & Faber for an advance copy of this book.

This is my 8th Laura Lippman, Her stories have been hit or miss for me ~ some I loved and others ~ didn’t work for me.

This story starts when Gerry Andersen the successful author of “Dream Girl” is bedridden and recuperating in his beautiful Baltimore apartment from an injury.
He gets a phone call ~ actually he gets many phone calls but this one is from Aubrey.
She states they need to talk about ‘her’ story and what happened between them.
She then states “I think it is time the world knows I’m a real person”!
He states… “There is no Aubrey”!
She says ~ “Well! Not by that name but I always knew I was Aubrey the girl in “Dream Girl”!

Hmm the plot thickens!
Yep this got my attention.

Oops!! Wait a minute! I hung in there but this turned out not to be a WOW read for me.
I secretly was hoping it would be ~at least my comments are better than ~ it didn’t work for me.
I did enjoy reading Ms. Lippman’s ‘Acknowledgements’.

Believe it or not ~ I haven’t given up on this author and will try another.
Note: I was born in August,, we Leos are known to carry a grudge and ‘never forget’ ~ sometimes forever!!
Hmmm pressure is on!

Want to thank NetGalley and Faber and Faber Ltd. for this eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for my honest professional opinion.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for July 1, 2021

This thriller left me cold, a little bored and irritated with the characters and I struggled to get into it and ultimately gave up.. It takes a long time to get going, the pace is not helped by the movement of time periods, and the background information got pretty dull.. Gerry is not a likable character, but then those who plot against him are not much better, so there is no one to get behind for or hope for a positive outcome. I'm sure others will enjoy it more than I, but I found it an empty experience.

I got a definite Stephen King 'Misery' vibe from this book, as well as layers upon layers of stories and narration. Who to trust? If we trust the characters, do we trust all of what they say or just some of it. This is definitely a psychological thriller with a not so perfect or trustworthy narrator. I didn't like Gerry's character purely because of how he treats women. His misogyny and his consciousness but loose understanding of the #metoo movement is uncomfortable to read but it lends credence to the whole book. His life becomes unravelled and we hop between different years, in no particular order. It was confusing to begin with but I was soon accustomed to the quick transitions. Overall, this was a fast paced decent thriller. Also, I'm scared of Aileen.

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review. Dream Girl is out in July 2021 😍

Dynamic and delusional characters. Well developed. So many gratuitous plugs regarding US politics that had nothing to do with story line.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book for an honest review.

So Laura Lippman can write, but what makes her one of the best authors writing today is her ability to experiment as she writes. This book, while a mystery, is very different than what she's written before.

I do not want to give anything away, but the book explores writing and is obviously influenced by another story, although with enough twists the story is entirely new.

If you have not read Laura Lippman before, please start. She is an exciting writer who is consistently readable, if not genre loyal.

This is one of those books which is terribly pleased with itself - mentions of other authors and books, 'in' gags about publishing, a convoluted plot and references to 'me too'. Sadly it left me cold, a little bored and irritated with the characters.

It takes a long time to get going, the pace is not helped by the toing and froing through time, and I was not convinced that I needed all of the background scene setting. Gerry is not a nice person, but then the characters who plot against him are not pleasant either, so there is no one to root for or hope for a happy ending. A shame as I really enjoyed 'Sunburn' but this one is not for me.

Laura Lippman produces another home run. With her twist on the classic Stephen King novel Misery this is a fine exploration of writers behaving badly, revenge fantasy and the age old questions of who is manipulating who!! With a cameo by her well known PI Tess Monaghan, Lippman has managed to write a stand alone novel that somehow links in with her Baltimore series of books. Once again the city of Baltimore is almost a character in itself although the claustrophobic nature of the apartment in which much the action is set contributes to the sense of menace in the writing.

A disappointment.. Gerry Anderson, a successful novelist, has moved from NYC to Baltimore to help his dying mother. He buys an apt., and soon after moving in, injures himself by tripping over his rowing machine or something. He is confined to bed and has a night nurse and day time assistant. Someone is gaslighting him with info about his breakout novel DREAM GIRL suggesting they know on whom it is based.

Tess Monaghan shows up, and things start to look up. But she refuses the case because the apt. gives her the creeps.

Well, thanks for that. I was hoping she would save the book. Too bad, the book is not saved. The nurse who is not a nurse and the assistant who is not an assistant are former creative writing students and they are out to somehow get even with Gerry or something.

Not up to Lippman's usual standards.

This book is about the author of Dream Girl, Gerry Anderson who has to leave New York and return to his home town of Baltimore to look after his ailing mother. He settles into his new penthouse and seeks advice from his agent, when he has a terrible accident, he reflects on his early life and his three marriages whilst recovering but mysterious things start to happen and from this point it was surprising, gripping and thrilling to the end. #Dream Girl#NetGalley

Dream Girl follows Gerry Anderson as he struggles to understand the confusing phone calls from a woman who has never existed.
Overall good book which kept me reading. I found the flipping between times to be confusing at parts. Decent storyline.

* I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book from NetGalley and Faber and Faber Ltd in exchange for my honest review

I was intrigued by the blurb, and as I've recently re-read Stephen King's Misery and was pleased to see how well it holds up, I was looking forward to reading a modern, #MeToo take on the story. However, I found that spending time inside the protagonist's head was thoroughly unenjoyable, and it made the book a chore to read.

Can characters actually come alive from novels? Who would impersonate a character from a book? Who would want to haunt Gerry Anderson?
Gerry finds himself bed-bound, at his staff's mercy when Aubrey begins making late night phone calls to him. Mysterious happenings being and Gerry is the only witness. How does a character, Aubrey, come alive from his novel, Dream Girl written years before?
Laura Lippman knows how to write a spectacular novel. Dream Girl keeps you guessing from start to finish. For me it had a Hitchcock/ Steven King spin on the story, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Lippman takes you from the present time and switches between past memories. Each section is clearly marked so you know what time frame Lippman is taking you.
I will definitely be recommending Dream Girl to others and will always look out for Laura Lippman's work. Special thanks to NetGalley, Laura Lippman, and Faber and Faber Ltd Publishing for the advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest opinion. 5 stars

#DreamGirl #NetGalley

I was intrigued by the blurb but ultimately found the book a hard reader. In likeable characters and constant switching between present and past meant this book was just not for me.

Gerry was a unlikeable old fool. This was a hard novel to stay invested in but finished it. Fell flat half way through and never really picked up steam. I think it’s because I disliked the main character so much.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc

3.5 A hard book to review, it felt like a smart book, but not one that i enjoyed reading, the main character was unlikeable and it was told in first person/stream of consciousness/back and forth to different time periods. There were a lot of literary references, that made sense for the book, but not so much for me as a reader. It had potential but then it went in a different direction and the motivations of the other characters not clear at all. ultimately admirable but disappointing read

I really love Laura Lippman's books, but Dream Girl fell a little short for me. Lippman does an excellent job of portraying the "dream state" of the main character, but it felt disjointed and confusing. Plus, Gerry Anderson is EXTREMELY unlikeable. I mean I truly hated him. So it was hard for me wish anything but harm and vengeance upon him. Definitely not my favorite Lippman book, but Sunburn and Lady in the Lake remain two of my favorite thrillers.

Thanks to NetGalley for the book
Gerry is a writer who after an accident that leaves him bedridden begins to receive calls from Aubrey the main character of his most famous novel.
It’s a well-written novel, however the pace is very slow for my taste. The plot also has leaps in time that don’t help the rhythm and I found Gerry’s character unattractive.
Still, it’s an interesting novel though not for me.