This book unfortunately was not for me. I honestly had trouble finishing it. It was a very slow read. Also it felt too much like the book, Misery. I also did not like any of the characters. I honestly thought this book was a waste of my time.

I wanted to love this, but I found it harder to get into than I anticipated. I would say this is more a slow burn psychological thriller. This book is about a novelist Gerry Andersen trying to write a new novel after experiencing a freak accident, and then fast forward to waking up in hospital bed in his apartment he is struggling to write his next best novel when phone calls start. The phone calls are from “Aubrey” his main character from his acclaimed best-selling novel “Dream Girl” so how is this possible she is the character in his book not a real person! He starts to become paranoid at so many things wondering what is real or imagined. It was kind of hard to follow from the switch back and forth with the timeline for me it was a little choppy and rough to keep up. I enjoyed it once I got used to the rough transition into the book, but it was hard to get past how confusing and a little to all over it was in the beginning. I enjoy Laura Lippman but this wouldn’t be in the lower part of the list of what I have read of her books. Thank you NetGalley, William Morrow, and Laura Lippman for the chance to read this and review! I give 3.5 stars for this.

This was a really good read. Is Gerry, the injured bed bound author, an unreliable narrator? Is he hallucinating due to pain medication or just going mad? The reader is never quite sure if they can trust him and his telling of events or not. What also muddles the waters is that Gerry is not a sympathetic protagonist. The reader wonders if Gerry’s narcissism has colored his perception of events. This was a suspenseful and immensely enjoyable novel that I thought about long after I had finished the final page.

A writer incapacitated and not unlike a Hitchcock movie, the plot thickens. It is an exercise in things that go bump in the night. Caught in a penthouse that may have a story of its own to tell. Gerry isn’t sure where the drugs end and his nightmare begins. His only other human contact is a friend,who I suspected isn’t all that friendly and a night nurse. If you like Hoffman you will be intrigued by her foray into a different writing space. Happy reading

Great book. Highly recommend and will most defiantly read more by this author and suggest to others!

I was looking forward to this book a lot and I thought it was a solid piece of work. We have an unreliable narrator with several themes and messages being pushed, Lippman's writing keeps me entertained and flipping those pages as quick as I can! Twist after twist left me shocked and to say the ending was unpredictable was an understatement!

First, I love the cover of this book. Unfortunately, the story is slow paced and Gerry was very unlikeable. The ending made up for it!

This book just didn't live up to my expectations. I was hoping for something more. There was so much potential going in, I thought for sure this would be one of my favorites of the year.

Character wise they all kind of fell short for me. I didn't connect with any of them no matter how hard I tried. I did love the whole idea of Gerry as a character, again there was just so much potential.

Overall I could see this being for people who love slow-burn psychological thrillers. I can also see this being a love it or hate it type of read. Sadly, this book just wasn't my cup of tea.

I really enjoyed this clever and sharp novel. It seemed like it was going to be one thing and then turned on its head completely, becoming something else entirely. I loved the ramping of tension and how unnerving everything felt, especially as Gerry become more and more confused and incapacitated. Gerry is a cleverly constructed character, a dinosaur in the modern world, Lippman allowed us to feel sympathy for him before pulling the rug out from under us. Great, tongue in cheek, wicked writing.

This book wasn't as suspenseful or exciting as I'd hoped. There were some plot twists but sometimes I found the flashbacks confusing because they were out of chronological order. I have enjoyed this author's previous books, so I will keep reading books by her, but this one fell short to me. I received a free copy of this book from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Upon reading the synopsis of this book, I was prepared for an utterly gripping book. However, I did find myself disappointed with this book
I have read previous books by this author and I have loved them, , but this is a different genre for the author
I had “misery” Stephen king vibes when reading this book
The book was a great read with comic style in, but I just expected a lot more. Maybe I compared too much to her previous work

I always love Laura Lippman's writing. Although this novel was a little unexpected from her, I still found myself drawn into the story and the characters. A bit odd and spooky at times, it had a certain "weird" sense of humor underlying the tension in the story. It was a bit of a "slow burn." She is a wonderful writer which is part of why I was compelled to read on. A good psychological thriller that kept me up until dawn!

When I finished Dream Girl by Laura Lippman, I was a little confused. I did one of those "what did I just read?" kinds of double takes. I'm not sure I got it. Now it is a few months later and I'm still a little at a loss as to how best to put a review in words. The story was interesting, the writing was well done, but the actual point of it? I'm still not sure. My best guess is that Dream Girl is a kind of reimagining of Stephen King's Misery, wherein our main character Gerry finds himself bedridden after a freak accident an solely dependent on the various women who care for him (or do they, really?). We wonder: Is Gerry losing his mind??; Is this really happening?? And WHO actually IS the Dream Girl?? But none of those questions ever gets fully answered. As a fan of Laura Lippman's writing, this was a tough one for me. I think I liked it. I definitely wanted maybe fifteen more pages in which to clarify a couple of points a little better, but I also fully understand that it might have been the author's (and/or editor's) point to keep us guessing rather than neatly tie bows on all the loose ends. Thank you to the author and the publisher for the privilege of reading an advance copy of Dream Girl.

I've read a few Laura Lippman books and this one is not quite the Laura Lippman I remember. The premise is good and a bit of an ode to, Misery.

Gerry Andersen is a popular writer and his best selling novel was called, "Dream Girl." Now Gerry is lying in a hospital bed on his 25th floor apartment after an accident. He is on pain medication and during the day his assistant, Victoria helps care for him. At night he has hired a nurse named Aileen to stay with him. One evening Gerry receives a strange phone call. It is someone named, Aubrey, who just happens to be the main character in his novel, "Dream Girl." Is Gerry delusional from the medication? Is he losing his mind like his mother and suffering from Dementia? Or is he just dreaming? Aubrey cannot possibly be calling because she's only a character in a novel, right?

An intriguing premise but it starts off very SLOW

The timelines switch over several decades as we begin to get to know Gerry. This is a little confusing in the beginning but then I got used to it.

Gerry is not really a nice guy although he thinks he is. He can be an unreliable narrator too. This has flavours of the #metoo movement.

The story picks up and the writing is in perfect Lippman form. I liked the ending. It was satisfying!

I'm rounding this one off to a 3.5 as I mostly enjoyed it.

I'd like to kindly thank NetGalley and Faber and Faber Ltd for granting me access to this Advance Reader Copy.

Lippman’s standalone thriller, Dream Girl, blurs the line between reality and fiction in a story about a bedridden, pain medicated writer who spends most of his time in an ambien-fueled drug haze where he has trouble distinguishing fact from fiction. His nurse and assistant scurry around meeting all his needs while he drowns in streams of consciousness about his three prior wives and his ex girlfriend Margot and the various fans he meets and beds at book reading events. Ditto for the students at his college writing courses that he critiques and beds or wishes he did. His most famous book, Dream Girl, is reappearing in late night phone calls from a woman who claims she is the main character from the book.

Not everything here is believable especially as things get revealed to the dear readers in the second half, but the over the top excess is all part of the fun where Lipmann pays homage to crime fiction by satirizing the excesses. This is not horror or gritty crime fiction and the writing is a bit frothy and light. But, it is an entertaining read where a writer laughs at the whole writing process and the hubris of some in the writing industry.

I've heard great things about Laura Lippman and found this book to be interesting but at times I had trouble caring much about the main character (and as a result losing interest). I look forward to reading more Laura Lippman in the future.

This book had me on the edge of my seat! It was dark, dramatic, and so well written. Laura Lippman never disappoints, but this was one of my favorites. I especially enjoyed how the narrator described himself through stories in his past but he lacked self-awareness. Lippman allows the reader to see him as he really is and I almost felt superior to the narrator. I don’t know how she did that but it was genius! I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a book in which to get lost and enjoys something dark.

This was a very random story line. I thought the narration was good, but not sure how I felt about the story. It was not what I excepted, not bad but not great..

I enjoyed this book by Laura Lippman. It had great characters, who were well developed. Lots of twists. And a ending that was satisfying. Will need to read more Laura Lippman. #DreamGirl #NetGalley

Wow, what a read! I raced through this one, and couldn't wait to see how it finished! Recommended for anyone who love a good read that will keep you gripped until the end.