Down on her luck, ghostwriter Olivia Dumont is offered a job writing a memoir for the famous horror writer Vincent Taylor. Olivia. needs the money desperately but will have to deal with her deep dark secret that Vincent is her father. Olivia spends the entire book unraveling secrets of her fathers past and also letting go of her own secrets and past.

What I liked: Clark does a fantastic job developing the characters. I loved the past/present dual timeline and found myself more interested in the past story line rather than needing to know what was happening in the present. I loved Poppy's character. She was spunky and wise beyond her years. I would have loved for Poppy to have more "novel time"-even though her story was told brilliantly. She just resonated with me.

What I disliked:
Underdeveloped Relationships: While Olivia’s relationship with her father was well explored, some secondary relationships—particularly with other present-day characters—felt underdeveloped and could have added more depth to the story. I would have liked more back story with Olivia and Tom and perhaps more with her mother.
Pacing: Perhaps this is because I read this book over several days, but I felt like it was a bit slow at points and I had to just keep reading for the excitement to pick back up.
Even with my own personal dislikes this was a great book and I give it a solid 3.5 stars. The story was well told, the twists were good, and the story was wrapped up nicely. Solid read!

Special thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this Advanced Reader Copy in Exchange for an honest review.

Before I lost most of my tolerance for the ubiquitous lady thrillers, I read the author's Last Flight and thought it was pretty good. So I figured I'd see what she's up to now with her latest.
The main draw here for me, actually, was that I very much enjoy books about writers. This one has two, a father and a daughter, once estranged and now reunited for their first and last project together.
The father has made a career of writing scary stories and is now losing his mind to dementia.
The daughter has made a career of ghostwriting other people's stories before losing it all to a very public feud with a nasty and litigious man in her field. (Attention - message! Because, of course, you can't have a book without a message these days.)

The father has spent fifty years living under a dark shadow of a double murder (both his siblings) of which he has been suspected but never convicted. Now he decides to set the record straight once and for all through a memoir. And who better to write it than the daughter who has spent most of her adult life telling people he's dead.

That's the basic premise of the story, and it is a pretty compelling read ... until you realize that literally all of the mystery and suspense here is based solely of the distribution of information. As in, the reader is strategically fed only a tidbit of info at a time. Which a. gets frustrating, and b. after a while just seems stupid. I mean, the character doesn't go talk to a crucial part of the puzzle person until the last fifth so of the novel.
It's like, come on. I know you're getting paid per word here, and you've got to hit your 368 pages, or the reader apparently won't recognize what they are reading, but still ...

In the end, this is still very much a genre cliche, meant to check all the right boxes. And as such, it cannot be too challenging, lest it alienates the mainstream audience, thus alienating the more demanding one.
User mileage may vary. Thanks Netgalley.

There’s a little something of everyone inside Julie Clark’s newest book!
Thank you, Sourcebooks Landmark, for the gifted copy of The Ghostwriter {partner}

Genre: Mystery
Format: 🎧📖
Pub Date: 6.3.2025
Pages: 368
Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆.5

“Every chapter has to have a point. Even if the reader can’t yet see it. Every story told must serve two purposes — to allow your reader to know your characters better, and to push the narrative toward the conclusion.”

Okay, Julie Clark, you’ve officially got me! The Ghostwriter was an absolute rollercoaster of a story – I wasn’t sure what to expect at first, especially with the timeline jumping around, but once I found my bearings, I was completely hooked. This book kept me up late into the night because I just couldn’t put it down!

Not only was The Ghostwriter a gripping mystery (with some serious thriller vibes), but it also offered such a deep, emotional look at the stories we tell ourselves about our pasts. It’s a mystery, sure, but it’s also a heartbreakingly beautiful story that unraveled in ways I never saw coming. The way everything came together left me in total awe of Clark’s story telling abilities.

Trigger warnings: Lewy Body Dementia, animal abuse resulting in death (2)

Read if you enjoy:
😳 Dysfunctional family dynamics
🗣️ Multiple POV
🧐 Thought provoking
✌🏼 Dual Timeline

I recommend reading The Ghostwriter this summer when you have an afternoon to yourself - once you start reading, you won’’t be able to put it down!

Two teenage siblings are murdered in their home the same night in 1975. Their surviving brother, Vincent, had an alibi but was never able to shake the suspicion that he was the killer. Now, 50 years later and a successful novelist he is ready to write his memoir including details of that night. He brings in his estranged daughter Olivia to ghostwrite the book before he dies.

This was such a great book, I really enjoyed it! Julie Clark definitely knows how to tell a good story. I loved the different points of view throughout the past and present timelines. I was not able to predict the ending and I loved how it all played out.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Sourcebooks for the advance reader copy. Publication date June 3, 2025

I was quickly intrigued by this book but the first 100 pages feel a bit slow and repetitive. Did not love this as much as the other books written by this author.

I loved all of Julie Clark's other books and this one is no different! The plot centers around family dynamics and of course there are lots of secrets!

Really liked this thriller, it is the second book I have read recently that has a ghost writer as the protagonist, and I think it is a very fun set up. There were a few things at the beginning that I found pretty far fetched, which sometimes can make it hard for me to get into a story, but I was able to get past them with this one. The mystery was fun and really kept me guessing, and I appreciated the strong sense of place and time used in the story. Definitely an above average thriller, would definitely recommend.

This book had everything from suspense to family drama. The two timelines complimented each other and were very cohesive. The author did a great job of making the reader question and keeping the story flowing to grasp attention as well as revealing the truth in a way that wasn’t completely far fetched.

Thank you to Julie Clark, NetGalley, and Sourcebooks for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

First of all let me thank NetGalley for the e-arc of this book. I was so excited to read another of Julie Clark’s novels.

This is my 3rd Julie Clark book and it’s another 5 star rating! The story is done in the present, but ventured to the past all throughout. It kept me wanting to know more and not wanting to put it down.

ARC review • pub date 06.03.25

Wow, this book had me HOOKED. It was so well written and had me turning the pages. Absolutely loved this one! Now I’m going to go grab her backlist that I have on my shelf and push them to the top of my TBR! 👏🏻

Olivia is a ghostwriter and struggling after a public remark she made that basically tanked her career. She receives an offer to ghostwrite for a famous horror writer, who happens to be her father she hasn’t spoken to in decades. When her father was a teenager, his older brother and younger sister were brutally murdered in their home, and while the case was never solved, everyone believes that he was the murderer.

Being reunited with her father causes memories to come out and Olivia is deepdiving trying to figure out who killed the aunt and uncle she never got to meet.

I lovedddd this book and will recommend to all my friends and be thinking about it for a while!

Read if you love:
-cold cases
-flashbacks
-treasure hunts
-70’s nostalgia
-whodunnits

Thanks so much to netgalley and sourcebooks landmark for my ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS for this ARC! Wow. I loved this book from the very first page. I've read 7 ARC's from NetGalley so far this month, and this one was my favorite, by far. It's atmospheric and twisty with strong, complex, imperfect characters. It's the best thriller I've read in a long time, and it was smart, thought-provoking, and unexpectedly tender in many places. Julie Clark captures the vibe of the 1970's so well in the flashback chapters, and there are so many important threads throughout about what we think we know or understand about our loved ones, and how responsible we are for telling our own stories, what is mythical in regards to our memories, and the ripple effects of abuse and sexual assault and not fitting in. I was riveted to every single page, and found myself taking breaks so I wouldn't rush the reading experience. I'll be talking this book up to everyone as THE thriller to look for this coming summer!

While I’ve enjoyed all of Julie Clark’s books to date, The Ghostwriter is probably my least favorite. It was quite the slow burn and it took me awhile to get through it. I felt that the story dragged on and kind of went in circles. That said, I do recommend this book for anyone who enjoys suspense and thrillers.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my review.

Overall, I enjoyed this book! I like thrillers and this did fulfill that role for me.

Pros:
- The plot builds up tension slowly as the narrative moves along, but it doesn't feel too slow... Kind of a subtle "slow burn" vibe.
- The story itself creates some nice twists at the end; you do kind of expect something like this because, again, the narrative gradually builds up to them.
- This book includes a realistic portrayal of dementia and how it can affect the patient themselves, in addition to their environment.

Cons:
- There's a character who is seen from the beginning to make choices that I imagine would be very suspicious even in the 1970s. Despite this, contemporaneously, it didn't seem like anyone in the community was concerned.
- Another mention of current politics...I wish my fiction reads would stop letting me know who they want to be president.
- Most of the characters don't seem that fleshed out beyond their respective roles as plot devices. I sometimes lost track of which female or male character I was reading about (mainly in the flashbacks).

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark Publishing for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Julie Clark is an auto-read author for me, and The Ghostwriter is her best yet. I loved being alongside the main character as she unravels the secrets of her family as her father is slowly dying. A propulsive read.

I’m a fan of Julie Clark’s books and her latest The Ghost Writer lives up to my expectations. Olivia Dumont is a ghost writer on the brink of financial ruin when a potential job prospect is presented to her. This is a twisty thriller as Olivia tries to solve a long ago mystery as she ghost writes a book for her father. I highly recommend this great novel!

This one was an incredible book. I think this is going to be a massive hit. I think some of the Ojai descriptions could’ve been relaxed a little bit because it felt more like a tourism advertisement than a setting in a book. I really enjoyed the twists and turns.

Thank you Sourcebooks for the gifted digital ARC!

Julie Clark absolutely nails so many of my favorite thriller elements with this one. Alternating POV chapters across different timelines, a hidden diary coming to light, everyone keeping secrets from each other, and an ending that will make you ask "how did I not see that coming!?"

I found the female MC Olivia easy to root for, and I was ultimately satisfied with how the story wrapped up.

And I'd be remiss not to mention THAT COVER! It is stunning.

Pub date: June 3

Olivia Dumont was an accomplished ghostwriter. Her father, Vincent Taylor was a best, selling author in his own right. Vincent's brother and sister, Danny and Poppy, had been murdered and Vincent had been accused of the murder. The 50-year anniversary of the murders was coming up and Vincent had decided to write a tell-all. He hired Olivia to be his ghostwriter. So this book is all about everything Olivia went through to get to the bottom of the story. Her father was dying and he had bouts of dementia. He had written his book longhand but Olivia found that there were many, many holes in it. He didn't want her to interview anyone because he didn't want anyone to know about the book. But she knew that the only way she was going to get the story told in earnest was the interview key people. Vincent's wife, Lydia, had left the family when Olivia was young. But she was key to this story. So Olivia sought her out and went to interview her. Margot had been Poppy's best friend, and Mark had been Danny's best friend. These were two more people that Olivia interviewed. But she never disclosed about the book. Another key figure in the story was Mr. Stewart who had been a teacher at the high school. He had been Lydia's track coach and had also fostered an outdoor program that Danny had participated in. It turns out he had made advances on Danny and other students.

Poppy had a camera on which she had recorded a great deal of the history. Olivia went to their old house and found the reels of film that Poppy had taken. She had captured an altercation between Danny and Mr. Stewart during which Mr. Stewart tried to kiss Danny. After that, she had told Vincent that she had something to tell him and that he was to meet her at the house. But when he got to the house she was dead. Danny died shortly thereafter. And while Vincent had been accused of the murders, Mr. Stewart had given him an airtight alibi.

This was a compelling and tragic saga. The author saw to it that Olivia did an incredible job pulling the story together. And the author in turn was a terrific storyteller. She wove a fascinating drama and a searing whodunit into what could easily be one of the better books of 2025. There is so much more I can say about this book but I don't want to spoil it for a reader. Nevertheless, I gave it five stars. I wish I could have given it. 10.

I was excited to read Julie Clark’s newest book as I really enjoyed her previous work, however I don’t think this one is as good as others. The Ghostwriter has a good character development and interesting family drama but it was just too slow for me. I also found myself skipping through some of the parts. Overall it was an interesting story but forgettable.

Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark and the author for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Julie Clark's ghostwriter is about a woman named Olivia reconnecting with her estranged father. Her father requests Olivia to assist in a memoir of his life unpacking the deaths of his two siblings. This novel is layered with character's points of view in present and past tense. As Olivia continues to interview and reconnect with her father, she begins to learn the truth about how her Aunt and Uncle were abruptly murdered. It is a fast paced read!