A perfectly crafted mystery !

And when I say perfect, I really do mean perfect: true life characters, an expertly and intricately woven plot, a steady pace and a "chef's kiss" ending. I always try to stay away from the "edge of your seat thriller with unexpected twists", but this book is the real deal. It is suspenseful, it has twists and turns and a surprising ending but here it is done in such a masterful way that both story and characters will stay lingering for a long time.

I won't go into much plot details as I think it is best to go in blind to truly appreciate the clever puzzle we - the reader - are meant to unravel. But I can say that Poppy, Danny and Vincent seem to be my own childhood next door kids with whom I would go on bikerides during the long summerdays of youth. That's how unbelievably good the author has them described on paper. And then of course there is Olivia, complex and hurt and yet fiercely independent and strong ; who discovers the ties and lies that bind her family even after decades of estrangement.

Oh, this was so good ! I know for sure that previous books of Julie Clark are going to my TBR pronto.

A truly heartfelt thank you to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark and the author for allowing me to be an early reader and to discover this gem. All opinions are my own.

What a creepy and fascinating idea for a book - being raised by a father who everyone suspected murdered his own siblings when they were teens. That premise and the stunning cover had my attention from the start.

Unfortunately the story struggled to keep my attention… it started off so slowly and stayed that way for a good portion of the book. I found myself getting a little bored, wanting to get on with it already, enough with the minuscule breadcrumbs. The last third of the book finally picked up the pace and I do love the ending - the way it all came together with reveals that I expected along with a few surprises.

It’s a good story with a satisfying ending. I do feel it could’ve benefitted from better pacing and if I had felt more of an emotional connection with the narrator, Olivia. She didn’t come off as very likable to me for a portion of the book so it was hard to invest myself in the story of her family.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the opportunity to read an early copy.

I have always been a fan of Julie Clark books. This one was unique compared to her past books. A fairly slow paced murder mystery who-dun-it story, and less faster paced “thriller”. It was told through multiple different POVs and timelines and I liked getting snippets of the past from different perspectives and trying to put clues together as I read. Personally I liked her other books better and for me, the pacing plays a huge role in that. Compared to her other books I’ve read, I found this one much easier to put the book down and walk away for a while. However, even though slower, it was twisty. I did find it a little predictable and nothing in this one really shocked me. Nonetheless, it was still engaging and I thought it was good storytelling. Would definitely recommend!

I have loved all three of the books I've read by Julie Clark, and the Ghostwriter just may be my new favorite! Olivia Dumont is a ghostwriter who is facing financial and professional problems after posting some inflammatory comments on social media. She needs a writing job before she loses her house, and she is shocked when she is asked to ghost-write her estranged father's memoir. Olivia's father, Vincent Taylor, is a famous horror-author who has never escaped the shadows of his infamous childhood. In 1975, Vincent's brother and sister were murdered in their home, and although the case was never solved, everyone suspected that Vince was involved in his siblings' deaths. Now, decades later, a terminally ill Vincent wants to write one final book to set the record straight about what really happened that night. The book slowly reveals the mystery with multiple POVs and flashbacks to the 1970s that bring the time period to life. Highly recommended for fans of slow-burn mysteries that will keep you guessing until the ending! Thanks to Netgalley, Sourcebooks Landmark, and author Julie Clark for the librarian preview copy.

💭 ⓂⓎ ⓉⒽⓄⓊⒼⒽⓉⓈ
This book was so addicting, and I was hooked from the very first page. I could tell right away that this thriller was going to be a winner. It had everything including murder mystery, family drama, flawed characters, and the nostalgia of those old camcorders we used to bring stories to life. Nothing was quite what it seemed, and I flew through the pages, eager to see how it all came together. I loved piecing together the clues alongside Olivia as she uncovered her family’s long history buried secrets to write her estranged father’s memoir. The multiple POVs and Poppy’s flashbacks made the story even more compelling. If you are looking for a gripping and unputdownable read, mark your calendar for June 3 and pick this one up!

📚 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
🔪Psychological thriller
🧐Murder Mystery
🎭Family drama
🤐Secrets and lies
🔀Twists and turns
📖Books about books
🏠Small town setting
🗣️Multiple POV

⚠️ 𝙏𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨: murder of kids.

✍️𝕄𝕐 ℝ𝔸𝕋𝕀ℕ𝔾✍️
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

💕Q U O T E: “𝐼'𝓂 𝒷𝑒𝑔𝒾𝓃𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝒾𝓏𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝑜𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓁𝒾𝑒 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓅𝒶𝓈𝓉, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻 𝑜𝒻𝒻 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝓇𝑒𝓈𝑒𝓃𝓉. 𝐹𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝑒𝑜𝓅𝓁𝑒 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝒸𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊.”

🙏 Thank you NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark, and Julie Clark for this ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts. 💕

Julie Clark knows how to write a great mystery. I enjoyed piecing together the clues on who killed Poppy and Danny. When it all came together in the end, I was blown away.
This was a fun, twisty story.

The Ghostwriter has your mind turning from the first few pages and it doesn’t stop until the end! Julie Clark has become a go to for mystery books.

Olivia's next ghostwriting project is to finish the latest book of horror author VIncent Taylor. Here's the thing - She's keeping a secret. He's actually her dad. As a child, her father's two siblings were murdered. The tragedy was never solved, but there was speculation that her father was responsible. Now, in his latest book, he's ready to talk about what really happened. What I really liked about this thriller was the way the story was told. In the present day, Olivia is trying to put the story together. Then, there are also flashbacks with bits of the story from people who were there. I knew there was a twist, but I loved how I couldn't quite figure it out on my own, so had to keep reading. It was masterful suspense-building storytelling. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the look at this June 2025 read.

The murders in 1975 of teens Poppy and Danny, Vince’s brother and sister, continue to haunt him his entire life. He had an alibi, but many still think he killed them including, at times, his estranged daughter. The fact that he became a famous author of horror novels only intensified the suspicion that he was evil. The truth is supposed to finally be revealed when he hires his daughter Olivia, who is a famous ghost writer, to write his memoir. But Vince is suffering from Lewy body dementia, and his memories are at times suspect. Olivia finds diaries written by Poppy, she finds 8-track films of arguments between Vince and Danny, she interviews people who were there at the time and are still alive, and the answer to who might be guilty switches daily. The Ghostwriter is full of family drama, teenage trauma and angst, and unreliable narrators, and you will not want to stop until you finally know the truth about who killed Poppy and Danny – or at least the truth that Vince and Olivia want to be known.

I knew going into this that Julie Clark’s writing just worked for me, and I’m glad that that hasn’t changed. While I didn’t love this as much as her last couple novels (which were both 5 star reads for me), it truly kept me intrigued. I could not put this down, I needed to know what was going to happen next.

The way the story is revealed is so interesting. There’s different formats, unreliable narrators, and POVs from the past. Yet it all just worked.

I was a bit hit and miss on Olivia as a character but at the end of the day, I sympathized her and everything she went through and the way she dealt with it all. I feel like Vincent wasn’t necessarily supposed to be likeable, but at the very least he was interesting. I just wanted to learn more about him, which is a fun feeling while reading.

Julie Clark was already someone I considered an auto-buy author and this book basically just confirmed that even more.

3.5/5
Slow start. Glad, I kept with it! The ending was great.

Olivia grew up the daughter of a horror author who was labeled a murderer of his brother and sister. After she gets in some hot water for calling out another author and is iced out in the literary world her father gets his team to offer her a job as a ghostwriter. He wants to tell his story as he remembers while he can remember it.
I felt like this book was missing something. I didn’t want to keep reading. I could put it down and circle back whenever.
The ending was great and I am glad I kept reading and finished it.

This was one of my most anticipated novels this year, as I’ve enjoyed all of Julie Clark’s prior novels, and it did not disappoint. Olivia Dumont is a well-known ghostwriter, until she stuck her foot in her mouth and is now having some financial troubles. She receives an offer to ghostwrite Vincent Taylor’s memoir, an offer she can’t afford to turn down. The problem is that no one knows that Vincent Taylor is her father. And in addition to being an author himself, he is most known for being accused of murdering his brother, Daniel, and sister, Poppy. Despite his alibi at the time of the murder, this has remained a dark hole over the rest of his life. Olivia had a rocky childhood and has spent most of her life distancing herself from her father. This opportunity could finally give her the history she needs about her family as her father is ready to tell all about what happened almost 50 years ago.

The story alternates between present day as Olivia interviews her father and reviews the notes he’s left her for his memoir, and the past, from both his and Poppy’s perspectives. Poppy’s viewpoint is told via the discovery of her diary and videos she took. This raw data helps Olivia navigate the jumbled memories of her father that are complicated by his recent dementia diagnosis. Clark takes the reader on a pseudo treasure hunt releasing snippets of the story until it culminates with the final reveal that will leave the reader guessing throughout.

Thank you to Sourcebooks for the opportunity to read and review.

This was quite a mystery. Actually several mysteries are going on in this family's story. As Olivia is trying to learn the truth from her aging father, there is definitely something/someone he is trying to protect. Is it himself? Everyone's version of the truth is different. That is why Poppy thinks that what is on her camera will actually tell the story. But it really only tells the story if you know what you are looking for. I am not sure if Olivia ever figures out that what happens in the past definitely changes who you are and how you react to events in the future, but she definitely gets some answers from her father. It might not be the ones that she expected though. She made her own version of the truth a long time ago and she has to reconcile that with what she knows and wants to believe about the kids they were and the adults they became. GREAT READ!

Murder. A writer. And a highly unreliable narrator.

Julie Clark’s new book is very different from her previous work, but still gripping and unpredictable. I read it in one sitting because I was dying to know star happened. While this was not my favorite book of hers, I was still on the edge of my seat to know the ending.

THE GHOSTWRITER is an outstanding read! I knew she would create an incredible book, but this one had my mouth agape!

I loved the characters, the plot, and the twists. The book had me in a chokehold! I stayed up reading until the wee hours of the morning! What I enjoy about THE GHOSTWRITER is the twists and turns and figuring out the mystery. The final twist took me completely out, screaming aloud as the characters in the book could hear me!

Julie Clark has a beautiful way of telling a story and keeping her readers invested. This book is her best yet! I rate this one five stars, and it’s highly recommended!

For those looking for a great book to grab you immediately, add THE GHOSTWRITER to your “To Read List!” Thank you, Netgalley and Sourcebooks, for the opportunity to read and review THE GHOSTWRITER.

The Ghostwriter was the type of muder-mystery that you can honestly read in one day. I love a dual timeline novel, and I love stories told from multiple characters' persepctives. The Ghostwriter had both of these elements, which made it a huge success in my opinion. Once I made it about two-thirds of the way through, I truly did not want to put the book down, and I was dying to find out what really happened and who really killed Poppy and Danny. I also loved that the main character, Olivia, was a ghostwriter, as I think it gave the story a really unique persepctive and twist. There were really so many things the just worked in The Ghostwriter to make it a very solid 5 stars.

Julie Clark doesn’t disappoint! This book had me intrigued and eager to turn the page throughout the whole story.

I found the flashbacks to be so insightful for this decades old mystery that Olivia was trying to sort through. The dynamic between her & her father was tense but reasonable, and I was glad to see their journey. The reveals were well spaced out and I would recommend this read!

I felt the ending wrapped up just a bit quickly, I would’ve liked just a little more insight into the epilogue. But overall, a great read!

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted ARC

DNF at 21%. THE LAST FLIGHT is one of my favorite thrillers but this book just fell super flat for me. It was incredibly slow and boring and I couldn't bring myself one bit to care about the deaths of Poppy and Danny. It was just dull and annoying and the throwback chapters were especially lazy - seemed like AI could have written it if you said "write two vague paragraphs about a murder mystery." So disappointed this one didn't hit like Clark's others!

The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Olivia Dumont is a ghostwriter but nothing can prepare her for the next book she has been asked to write, the memoir of her estranged father, Vincent Taylor. Olivia has spent her entire adult life distancing herself from him. Vincent, a horror author, was the prime suspect in the slaying of his siblings in 1975. Shunned by his town as a murderer, he now wants to tell his story, but is he ready to tell the truth, or can he?
Julie Clark is a go-to author for me! I love the way she can spin a storyline and this one is deep and intriguing. There were so many times I just didn’t know what to believe. I just couldn’t turn the pages fast enough and then towards the end, I just wanted it to slow down and last. I felt so deeply pulled in to the storyline. Really, don’t pass this one up if you love a good suspense thriller!
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fun, twisty, and well-written thriller with a lot of tension throughout. the protag is interesting and other chars are too. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.