This was a slow moving suspense for me. Told in dual timelines from multiple viewpoints, I was kept guessing throughout the book. Ghostwriter Olivia is hired to write a book for her father, famous author Vincent Taylor. She spent much of her life distancing herself from him, but now she must confront her past - and his - in the telling of the story. There are some twists and surprises along the way. While I don’t agree with some characters viewpoints, it was a decent weekend read. Be aware there is some heavier subject matter mentioned.

The Ghostwriter is a gut punch of emotions and family drama. The author creates an atmosphere of deep heartache through each character until you feel like you’re actually a part of the story and need to solve the mystery of what happened to Danny and Poppy. This story blends a unique mix of family drama, a horrendous tragedy and a mystery that needs to be solved.

Olivia is a ghostwriter who has been hired to write a memoir about her father, a famous horror writer, who now has dementia but needs his story told after decades of rumors and misinformation have surrounded him. Olivia must dig deep and trust her instincts if she’s to get the story right. She learns so much more about her family and how she became who she is through her father’s retelling of his childhood.

This book is evocative, breathtaking and addictive. It is written beautifully with high emotions that are told through multiple voices. I am so in love with this book and this author who has yet to let me down. Thank you, NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the early copy of this 5-star read.

Reviewed for NetGalley:

Olivia Dumont, a disgraced ghostwriter is on the verge of losing everything. Her one last shot at making comeback is taking on the a job from the famed horror novelist, Vincent Taylor. The Vincent Taylor who has been suspected of the murder of his siblings for the past 50 years. And the Vincent Taylor that just happens to be Olivia's estranged father.

Clark did a wonderful job of slowly unfolding the story, both in the past and present, written from multiple perspectives.

I could not put this down and loved every minute of it.

Truly gripping- pulls you in and does not let go! Julie Clark has created another masterpiece. The characters have depth and the story is layered without ever feeling forced or nonsensical. While I did guess the ending about halfway through, it did not diminish the story for me in any way. Move this to the top of your TBR list.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

🎧Song Pairing: Only the Good Die Young - Billy Joel (had fun sifting through the best of 1975)

💭What I thought would happen:

It’s a Julie Clark. I’d beg, borrow, steal for the opportunity. Just a guess but the MC is a ghostwriter 😉

📖What actually happens:

🧐Whodunnit
🤦🏼‍♀️MC is a ghostwriter in need of $$
😱Murder of 2 siblings in 1975
✌🏻Dual timelines
⁉️Unreliable source
🤫Secrets on secrets

🗯Thoughts/sassy musings:

I shall continue to bleed/sweat/rock for Julie! What a queen of keeping a reader on the hook!

It doesn’t take a crystal ball or medium magic to know this book will be very popular in 2025. It’s a no brainer.

I couldn’t be certain how the ending was going to play out, I had to block out my boys to get the answers I craved. I could predict components but wasn’t able to assemble correctly (which I love)!

Grab this one. You won’t be sad, just deeply disturbed (don’t blame the reviewer✌🏻). This would so be a fantastic movie.

I didn't know what to expect from this book, but I have read and enjoyed other books by this author, so, of course, I jumped at the chance to read it. It was a very slow burn (which made it seem too long of a story at times) but once the answers started to become apparent, I was more engaged and anxious to find out the "who" and "why." I wasn't disappointed with the conclusion. 4 solid stars for this story!

Julie Clark spins an absolutely brilliant tale of relationships, past trauma meshing into present day, and the mysterious truth coming to light. I loved the different POV's especially Poppy's. Not only does the reader get to go behind the camera lense, but also behind the journal writings. Planting Easter eggs throughout in the form of treasure hunts, is brilliant! Excellent read!

I don't know what I expected with this book. But it was not what I thought but it was okay. I didn't hate it at all. thank you netgalley

Olivia is a ghostwriter who has spent years hiding the fact that she is the only daughter of the famous writer Vincent Taylor. Not only is he famous for his novels but he’s also believed to be the killer in the brutal murder of his siblings. He’s never been convicted and he’s summoned Olivia to write his memoir exposing the truth of what happened.

This book had such an atmospheric feel of the 70s. I could picture Vince and his family so clearly. This book really had me guessing until the very end. What actually happened that day? An unsolved crime that happened 50 years ago! A must read for 2025.

THE GHOSTWRITER is a very intriguing mystery where the reader, as well as the narrator, are continually questioning what’s true.
Olivia Dumont once earned a living as a successful writer of other people’s stories, but after being found liable in a lawsuit by a fellow ghostwriter, she is broke and on the verge of losing everything. So, she is forced to take the only ghostwriting job she doesn’t want— working for her estranged father,a world famous author who has long been suspected of murdering his siblings.

Olivia is determined to at last uncover the truth of what really happened to her aunt Poppy and uncle Danny. This task is made infinitely more difficult due to the fact that her father is dying from Lewy body dysmorphia, a condition similar to Alzheimer’s. The manuscript he has started is full of unintelligible ramblings and Olivia can’t tell if the stories he relates are actually true or the consequences of his illness.

As Olivia investigates, the novel switches between the past and the present, so the reader is also transported to the 1970s for the perspectives of the young people who were all part of these tragic events..

I really enjoyed Clark’s THE LAST FLIGHT, and this novel is similarly well paced and keeps you engaged and invested in these characters and their many secrets.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for this ARC.

I loved this twisty turny book

This was everything I wanted and hoped it would be and so much more! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.

The Ghostwriter is story about an estranged father and daughter writing a memoir to reveal what happened the night the father’s siblings were killed. The plot is very original and intriguing. I loved how things were revealed through Poppy’s and Vince’s POVs. While this book was a little slower, I had no clue where it was going which made me keep reading. It was difficult to feel sympathy for any of the characters except for Poppy. Overall, this was worth the time to read. (4.25/5)

**This ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**

𝐌𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭--𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐭. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐧𝐚𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡. 𝐈 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟, 𝐚𝐬 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨.

Olivia Dumont is a professional, highly sought after ghostwriter who has made a living peeling back the layers of the writers she works, exposing all the nuances of their voice and intertwining it with her own. Unfortunately, a costly mistake has left her both crippled with debt and professionally blacklisted, so when she gets a call for a project, she's interested--until she finds out that her father, renowned horror author Vincent Taylor, is the one requesting her services.

Vincent's books are only one thing that's made him famous--the other is the murder of his older brother and younger sister a half a century before. The rumor mill insisted that Vincent was responsible, and he's finally ready to tell his story. The only problem is, did anything every really happen the way we remember it?

I usually don't have much patience for slow burns, but I was SO invested in how this mystery would unravel. I love how the author's writing style would often mimic the 'scavenger hunts' that Vincent and Olivia would have when she was a child, with every word in the cryptic clue being of utmost importance. I also appreciated the themes of grief, nostalgia, and the unwavering faith we put into memories, however flawed they may be.

Many thanks to Sourcebooks/Bookmarked for this early copy. At the time this review was written, this title was expected to publish June 3, 2025.

Where have I been!?! This is my first Julie Clark novel and after reading this excellent story, I immediately devoured her back list. Very intricate story weaving together family, murder, and emotion. Love it!

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark.

I really like Julie Clark, I loved her last two bestsellers, so I felt really fortunate to get my hands on this one.

Of the three, I would probably rank this third, ONLY because of the pacing. If I had known that this was a slower burn, I would have just sunk into it, but I kept waiting for it to amp up like it was a typical thriller. Just know that before you start.

Olivia has ghostwritten for a lot of different authors, but she never thought that her bestselling father would be one of them. Her dad has just reached out to her and he's ready to tell the story that she's been wanting to know her whole life. On the day that her father's sister and brother were killed, was her dad responsible?

But there's only so much time, her dad is deteriorating fast and struggles to distinguish reality vs the demons in his mind. Will Olivia be able to extract the truth from her dad before it's too late?

Very well written, lots of jumps between narrators and timelines but not once did I get lost of confused. I really enjoyed this book.

Loved it as I have with Julie Clark’s previous two novels. This kept me engaged, the split between timelines never pulled me out of the story and I was satisfied with the ending.

4.5 Stars

Rumored to have murdered his siblings in 1975, Vincent Taylor, horror writer, comes to grips with a debilitating illness and decides he must not only come clean surrounding the murders but attempt to mend the fractured relationship with his estranged daughter, Olivia.

Ghostwriting her father’s memoir purely due to financial obligations, Olivia finds him reliably confrontational and evasive, the personality traits exacerbated by Lewy body dementia. Deftly sorting through her father’s confusing breadcrumbs awakens memories from her childhood when Vincent substituted fascinating puzzles for parental presence. Dissecting the clues, Olivia is confronted with two very troubling scenarios and a deeper understanding of the father she shut out of her life years prior.

A novel worth reading, Clark gives readers complicated family dynamics, a town tortured by a horrific mystery, as well as a few unforgettable characters, most notably her haunting characterization of Poppy, Vincent’s murdered sister.

Why only 4.5 Stars? Although THE GHOSTWRITER kept my interest throughout, it seemed the author wasn’t entirely grounded in certain specifics, which (for me) resulted in a landing that didn’t quite stick. Regardless, I have discovered a wonderfully talented author and can’t wait to dive into THE LIES I TELL and THE LAST FLIGHT. My thanks to Julie Clark, Sourcebooks, and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley for this fantastic arc. I’ve read and loved a few other Julie Clark books and really enjoyed them. This lived up to my expectations. I kept thinking I maybe knew what happened, but then I’d question that- just like the characters in the book. Right up until the end, I was not entirely sure I had figured it out. I also loved the interspersed chapters from the kids’ perspectives in 1975. Well done!

Absolutely loved this one!! Double timelines, multiple POVs and I think I really like that style. Anyway, our FMC is a writer, a ghostwriter. She gets called on to ghostwriters her estranged dad’s memoir and the dad happens to be a super famous writer himself. There are secrets in his past and he’s finally telling the story. Or so we think.. really liked it!

2 stars.

On June 13, 1875 young siblings Danny and Poppy Taylor are murdered at their home in Ojai, California. Their brother, Vincent, is rumored to be the killer but there is never any clear evidence. However, the suspicions remain even as he becomes an adult then a best selling horror writer.

Vincent has a daughter, Olivia. Her mother leaves her and Vincent when she is young and he sends her overseas to boarding school at 14. They become estranged.

Olivia is now 44 and a ghostwriter. She has recently been cancelled for her part in a feud with another writer, has a large financial judgment against her and is desperate for a job and money. Her agent approaches her with the offer to ghostwriter Vincent’s new book (shocking, I know), but this one isn’t a horror novel, but, rather, what he claims is the true story of the murders in 1975.

The story is told by present day Olivia and 1975 Poppy (sweet, teenage Poppy, bravely headed off to ERA rallies. I loved her.). I found myself drifting a lot while reading this and not much interested in the mystery. And the complete, unquestioned absence of Olivia’s mother in her life just seems odd to me. I did not love it.