A 300-page novel takes about six to ten hours to read. The ghostwriter makes the case: why spend that much time with a book? We’re curious…and because we like the author. Bingo! Julie Clark’s books are enthralling page turners and this is another that sets the record.

Olivia Taylor Dumont is a ghostwriter who has acquired huge bills forcing her to consider selling her beloved home in LA. However, her literary agent calls with a job to write her father’s memoir. She can’t turn down the money and yet it’s messy. She hasn’t seen Vincent Taylor in years, a successful horror writer. How can this possible work? Many of us can relate to jobs we never wanted to do in life but had to for the money.

The memoir goes back to her father’s childhood when his brother and sister were murdered. It was never resolved and now Olivia is not only writing but has become a detective for a gruesome killing that took place several years ago. The ghostwriter digs for information that has been cut off from the world.

The murder happened in the 70s when women were rallying for equal rights. It wasn’t that long ago when men were the ones to own visa cards and property. Some women had no other choice but to suffer from abusive relationships that changed their lives completely.

The author gives enough hints that in the first half that the killer is predictable. Yet, the reader still doesn’t know why someone did it. Olivia can’t walk away from the issues she’s had with her parents.

It feels like she repeats a lot of what she’s learned and why can’t it just be simple? We know: life isn’t that easy with the hidden lies, secrets and dark shadows. Like very character in Julie Clark’s books, the reader follows a maze of complex paths.

My thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for allowing me to read a copy of this advanced book with an expected release date of June 3, 2025.

‘Ghostwriter Olivia Dumont has spent her entire professional life hiding the fact that she is the only child of Vincent Taylor. Now on the brink of financial ruin, she's offered a job to ghostwrite her father's last book. What she doesn't know, though, is that this project is another one of his lies. Because it's not another horror novel he wants her to write.
After fifty years of silence, Vincent Taylor is finally ready to talk about what really happened that night in 1975.'

The Ghostwriter, told from multiple perspectives and alternating timelines, was glorious in all its intrigue, mystery, allure and magnetism. I was sunk, like completely unmovable, I was so zoned in. So do yourselves a favor: tuck in and get good and cozy for this clever and hypnotic jaunt.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this arc in exchange for review!

Pub date: 6.3.2025.

Olivia, the daughter of suspected murderer Vincent, is tasked with the job of writing a memoir about her father. Danny and Poppy were killed in the house Vincent grew up in. Vincent was suspected of killing his brother and sister, yet never prosecuted for the murders. Instead, he went on to live his life as a talented novelist. It’s been fifty years since the murders took place and now Vincent wants to set the record straight.
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Olivia Dumont is the infamous daughter of Vincent Taylor. She was ten years old when kids at school told her her father was a murderer. Olivia left Ojai after she graduated to pursue a career as a journalist. She married and changed her name to separate herself from her fathers suspicious claims.
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Julie Clark writes about a woman who buried a past about her father in order to pursue a future without his life influencing hers. In Ojai she was known as the daughter of a murderer. In her current life she’s known as a journalist who writes what most are afraid to. Her situation has put her in debt. Being requested to write her fathers book as a ghostwriter is both a blessing and a curse. She hasn’t seen her father since she was fifteen years old.
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There’s much to be said about writing styles and techniques. A story begins with a concept but in order to put that concept together takes a writing voice talent that compels readers to read. I’m always in the hunt for a page turner story with a steady pace. I find those are hard to find.
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I appreciate Julie Clark’s efforts to create a unique process for a tell all approach. I’ve read a lot of books and finding something original amongst the same template or formula for answering the age old questions of a cold case takes effort. Using a ghostwriter technique does pique my interest although I wish this had more suspense built into the process. There’s not enough excitement built around the resources used to create the interest I need to be more invested. I certainly appreciate Julie Clark’s methods for making a unique story about a cold case murder investigation.
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The Ghostwriter is about Olivia the daughter of suspected murderer who returned home to reveal the secrets her father has kept for decades.
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When it’s all said and done I can admire and appreciate the work put into creating this story. When all the pieces fill in the blanks the story reveals a picture I hadn’t expected. Referring back to what I did not like and what I liked I have a better understanding for why the story had to be told in this way.

Part unsolved crime journalism, part familial teenage drama, Julie Clark’s The Ghostwriter is a split perspective thriller featuring storytelling within storytelling. Slow and meticulously paced, this novel follows author Olivia Dumont who is forced to confront her past and her family’s dark history when she accepts a ghostwriting job for her own father Vincent Taylor, a popular and famous author whose life is haunted by accusations that he murdered his two siblings fifty years ago. Featuring a well planned out (and at times tragic) story full of twists and surprises, The Ghostwriter is an engrossing read that transports the reader back to the 1970’s. While subjectively some of the familial drama and teenage sibling quarreling wasn’t my preferred genre or content, I still found Clark’s novel to be well-constructed, complex, and an interesting read.

Alternating back and forth between Olivia’s interviews with Vincent retelling events from his youth and the first-person perspective experiences of several characters in the 1970’s, The Ghostwriter has a lot of different plot elements carefully woven together. Despite being recapped out of chronological order and often out of context, the story and plot are easy enough to follow and start in familiar, well-covered territory. Thrillers utilizing a writer recapping past horrific events seems to be growing into its own trope as of late but Clark’s novel sets itself apart from the rest through its visual portrayal of Ojai, California in the 1970’s as well as its engrossing storytelling. Within the novel itself, Olivia acknowledges how good of a storyteller her father is and I fully concur. Vincent’s (and via his narration, Clark’s) tone in the early interviews with his daughter Olivia were a highlight for me and I found the first half of the book to be a page-turner. The pacing, balance of exposition and visual details, the small town valley feel of Ojai, I loved it. Vincent’s oral recaps to Olivia are followed by his experiences written in first-person perspective as they occur in real-time in the 70’s. These experiences initially are exclusive to Vincent but eventually grow to also include Danny and Poppy, Vincent’s two siblings that were murdered. Clark uses the unreliable narrator perfectly, adding layers to Vincent’s story as well as purposefully muddying the details. Olivia questions whether what she’s told is true or a lie, whether her father’s deteriorating mental cognition is at play, or if he misinterpreted what he experienced. As Danny and Poppy’s perspectives are added and as Olivia investigates further in the present, the details and timelines increasingly conflict and nothing makes sense (completely by design).

As the book transitions into its 2nd half, the focus starts to shift more heavily towards the past and the family/friend dynamics in Ojai. Dysfunctional, unhealthy, and full of miscommunication, the back half of the book and events in the 1970’s consists almost entirely of relationship drama, teenage angst, and conflict. While the content was elaborate, well-written and narratively quite strong, familial drama isn’t my cup of tea and I found my interest waning despite the strong narrative developments (I picked this is up based on my interest in the unreliable narrator and crime investigation aspect, the teenage familial relationship emphasis wasn’t prominently mentioned in the synopsis). The second half of the book also features Olivia doing more traditional investigating via remaining living Ojai residents which I found to be less engaging and more typical for the thriller genre compared to Vincent’s great storytelling. This section of the book also has more of a focus on Olivia herself with her partner Tom, her estrangement with both of her parents, and the damage to her literary career, content that is objectively good but unfortunately wasn’t as interesting to me. The book also doesn’t reveal the most crucial plot twists until the last 40 pages or so (this last section recapturing the page-turning interest of the first half of the book) but when it does, it’s quite satisfying. The book’s conclusion and reveal of what Olivia ultimately believes happened, I thought was well done and though I fully guessed the ending and the plot twist reveals (a mix of well-placed clues/foreshadowing and my familiarity with crime procedurals), I can see many readers being caught off guard by the true events that happened on that unfortunate June 1975 evening.

While the overall story is well written and conceptualized, I felt the book slightly suffered from the unlikable character syndrome apart from Poppy who has all the heart and soul in the book. Clark’s characters are deeply flawed and many are quite judgmental (apart from Olivia, consistent with the socio political atmosphere of the time), which can make them both interesting to read about yet somewhat difficult to like (I found myself often at odds with Olivia’s choices and mentality personally). However, the characters have layers to them and are eventually revealed to all be dealing with their own demons internally.

While Olivia and the main Taylor siblings are well covered, I would’ve liked to see more character development for Lydia due to her prominent connection to the murders in the past and to Olivia in the present. The Ghostwriter portrays each of the Taylors as their dynamics and relationships change, often exacerbating the stress of each other. However, the story largely omitted Lydia’s personality early in the story to show the notable contrast apart from other characters simply telling the reader how different she was before. The lack of focus on her character also affected the impact of Olivia’s discoveries of her in the present and the book never really explains why she left and cut-off Olivia when she was a child (not to mention her separation from Vincent). I also found Olivia’s relationship and dynamic with Tom to be another weak spot due both Tom’s character and his relationship to be a bit bland and shallow. I acknowledge that Olivia’s partner has very little to do with the core story so I don’t necessarily fault the book for not spending much time exploring their relationship, but their miscommunication and relationship often felt like a minor distraction from the book’s more compelling content.

Despite some of the 2nd half of the book not necessarily being my preferred content and minor reservations on certain plot elements, I still appreciated how detailed The Ghost Writer was. Well-written and well-plotted, I thought this was a great slow burn type of thriller full of vignettes that really takes you back to the 70’s (or so I would imagine if I were alive back then-). Unrelated to the story, I thought the book cover was outstanding both from a design and narrative standpoint.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review: I picked this up on a whim one evening when the power went out. I found the premise interesting but wasn't expecting it to be a five star. Turns out it was. Not a new favorite, but a solid 5 star. This was a very interesting read, it takes a bit to get going but once it does you can't really help but want to know the resolution. The narrative is given to us in a few different ways which help keep the story moving naturally. We get descriptions of tape from an old tape recorder, journal entries, alternating POV and timeline. I really enjoyed all the different aspects of the story helping the mystery come together. When the author is about to fall into a connivence trap, she doesn't. I've read some not great thrillers recently that really fall into that, this book does not. The author clearly took time to answer questions and in a realistic way. Of course because this is a work of fiction you do have to suspend disbelief. But in my opinion, that didn't take too much effort or take me out of the story.

This was a well rounded mystery/ thriller that I really enjoyed. I would recommend it when you're in the mood for a fast paced story. There are aspects to the ending that may make some people irritated but I found it realistic and appreciated it.

Olivia Dumont has always hidden her identity, both as a ghostwriter and the only daughter of famed horror writer Vincent Taylor. After all, when your father is suspected of having murdered his siblings, you end up wanting your space.

Now Olivia is experiencing issues of her own, as a very public fight with another ghostwriter has led to her cancellation. With no prospects in her future, when her father approaches her to write about what happened to his siblings, she has no choice by to comply.

Olivia and Vince make for a great duo in this complex tale about the things we hide to protect those we love. While both are flawed – and often unreliable – they are not unlikable, and the plot is so intricately woven that even the more predictable elements hold your interest. There are unexpected elements in this book that make it feel fresh, resulting in a fantastic new release from Julie Clark.

This book didn’t evoke strong feelings either way—I neither loved nor hated it. The story, centered around the events of the murders, didn’t offer much in terms of what truly happened that night.

The virtue signaling throughout felt forced and out of place. There was a line like, "Tell Kamala that I want to see her in the Oval Office someday," followed by a mention of pitching a book to AOC, then a random comment about how glad the character was that Jack met Matt, who was exactly the type of person she expected him to be with. It felt so unnecessary. I don’t mind political references in books when they’re relevant, but these seemed shoehorned in for no apparent reason. For example:

“Like being sued by a misogynist.”
“He’s a rich, white man. I highly doubt he would have [spent the rest of his life in jail].”
“Because there are issues women are still fighting for today (equal rights, abortion rights, equal pay… just to name a few).”

The pacing was also uneven. The middle section dragged on, and I felt that if the protagonist had started investigating sooner, the mystery could have been solved much more quickly. The romantic subplot also felt unimportant, and it might have worked better if the character had been single instead.

As for the mystery itself, I didn’t find many red herrings, so the identity of the killer(s) seemed fairly obvious. While I appreciated the ending, it felt like a lot of effort to get there, especially given how long we spent on the backstory and the scattered clues.

Overall, I got the sense that the author was more concerned with being politically correct than with embracing the fact that this is a work of fiction. The author’s note at the beginning was odd as well—she mentioned making sure the geography was accurate, as if readers would notice or care about the specifics of Ojai in the 1950s. It felt like she went to great lengths to ensure historical accuracy, but personally, I wouldn't have minded if she'd taken more creative liberties.

4.5 stars rounded to 5.

Wow, this was such a thrilling read. There were so many twists and turns I did not expect throughout the book, which kept me guessing all the way until the end. I did find the story to start off slow but around the 20% mark it really took off and I could not flip the pages fast enough. The book is told in multiple POV's which gives us an inside look into the past and what happened to Poppy and Danny. Overall, this was an excellent read for anyone looking for a thriller with characters that are full of secrets.

In The Ghostwriter, Olivia is asked to ghostwrite her fathers last book. She does not have a good relationship with him and hasn't spoken to him in years. She reluctantly agrees and when she arrives at her fathers house, she finds out he is sick with Lewy bodies. It turns out, he wants to finally reveal what happened back in 1975 to his brother and sister in his final book. They were murdered but no one was convicted but rumors swirled that Olivia's Dad Vincent was the murdered. He is ready to set the record straight.

Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a very suspenseful story and quite the page turner. Excellent use of flashbacks and several different point of views to tell a tragic back story. Including the diary and the old home movies definitely added an additional layer of mystery

Oh I’m so happy I received an ARC of this one. I absolutely devoured it! The whole storyline was incredibly fascinating and I couldn’t put it down. I love that it was told in multiple POVs and in past and present tense. Very twisty and I did not predict that ending at all. Overall I found this a very enjoyable read and I think it would make for a great show/movie as well.

Julie Clark is proving to be a reliable treat. I loved the premise and the story was an intriguing delight from start to finish.

Olivia Dumont is hired to be a ghostwriter. For her father the award winning author. Olivia has spent her whole life trying to hide the fact that she is Vincent’s daughter. She was a forgotten about child who was sent away to school and never felt loved. Then desperate for money agrees to ghostwrite for her father. The thing is he wants her to write his memoir which involves the murders of his brother and sister. Vincent was always suspected but never charged. The book goes between flashbacks to Danny and Poppy and Olivia trying to unravel the mystery. I must say the twist was very well worth the wait. Why this happened speaks to how the secrets of the past always have a way of coming to light- especially when someone goes looking.

4.5 stars rounded up. I'm a huge fan of Julie Clarks' previous books, so I was so excited to get my hands on this one early! It did not disappoint! It was a slow burn but it kept me reading and having to know what had really happened that fateful night in the 70s. There were times where it seemed a little too slow paced but it picked back up. I really enjoyed the POVs, Olivia's today and Vincent and Poppy back then. I wasn't a huge fan of her dad at the beginning, it seemed like he was hiding so much. As the story went on and we learned more, I started to understand and connected with his character. It was definitely a rollercoaster with twists and turns I did not expect. I would recommend this to anyone who loves a slow burn domestic thriller that will keep you guessing, especially if you like secrets, because these characters have a lot of them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Clever, poignant, and immersive Julie Clark delivers unsettling vibes in this haunting portrayal of tightly guarded secrets in a town with a long memory.

Olivia Dumont has to take the last job she envisioned being offered when faced with losing her home, to ghostwrite her estranged father's memoir.

Vincent Taylor is a famed horror author whose life and career have been colored by ever-present rumors that he got away with murdering his siblings as a teen in the 1970's. After years of silence on the subject, he's finally ready to tell all about that fateful night. He's facing mental decline and has a penchant for puzzles making him the poster child for unreliable narrators. Giving Olivia a unique challenge of separating fact from fiction.

A slow burn that travels from current events told from Olivia's perspective to the '70's told from various points of view including Poppy one of the victims. The layout works great to form a gradual idea of what life was like when the tragic crime occurred and how it has impacted the family and town. Each clue is revealed in an unhurried manner allowing the reader to sift through possible motives, timelines for the crime, and well-placed red herrings. The writing is smooth throughout. Clark brought the atmosphere of each timeline to life. I didn't experience any lulls; the story was eerie, and I was drawn back to it until the final page was turned.

Grab this one if you enjoy a slow burn mystery with a dose of drama.

Wow! I loved this! I couldn’t put it down and read during every free second I could spare. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC!

I’ve been a fan of Julie Clark ever since I tore through The Last Flight, and her latest novel, The Ghostwriter, completely surpassed my expectations. This story is like a perfectly wound clock that counts down through decades of secrets and family heartache.

In 1975, two teenage siblings are found murdered, and their surviving brother, Vincent Taylor, lives under a cloud of suspicion for the rest of his life. Fast-forward to the present, and Vincent’s estranged daughter, Olivia Dumont, who’s kept her connection to him hidden, finds herself tasked with ghostwriting his final work. But rather than a new horror tale, Vincent finally wants to reveal the truth about that fateful night—if Olivia is willing to hear it.

The characters here are incredibly layered, each burdened by the weight of a painful past. Clark paces the story with a master’s touch, offering clues, red herrings, and gut-wrenching revelations at just the right moments. The family drama is as gripping as the mystery itself, and I found myself torn between craving the next twist and pausing to savor the raw emotions each chapter uncovers.

If you loved The Last Flight, you’ll find The Ghostwriter equally, if not more, compelling. It’s a richly drawn thriller that doesn’t shy away from the complexities of family bonds, truth, and redemption. This one will stay with me for a long time.

Julie Clark has a new fan! This book was written in the first person (Olivia's narrative) as well as glimpses back in time from the views of a couple other characters. She not only has to deal with a father she had cut out of her life to save herself emotional torture, but also unravel a 50 year old mystery of what happened to her aunt and uncle from that same man. Dementia doesn't help her with the job she is tasked to do. I appreciate her persistence and insistence to get all the facts correct while creating this memoir. Her strength, heart, and detective skills make her an admirable woman. I highly recommend this book!

Julie Clark's The Ghostwriter is a suspenseful exploration of family, secrets, and the dark side of literary fame. The novel follows Olivia Dumont, a struggling writer who reluctantly agrees to ghostwrite her estranged father's memoir. As she delves into his life, she uncovers a shocking truth about her family's past.

Clark skillfully weaves together multiple timelines, gradually revealing the sinister secrets that have haunted her family for decades. The author's ability to create a sense of dread and anticipation is commendable, keeping readers engaged until the final page. While some may find the pacing a bit slow at times, the payoff is well worth it.

The characters are well-developed, with Olivia emerging as a relatable and sympathetic protagonist. However, the supporting cast, particularly Vincent Taylor, could have benefited from further exploration. The novel's exploration of themes like grief, guilt, and the destructive power of secrets is thought-provoking, though perhaps not groundbreaking.

Overall, The Ghostwriter is a solid addition to Clark's repertoire. It offers a compelling mystery, a touch of Gothic atmosphere, and a poignant exploration of family dynamics. While it may not reach the heights of her previous works, it's still a satisfying read for fans of psychological thrillers.

Olivia, an accomplished, yet disgraced ghostwriter, gets an opportunity to ghost write her estranged father's story when he gets a form of dementia, and he cannot write it himself. Her father's life, has been marked by the murder of his teenaged siblings back in the 1970's, and the unsolved mystery therein.
This story goes back and forth from the present-day drama of Olivia's life, and the complicated relationship with her father, AND the 1970's flashbacks and points of views from the father and his teenaged siblings, with the propulsive plotline of who killed Poppy and Danny, and why.
I enjoyed the mystery here, and the dysfunction and drama of the family relationships to see if and what they might have contributed to the cold case murders. The setting of Ojai, CA and times of present and past were well done.
I adored only one of the characters in the book, and didn't really like much anyone else, including the main character who seemed a little full of herself and the typical woke "I'm a victim-and you're a racist bad guy" side thoughts and motivations that really (admittedly) didn't detract...or add anything to the mystery.
Although, I figured out some of the twists (but not all), in the story, it didn't lessen my enjoyability of the book at all. I read the last 65% of the book in one sitting - I really wanted to know the outcome. Overall, this was a solid 4 star read for me.

~Thank to NetGalley and Publisher

I was looking at my bookshelves recently and wondering if Julie Clark would have a new book coming out soon. And by what can only be explained as sheer serendipity, I received the email that her newest book, The Ghostwriter, was available on NetGalley.
Even though the book doesn’t come out until June of next year, it went straight to the front of the TBR line.

I’d categorize The Ghostwriter as lit fic genre (versus straight thriller) but with domestic drama and mystery encapsulating the story, a favorite combination of mine.

The story switches in time (and POV) between the present day and 1970’s Ojai, CA, telling the story of a woman who is forced to reconnect with her estranged father to ghostwrite his memoir.

After a long and successful career as a horror writer, he is finally ready to talk about what happened to his two siblings the night they were murdered in 1975. Or, at least this version of it.

What happens is a perspective shift between memories that are made up, the ones that are real, and the ones that lie somewhere in between.

I loved this book and will be purchasing my own hardcover copy of it when it comes out which will be a perfect time for a re-read of it.