Estimated reading time: 10 minutes
Book: The Ghostwriter
Author: Julie Clark
Number of pages: 328
Genre: Contemporary fiction, mystery, crime, personal growth, psychological thriller, emotional connection, historical fiction
Attended Audience Age: Young/Mature adult
Medium Type (physical, digital, audio): physical
Book rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Summary:
Olivia Dumont is a ghostwriter struggling to get her career back in the spotlight after a exposing a well known authors lie. Just when she thinks she's out of options to save her house and declining reputation, her agent calls. Vincent Taylor, Olivia's father a successful author who is now dying from Lewy body dementia, and he is finally wanting to come clean about the murder of his sister and brother. Spending several months with her father, Olivia maintains her distance, determined to keep their time together professional. But memories of her childhood, of the murders from 50 years ago, and layers of lies, creating her own, Olivia is finding it difficult to believe her fathers innocence. What else is she to think when evidence from her deceased aunt seems to be the only light that shines on what really happened?
Qualities:
Prose: The narrative is written in a strong, emotional, gentle, but secretive tone that keeps the reader glued for more.
Character Development: The story follows multiple point of views: Olivia's, Vincent's, and Poppy's (Olivia's aunt). Everyone's perspective shuffles onto each other, making sense of the protagonists and antagonists, and their motives in the story.
World Building: The characters perspective of the present, and the past in 1975 create the world-building. We get to see what it is like to live in two separate eras, the community, and family dynamics that make for an unusual story.
Recommendation:
This book is something else. I highly recommend this book to everyone, regardless of their preferred genre. The deep, unsettling questions throughout the book urgers the reader to want to learn more about the murder, and the characters. This is one of the few thrillers that I've found to be worth labeling an 'addictive read.'
Notice: This book covers depression, sexual harm, and self-harm.
Notable Quotes:
- "I have a colleague who once worked on a book about a serial killer. I remember her talking about what it was like to interview him in prison. 'Everyone is an unreliable narrator,' she'd said. 'but someone who has killed another person? They are the ultimate gaslighters. You begin to question everything--even the things you can see to be true'" (p. 49).
- “There's nothing better than being truly seen--truly known by another person. I would like you to have that someday" (p. 257)
- “You think answers will fix everything, but they don't. Mr. Stewart used to always say that information is power. But it's also a burden because you know something, you can't pretend you don't" (p. 295).
Related Music:
- Where Your Secrets Hide by Katie Garfield
- You're Somebody Else by flora cash
- Demons by Imagine Dragons
- The Three Lives of Kate Cay by Kate Fagan
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
- Assassins Anonymous by Rob Hart
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