The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark
Published by Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication date: June 3, 2025
Genres: Book Clubs, Fiction, Mystery, Vacation Reading 
Bookshop
Olivia Dumont is a successful ghostwriter at the peak of her career until she shreds her reputation at a conference. Now no one wants to hire her, until she gets an offer from a famous horror author, Vincent Taylor, who wants to write a memoir of a specific event in his childhood. Namely, the murder of his two siblings. For as desperate as Olivia is for a job, she doesn’t want this one. Vincent Taylor is her father. And so, the stage is set for The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark.
Olivia accepts the job out of a desperate need for the money even though it means going back to her hometown and seeing her father. Although he was never charged it was widely believed that he killed his brother and sister. Olivia’s spent her adult life distancing herself from him, including lying to everyone in her life about his existence. She learns he’s requested her services as he’s been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia and while still largely in control of his mind and body the disease is spreading quickly. He’s compiled pages of notes for Olivia and will work with her as he is able, but he is adamant that she not talk to anyone else to corroborate facts or get more details. In addition to these restrictions and limitation, she is also faced with confronting the myriad of issues around their relationship.
The Ghostwriter is a well-concocted brew of twists and shadows. I sometimes find that having a main character with a faulty memory is an easy-out to frame an unreliable narrator, but not in this case. Vincent’s mental decline is readily apparent, but not as a crutch. Merely, a fact that does play into the mystery Instead, Clark took the numerous historical facts and perspectives in the story and by shifting the lens just a little bit rendered the ominous innocent and vice versa. That she was able to do this in a way that made the ending of a murder mystery poignant and bittersweet was just one more reason I thoroughly enjoyed The Ghostwriter.
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*I received a free copy of this book from Sourcebooks Landmark in exchange for an honest review.*
Great review! I read this book earlier this month, and throughly enjoyed it to.
Just when I thought I had the mystery solved, something would happen to keep me guessing and glued to the page.
It was the authors best book yet, different from anything I’ve read in recent years.
Agreed. It was surprising.