The Ghostwriter
The perfect slow-burn thriller of long-held family secrets
-
-
4.6 • 5 Ratings
-
-
- $9.99
Publisher Description
The brand-new instant USA Today bestselling standalone thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Flight, Julie Clark. Perfect for fans of Gillian McAllister, Lisa Jewell and Claire Douglas.
'A powerful, ultimately moving whodunnit' THE TIMES
'Expertly plotted and exquisitely twisted' ASHLEY ELSTON, #1 NYT-BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF FIRST LIE WINS
'Intriguing and twisty' C. J. TUDOR
"I know what your dad did."
I set down my sandwich. "He wrote a book."
The boy, whose name I no longer remember, had shaken his head, eyes sparkling with glee to be the one to tell me. To shatter my childhood right there in the school cafeteria. "Your dad killed his brother and sister. Murdered them in their own home."
Ghostwriter Olivia Dumont has spent her entire professional life hiding the fact that she is the only child of legendary horror author Vincent Taylor, famous not only for his novels, but for being the prime suspect in the brutal slaying of his siblings.
On the brink of financial ruin, Olivia reluctantly agrees to ghostwrite her father's last book, not realising that she will be forced to reckon with the ghosts that live at the centre of her family. Because after fifty years of silence, Vincent Taylor is finally ready to talk. But is he ready to tell the truth?
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
As a professional ghostwriter, Olivia has always avoided mentioning two facts about her father: firstly, that he was a famous horror writer, and secondly, that most people think he murdered his teenage siblings.
Difficult financial circumstances mean Olivia finally takes on the book she didn’t ever want to write—her father’s final novel. To write the book, she forces herself through an emotional journey home. She conducts interviews with people who knew her family. Finds old films. Explores forgotten diaries and her own half-memories. And the truth about the murders of 50 years ago starts to come to light.
Books about books can sometimes feel a little too self-referential, but The Ghostwriter spins out a genuinely original story. The neat turns of the plot allow the story to move quickly and suspense to build. But this isn’t just a thriller. No reader is likely to find themselves in Olivia’s circumstances, but many of us will try to piece together a new idea of a family member after their death, and it’s this recognition that gives The Ghostwriter its emotional depth.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Clark (The Lies I Tell) effortlessly delivers on her clever, metatextual premise in this devilish thriller. Olivia Dumont had a successful career ghostwriting celebrity memoirs until her public rebuke of John Calder, a bestselling but misogynistic author, tarnished her reputation in the industry. Desperate for money, Dumont accepts a lucrative assignment to ghostwrite a book by horror superstar Vincent Taylor, despite her utter lack of experience writing fiction. The other problem? Taylor is Olivia's estranged father. Fifty years ago, he became the prime suspect in the 1975 double murder of his siblings, Danny and Poppy, in their Ojai, Calif., home. Though rumors about the killings persist, they remain unsolved, and Taylor still lives in Ojai, where he's been churning out bestsellers for decades. In recent years, his cognitive abilities have declined, but Olivia remains wary of him—especially when she realizes his new book is a supposed tell-all about the murders. Clark keeps readers guessing about Taylor's motives and guilt, all while playing scrupulously fair with the reader. It adds up to a deeply satisfying shocker in the vein of Riley Sager's The Only One Left.
