Book Review: The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark
Riddled with betrayals, mysteries, and a whole lot of tragedies, check out my full review of The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark below!
Book Information
Vincent Taylor is a famous horror writer who knows a few horrors of his own. In 1975 his older brother and younger sister were murdered and everyone, even decades later, believes that Vincent did it. Olivia has lived her life in the shadow of her father and the tragedies of her family history, so she starts a new life at the first opportunity. But when an offer she can’t refuse brings her back to her hometown to write a memoir for her father, she begins to uncover all the secrets he’s kept hidden. Nothing is as it seems and everything for Olivia is about to change.
Review | Heidi Dischler
So I got this eARC from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review (huge thank you for that!). I will say that I’m a little later posting this. Usually I post eARCs the week before release, but I’ve been crazy busy lately and had to post this one two days after its pub day.
The Ghostwriter was honestly such a great book. Julie Clark did an amazing job at building characters, weaving in plot points, and making you question even yourself. I’ll be honest, I did have an inkling of what the ending would look like and my suspicions were correct. My favorite part about this novel, though? The deep emotions wound into it. Let me tell you, the way everything ties together is completely devastating, even though having two siblings murdered with only one survivor is devastating enough as it is.
As far as characters go, I really didn’t like Olivia that much. I feel like she complained a lot and acted entitled… but that’s just me. I also hate that she told everyone her parents were great but died young. Lying is not my thing, though. I liked her father, Vincent, more and empathized with him on a deeper level. What a life to lead is all I have to say about him. I also really really loved Poppy (bonus points for the narrator who also narrated another Poppy in A Thousand Boy Kisses 🥹). So many lives cut short in more ways than one.
With the plot, I really enjoyed having the two timelines here. Usually it’s not my thing, but you get Olivia’s timeline, and then Poppy’s right before she dies along with a few chapters from Vincent in the same timeline. I loved how Olivia would only get snippets of information while we got the whole chapter and learned things that she didn’t know. It was almost like an open-ended book, but… not haha. Every detail mattered and it was all so thrilling to read.
Overall, this was a thrilling murder mystery with a lot of family secrets, and if I’m being honest, a ton of heartbreaking situations. Hurt people hurt people. This book does a great job at showing that sentiment. 5/5 well deserved stars.
Source: Advanced Reader Copy from NetGalley
(P.S. You can read this book for free by signing up for a free trial of Everand, which gives you three free audiobooks or ebooks of your choice!)
