The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark

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✦ BLURB ✦

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.

The Taylor family shatters in a single night when two teenage siblings are found dead in their own home. The only surviving sibling, Vincent, never shakes the whispers and accusations that he was the one who killed them. Decades later, the legend only grows as his career as a horror writer skyrockets.

From the instant New York Times bestselling author of The Last Flight and The Lies I Tell comes a dazzling new thriller.

After fifty years of silence, Vincent Taylor is finally ready to talk about what really happened that night in 1975.

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✶ PRE-READING ✶

The setup hooked me right away - a ghostwriter working for the father she’s been trying to forget, only to find herself lured into a true-crime horror show masquerading as fiction? It promised sharp tension, messy emotions, and that delicious blur between reality and narrative. I haven't read this author before, but this publisher generally produces sharp, tense novels.

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✶ POST-READING ✶

As I thought... It’s twisty and emotionally taut, and Olivia is a layered protagonist - vulnerable, angry, brilliant. The writing is slick but unafraid of deeper shadows. I expected family tension and a juicy unravelling of secrets, and that’s here in spades.

It surprised me by... ...how psychologically rich it is. The tension between authorship and identity, fiction and memory, is complex and resonant. There are horror undercurrents, but the real dread comes from watching a woman try to wrest back control of a narrative she never asked to be part of.

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✦ RECOMMENDATIONS ✦

Book Recommendation: The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz – another meta-thriller about writers, secrets, and stories that turn on you.

TV: Sharp Objects – for the mix of past trauma, small-town ghosts, and literary darkness.

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✧ VIBE CHECK ✧

🎨 Colour Palette: Faded book pages, blood-red ink, and grey velvet

🎵 Soundtrack: “Family Secrets” by The Brilliance; “Monster” by Meg Myers

🍂 Season: Autumn - dead leaves, dry air, and creeping dread

🌫️ Mood: Claustrophobic, cerebral, with occasional bursts of fury

🕯️ Scent: Old paper, typewriter ribbon, and a hint of bourbon

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★ TAROT CARD PULLED ★

The Devil – Tarot of the Divine
This card, featuring Boitatá, the fiery serpent of Brazilian folklore who lusts after what serves no purpose, is a powerful mirror to The Ghostwriter. Here, The Devil represents manipulation through narrative, addiction to legacy, and the illusion of control. Olivia’s father has weaponized stories - his and hers - for decades. This card doesn’t just warn of the traps others set for us, but of the ones we inherit and perpetuate. Perfect for a story about breaking chains while writing your way out of someone else’s prison.

The Ghostwriter publishes on the 3rd June, 2025. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.