Set mainly in Ojai, California, Julie Clark’s suspense novel, The Ghostwriter, tells an immersive and emotional story of a daughter’s quest to uncover the truth about her family’s darkest secrets.
The book follows Olivia Dumont, a ghostwriter living in Los Angeles whose reputation has just been ruined. Desperate for work, she can’t turn down an incredible offer that comes her way. That’s true even if that offer means working for her estranged father, a famous writer known for his horror novels as well as for being the presumed killer of his siblings, Poppy and Danny, back in 1975.
Her father, Vincent Taylor, wants her to be the ghostwriter for his memoir. And he’s not interested in looking for other prospects. It has to be her.
Even though the last thing she wants to do is see her father again, Olivia takes the gig, which forces her to confront difficult childhood memories, the effect of her mother leaving her at a young age, and, of course, the secrets of her father’s past.
When she arrives at her father’s home in Ojai, she learns that he’s now suffering from Lewy body dementia, which is why he’s chosen this moment to have his memoir written. It also means all of his memories aren’t necessarily reliable. So, in addition to getting the full story from her father, she has to do some investigating on her own to discover what really happened the night her aunt and uncle were brutally murdered in their home as teenagers.
The mystery of what happened and whether or not Vincent really did kill his brother and sister back then keeps the audience guessing right up until the end of the novel. Their murders are tragic and shocking, and as Olivia investigates, most signs continue to point to her father being the killer.
Discovering more and more details about the night of the murder is an emotional journey for Olivia, especially as she learns more about Poppy and Danny. However, her childhood issues with her father are also at the forefront, and those issues aren’t all related to the belief that he was a murderer. Instead, they had to do with Vincent’s fame, his issues with drugs and alcohol, and his absenteeism from her life.
One horrifying story involves a treasure hunt. It’s something she often had fond memories of her father doing as a child — but one failed hunt led her to find a dead hamster in a box because of his carelessness. Later, when Olivia became a teenager, he sent her off to boarding school, and was never much a part of her life after that.
So, listening to her father’s stories and digging into his past brings up emotional trauma regarding their relationship and the parts of her childhood she’d rather forget. She’d even gone so far as to change her name, and as an adult, to tell everyone she knows — even the man she loves — lies about what happened to her parents.
Those lies also continue — partially because of the contract she signs as a ghostwriter — making her investigations into her father’s past as she works on his book even lonelier and more difficult.
Throughout the process of those investigations, both in conversations with her father and through other discoveries, she learns more about herself as well. As much as this novel is a mystery of the events of 1975, filled with suspense, it’s also a compelling and powerful journey of self-discovery for our narrator in the present. This story is layered, incredibly well-written, and deeply haunting.
Point of view is also significant in The Ghostwriter. While most of the novel is told from Olivia’s point of view, there are chapters throughout in which the point of view shifts to the 1970s, allowing us to hear from Poppy as well as from Vincent himself.
This accomplishes a few things. It allows the reader to become attached to Poppy, who we know will die at a young age, and a younger version of Vincent.
Reading their points of view immerses us in the 1970s. It was a time when Poppy was focused on women’s rights, and teenagers followed a different set of rules. The setting is full of specific details — both the beautiful and the terrifying.
Their points of view also allow the reader to piece together what really happened the night of the murders, almost ahead of Olivia — but never too much so. This makes for an intricate mystery, and it’s one that remains full of shocking surprises, even if you think you have everything figured out early on.
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Ashley Bissette Sumerel
Ashley is the Editor-in-Chief of Eulalie Magazine. Favorite Movies: Sunset Boulevard, Garden State, Modern Times. Favorite TV Shows: Gilmore Girls, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Grey's Anatomy. Favorite Books: Interview with the Vampire, Dracula, City of Glass.
