Maryse's Book Blog

The Ghostwriter
One of my favorite authors in the world (I have read – and LOVED – almost EVERYTHING she’s written) and she’s hit this one out of the ballpark again. She sent me a review copy and warned me that it wasn’t a romance (instead, it was a psych-thriller) and I suppose she may not have realized that psych-thrillers are my catnip!

I WAS ECSTATIC. And while this may not be a “romance”, it definitely follows a love story, or two, that just may tear your heart out anyway. 😉 But more than anything, it was the journey getting there… getting to the “what the heck happened?!?!?!!!” that had its own life.

In fact, I wondered to myself…  didn’t she tell me this was a psych-thriller? I’m feeling more of a … wonderful, sweet friendship (with a difficult-to-love character), and a sad history developing?

Maryse: Speaking of awesome books, I finished Alessandra Torres latest psych-thriller (The Ghostwriter) and I LOVED it. I was so freaking into it, and it surprised me TWICE!!!! I didn’t see it coming, my friends. Oh I knew SOMETHING was coming… I just didn’t know it would be THAT.

…IT’S A MUST READ! …it’s a very… hmm… “smooth” and almost heartwarming/heart-wrenching read at first (first 50-60% in fact) so you really begin to wonder where the “psych-thriller” fits in? Oh but it does. 

Theresa: Stayed up last night and finished Ghostwriter. Wow. Author is just unbelievable. She has to be one of the most creative authors of subject matter around. Her storylines are like no one else. I had almost all pieced together except one detail which you do not get until end. Just cant get myself to read Deanna for some reason but have read every other book. A must read

Rebecca: I was totally coming to ask you if you had started Ghostwriter yet before I clicked the link! I’m at 70% and my husband is driving me crazy expecting me to do things like answer questions, stop to eat, nonsense like that. It is SO good!

Maryse: LOL!!! Isn’t it??? My jaw dropped!! I love when that happens!!!
Rebecca: I swear she could write the alphabet and it would be the best ever. I don’t think there is anything she cannot do and do it exceptionally well.

Donna: This was so good…unreal…

Jean: I want to read The Ghostwriter asap!

Amy:  I’m only at about 25% I’m still LOVING it.

In fact, if I was to try and compare this to another psych-thriller book that had this almost “slow-burn” emotional feel, I’d say this had that awesome… eerie-sweet and SO clever K. Larsen “Jezebel” feel, in regards to the reader’s journey. BUT!!! NOT AT ALL like Jezebel (not at all the same story, so don’t think you’re going into THAT one again 😉 ), but SO cleverly addictive, in a similar way.

Heartwarming, life-encompassing, a journey of love, life, regrets, heartbreak and… *ahem* stuff…  and a newfound friendship that warmed my heart… and yet had me on the edge of my seat knowing *something* was coming.

A perfect morning. A perfect husband. A perfect daughter. A perfect lie.

And boy did it. I thought of all sorts of scenarios, thought I knew, thought i had some pretty clever, gasp-worthy reveals that I had solved on my own, but I was WRONG on all fronts. WRONG. And I LOVED IT! Well no. I hated it. You’ll see.

I’ve waited four years for something like this. For someone to pull a loose thread, a gentle tug that turns into more, everything unraveling until our secrets are bare to the world.

But it was incredible, especially with how it gently lead us there. Just a few hints, here and there, a back-and-forth look into what was… and what is. That something wasn’t right. Now. Then. Who? Her? Him? Them? Something was wrong, and it could have been ANYTHING. And it was.

So what’s it about?

Okay wait… lemme go re-read that intense blurb to make sure I don’t give away any more than it does… BRB.

Oh. 
Right.
Yeah.
Nooooo.
I can’t say ANYTHING.

That blurb pretty much leads you into reading this, going in “blind”. Yep. Cleverly-so mind you. You know she has a BIG story to tell. It’s her confession.

But I’m gonna let it do it’s thing.

…that terribly simple clue that clicks all of the puzzle pieces into place. In the brief moment it takes Kate’s heart to seize, she understands.

Mind you, I will say, the “heroine” (she’s a HUGELY famous best-selling author, and the one *mostly* writing this story – you’ll see what I mean later).

I’ve written fifteen novels, but this one terrifies me. I fear that I won’t have the right words, the right arc, that I will aim too high, hit too hard, and still not properly affect the reader. I fear that I’ll tell everything, and still no one will understand.

She’s… hard to like/love, I suppose. But I “felt” her from the start. Connected. She’s so angry, so bitter… and yet so vulnerable. So many reveals as to what made her that way… and the fact that there’s so much more to her than she lets anyone into. In fact, I don’t know that SHE knows who she is… at least… not yet.

A part of me fears how, in the final novel, I will come across.

A part of me is terrified. The rest feels almost giddy with liberation.
Soon… my final story will come out, and everyone will know the truth.

It’s heartfelt. And devastating. Shocking. And healing.

I, more than anyone, understand secrets. I understand how one person, one whisper of truth, can crumble empires, destroy lives, reveal monsters.

There was a day that I was a monster. And this man… he will soon have to carry that truth, hold that secret, guard that pit.

Go. READ THIS NOW!!! Devour it. No. Let it devour you. Because it will.

5 stars!!

P.S. Thank you to Alessandra Torre for sending me this review copy. Yet again, you blew me away. All I can ask for is… MORE!!!!! Please continue ANY story you have going on in your head. This one… or any one for that matter. I love them all.

➔➔➔  Looking for more of my must-read recommendations? Browse my 5 star and 4.5 star and 4 star reviews. 😀

➔➔➔  Love this author? Browse more Alessandra Torre features and reviews on my blog. 😀