The Ghostwriter

Fun note: I just realized after finishing this earlier, that today is the 5–year anniversary of its release. What a nice way to celebrate! It also means I’m five years late in discovering this earlier gem of a thriller by A.R. Torre, written under her original pen name, Alessandra Torre. Better late than never!

Helena Ross is an international best-selling author of romance novels, but to know the real woman you’d never guess it. She’s relentlessly exacting on her standards of how things should be done, distant towards others, and comes off almost emotionless most of the time. She’s also fairly young and living with a terminal disease that will take her life in a few short months. First, she needs to write one last book, though. It’s not a romance, but it is the most important one she'll ever tell: her own story … and boy, is it a doozy.

We know from the prologue that she was married to Simon and had a young daughter named Bethany. She alludes to them frequently, but now she’s alone. Why? What happened to them? That’s the story Helena needs to tell before it’s too late, and she can’t do it alone. She instructs her beleaguered assistant Kate to convince her rival bestselling romance writer, Marka Vantley, to ghostwrite the novel. Marka agrees, but who actually shows up at Helena’s house to begin writing isn’t at ALL who Helena, or I, was expecting! Their interactions were the highlight of this book for me.

What these two experience and write together was in turns heartwarming, and even funny at times, but it also broke my heart into teeny tiny pieces! I didn’t see the ending reveals coming, but they were a game changer for me with this story. Up until that point, I liked but didn’t totally love the story. After Helena’s truth was revealed … WOW. I was back on the field and ready to play, so to speak!

Torre knows how to write characters and plotting that draw you into the story, and she’s one of only a few authors that could keep me invested in an unlikeable character like Helena. I genuinely cared for her by the end, which is saying a lot.

My one major takeaway: Be patient. It may take awhile to get to the best part, but if you can stick with it, the ending will reward you! This book has great characters, excellent plotting and a solid story.

An additional piece of advice? Consider reading rather than listening to it. Andrea Izzy Anthony narrated, and she did a decent job, but her interpretation of Helena was so emotionless and flat that it was hard to invest in her for awhile. It may work better for others!

★★★★ ½