- Genre: Mystery, Thriller
- Published by: William Morrow & Company
- Publish date: June 22, 2021
- Number of pages: 320 pages
- Author’s website: http://www.lauralippman.net/about
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Following up on her acclaimed and wildly successful New York Times bestseller Lady in the Lake, Laura Lippman returns with a dark, complex tale of psychological suspense with echoes of Misery involving a novelist, incapacitated by injury, who is plagued by mysterious phone calls.
After being injured in a freak accident, novelist Gerry Andersen lies in a hospital bed in his glamorous but sterile apartment, isolated from the busy world he can see through his windows, utterly dependent on two women he barely knows: his young assistant and a night nurse whose competency he questions.
But Gerry is also beginning to question his own competency. As he moves in and out of dreamlike memories and seemingly random appearances of a persistent ex-girlfriend at his bedside, he fears he may be losing his grip on reality, much like his mother who recently passed away from dementia.
Most distressing, he believes he’s being plagued by strange telephone calls, in which a woman claiming to be the titular character of his hit novel Dream Girl swears she will be coming to see him soon. The character is completely fictitious, but no one has ever believed Gerry when he makes that claim. Is he the victim of a cruel prank—or is he actually losing his mind? There is no record of the calls according to the log on his phone. Could there be someone he has wronged? Is someone coming to do him harm as he lies helplessly in bed?
Then comes the morning he wakes up next to a dead body—and realizes his nightmare is just beginning…
Rating: 3/5
I liked the premise of this book — it centers around an author who descends into paranoia once he starts receiving letters and calls from a fictional character, the lead character of his best-selling novel Dream Girl. But she isn’t real or is she? Is this all in his head or is someone messing with him?
This was slow for me to get through because you’re inside the head of a very unreliable narrator and one that is hard to sympathize with. His inner thoughts on women are just icky and I hate being privy to them.
The ending makes sense but ultimately wasn’t that satisfying.
I received an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book from Netgalley and William Morrow & Company. This has not impacted my rating and this review is voluntary.
Musings by Michelle 