• The Ghostwriter by Alessandra Torre
• Genre: Suspense, Mystery
• Pub Date: September, 2017

Goodreads summary: Four years ago, I lied. I stood in front of the police, my friends and family, and made up a story, my best one yet. And all of them believed me. I wasn’t surprised. Telling stories is what made me famous. Fifteen bestsellers. Millions of fans. Fame and fortune. Now, I have one last story to write. It’ll be my best one yet, with a jaw-dropping twist that will leave them stunned and gasping for breath. They say that sticks and stones will break your bones, but this story? It will be the one that kills me.

Where has this book been my whole life? How did I miss this one when it first came out? Someone I used to work with invited me out to dinner, and we ended up discussing books for most of the night. She told me that I HAD to read this, because I would love it. She let me borrow it through Kindle, and at first I was skeptical. Would I like it, much less love it? How will she react if I don’t love it like she did? As I got closer and closer to the expiration date, I decided to give it a try.

Before I became a mom, you could always find me with a book in my hand. It was not out of the norm for me to read a whole book in one day. I would read well over 100 books during the year. Now that I am knee-deep in mommyhood, it is much harder to read a book at all, much less a book in a day. The only time I can manage that is if it is a middle grade or young adult book that is tiny. So imagine my surprise when I started this book on a break at work, and could. Not. Put. This. Down. I read during conference calls, during my hour lunch, during my “emailing’ time, during dinner (“yes kids, you can watch TV”) and during my sleep time where I stayed up until midnight. I could not get enough, nor could I read fast enough.

I read this book in the beginning of February, and it had such an impact on me, I had to take a day or two to process all the emotions it gave me. Then the great head cold/tummy bug wave of 2020 hit and my emotions had to be put on the backburner. Reading through my notes again 3 weeks later, all of the same feelings came rushing back.

In this tale, we meet Helena Ross, a bestselling author who finds out she only has 3 months to live. She has a confession to make, and has decided to write one last book to share her story. Helena is not the easiest of people to work with, as she is…how do you say it…eccentric? Likes things her own way? Makes demands that to most, seem to be outrageous, but to Helena are for self preservation. If she has an opinion, people will know it, no matter how mean it comes across.

Helena’s latest demand of her agent, Kate, is to find her a ghost writer. But not just any ghost writer, her long standing author rival, Marka Vantly. Marka is everything Helena isn’t. She’s sexy. She churns out romance novels, one after the other, that end up on the bestseller list every time. Is that jealousy I detect?

Here is where I can’t go into too much detail without giving away the farm. What I can say is that as Helena and her ghost writer begin to work together, we start to learn about Helena’s life through the chapters that were written. We learn about her husband, Simon, and his spiral. We learn about her daughter, Bethanny. We see how their parenting styles differ. And then we find out the big WHAT HAPPENED at the end. I didn’t see it as a shocking twist, more of an “OHHHHHHH so that’s how we got here” ending. I didn’t realize it while it was happening, so I cannot tell you when it began, but at some point during the last couple of chapters I had started to cry. For Helena. For Bethanny. For my children. For me.

Side note: Becoming a mom to two little humans can change everything about you. The way you live your life, the way you see events, and how you react to things. While writing, we find out how Helena reacted to becoming a mom. Spoiler alert: not well. One part of the story that stuck out for me was Helena’s frustration when her child was catching lightening bugs, and named it Lighty. Helena wanted more for her daughter – more creativity, more culture, rather than appreciating who Bethanny was. It was a nice reminder to revel in every small decision my children make on their own.

Who do I recommend this book to? Everyone. I can’t think of an audience who wouldn’t enjoy this. Do you love a mystery? Check! Suspense? Check! Seeing a character’s evolution? Check! Pick this one up!

Keep on reading!