Book Review: The Ghostwriter by Alessandra Torre

I love that my first October read was a five star one; it feels me with so much positivity for the rest of the month. If you’re looking for a guaranteed good read – I highly recommend you read the The Ghostwriter.

Book Description:

I have three months to write the last book of my life. Three months to confess the details of that day, and how it changed everything for me.

My name is Helena Ross. I’ve written fifteen romance novels, ten of which have become international bestsellers. But this one isn’t a romance. This novel holds only the truth, which I have run away from for four years. The truth, which I have hidden from the police, from my loved ones, from the world.

This final book?

It’s my confession.

My Thoughts:

Torre is well-known for her romance novels, but this book, The Ghostwriter:

“This book is not romance. It is contemporary fiction, but very suspenseful in nature. It is about a famous romance author and a dark secret she keeps.”

That is a spot on statement explaining this book. The suspense was immense, from the opening pages this book had me dying to know Helena’s secret. The wonderful thing about this novel is how it slowly reigns you in, it’s slow-paced and you’re fed bits of information that pique your interest, and pull you in deeper into this plot.

The Ghostwriter is an intense read because Helena is an intense character. She’s not entirely likable, she’s cold, distant and abrupt, but you can see it’s a barrier she puts in place to protect herself and keep the world out. When she realises she needs a ghostwriter to finish her last novel before her deadline, these two authors form a close relationship and despite sharing her innermost secrets, she still keeps her distance. But the last part of the novel cannot be fleshed out by someone else, this part, this reveal, she must write herself, and wow, it had me holding my breath. Throughout this novel, we are given snippets of the novel Helena is writing and that is how the secret is revealed.

This intensity is heighten by the limited number of characters in this novel, much of it is Helena and her ghostwriter, and this makes you feel like you are being made privy to something very personal.

This novel is so wonderfully written, so suspenseful, so emotional, so raw and so real. It was atmospheric, clouded in sadness and laced with pain. I don’t want to reveal anything about this novel so I don’t want to talk too much about the plot but it has this emotional edge to the suspense and I think that’s what captures you, what makes you so invested in this plot and the story Helena has to tell. There was no point at all during this read where I was released from Helena’s clutches, you just feel in her this need to release, her need for absolution before it’s too late.

I absolutely loved this novel, and you can be sure if Torre writes another suspenseful contemporary fiction novel, I will be reading it! I highly, highly recommend this novel to fans of contemporary fiction, general fiction, mystery and suspense, to everyone. Don’t be surprised if you see it featured in my top ten books of 2017!

This book is available to buy from: Amazon UK / Book Depository

*My thanks to DCA for granting me access to a digital copy of this title via Netgalley*