The Ghostwriter

WOW! 5 Stars +++ THE GHOSTWRITER is the author's best yet!Alessandra Torre has found her groove! Please, more of this genre-contemporary fiction. (Listen to your character's advice). A ripping riveting drama, domestic suspense, thriller, literary fiction, plus much more.A perfect husband. A perfect daughter. A perfect lie. Simon is gone. Bethany is gone. She is alone.Bestselling romance author, Helena Ross (age 32) is dying. Cancer. She has three months to live. She has no friends and no family to speak of. An empty house.“I have only this countdown, a dark ominous chant of days, sunrises and sunsets before my body gives up and my mind shuts down.”She has a story which needs to be told. The truth. One which she has avoided for the last four years. Helena does not have decades. She does not have years. Three months. The deadline is the tightest she has ever faced. Three months to write a story that deserves years.. . . "I've always been a liar. Maybe that's why writing came so naturally. A thousand lies, disguised in a character's voice, bits of my life sprinkled through the pages, the perfect camouflage for whatever it is I feel the urge to say."She notifies Kate, her agent of thirteen years she is retiring. No more outstanding deadlines. She wants to walk away from all her commitments. She wants to write a new book with a different editor. The hottest editor in publishing."There is something soothing about the act of writing, a drug that lures you into another world, but then forgets to stop, and sometimes carries you all of the way into sleepdom."This editor does not do romance. Helena has no outline. Everyone will need to trust her. She needs a ghostwriter. Not just any ghostwriter. She wants her arch-enemy, Marka Vantly (pen name). International bestselling author. She hates her. She would almost rather die than ask her. Helena needs her. She is terrified of her.This will be no normal manuscript. Once the story is written it will be real. She will be exposed. Two thousand words a day. One million dollars. An impossible task. However, Helena is determined. She knows the writer who writes smut; deep down, a highly talented author and one which will be able to help write her story.However, she never thought that possibly contemporary fiction with heart, may not sell as well as the smut. She cannot imagine an author hating the novels they spend months writing. Ones they do not respect.Kate, nor anyone would understand why this book was so important. The most critical book of her career. She cannot die with this book unwritten. Word count is her everything. The truths buried among her bones. It needs to come out. The real truth. She is fearful of how her final novel will come across. She is terrified, yet almost giddy with liberation. Soon her final story will come out, and everyone will know the truth. Life and death.However, her ghostwriter may prove to be the one person to get her through her dying days. In the process, they may learn something from one another. Her agent may see a side of her she has never seen. Instead of "entertaining" like her usual books. This final book would be both her punishment and her absolution.Loved the Epilogue! The relationship with THE GHOSTWRITER is as equally powerful as Helena's story. Raw, emotional, heart wrenching, and touching - we hear from Kate, Helena, and Mark’s POV.Intense, riveting, and suspenseful. Readers will not know how or why the deaths occurred until later in the book, as her story unravels — writing each chapter and hands off to THE GHOSTWRITER. You know Helena carries guilt. She has pushed everyone away, until now.Get out the Kleenex. "How quickly a life can change."Torre is dynamite! The writing is superb. I would not change "one" word. A must-read for every writer, author, publicist, and reader out there today. THE GHOSTWRITER is on my Top Books of 2017!. Readers, you will have a new respect for authors. I cannot imagine how difficult this was to write.Buy this book now! You will not be able to put it down. Award-winning. A big turning point for this author. If this is a beta test, then scratch the test and go for it, Torre. Top of the chart's quality. This is my kind of book and hits all the spots. This is the "real deal" and she is a master! Ultimately no sleep, but it was worth every single word.Poignant, beautifully written, lyrical, raw, soul-searching, suspenseful, emotional, and heartbreaking.I was hanging on every word. Tried to go to bed about 4 am and could not sleep thinking about Helena. Had to know what happened. The suspense and intensity . . . so back up, espresso in hand and dove back in until the final heart-pounding conclusion. This is a true test of how absorbing a great novel should be. At 90% this scene was intense. Readers will be dying to know the circumstances surrounding Simon and Bethany. I bookmarked so many pages; it is one of the most highlighted books I have ever read. THE GHOSTWRITER would be perfect for a TV mini-series.Younger TV Series would love this one (could you imagine??) . . . Ideal for book clubs and further discussions. I am not an erotica or romance fan; however, I am a lover of this genre. Hits on all cylinders. The author has a God-given talent for intimate words and gut-wrenching feelings of the heart.I loved the  Deanna Madden Series (3 Book Series)  (suspense-psychological thriller) series; however, THE GHOSTWRITER to me is so far beyond her other books, and really allows the author to really showcase her writing. She shines without the sex, erotica, romance, and violence. THE GHOSTWRITER opens up an entirely new reader base for her (more my style).For fans of Jo Jo Moyes, Colleen Hoover, It Ends With Us , Liane Moriarty, Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Weiner, Amy Hatvany, and Renee Carlino . . . with Torre's unique unstoppable witty style.For some reason, I am strongly reminded of Blake Crouch's Good Behavior. Even though different, two unlikely souls find strength, clarity, and redemption in one another. A huge Mark fan!OMG . . . I have Helena's list on my door too— for the last two years. Laminated and regular. (too funny).JDCMustReadBooks

Good read. Love the writing style, the suspense, the past and present dialogue, the love and the drama; wasn’t expecting the ending.

One might think while reading this story that the author had something to reveal about herself. After all, the book is about a writer … a very gifted and accomplished writer. The entire time I was absorbing this story, I secretly wondered if the author was revealing something very personal about herself.Characters are not necessarily created. I’m of the idea that they are extracted. Each character that the writer/author creates is an extraction of what is within that is brought to the light and given life and the opportunity of the fullest expression.Some people have personality disorders (if it’s fair to even label it that way), where there are multiple personalities within and in any given moment, they can surface and play their part or act out what they are dying to express. They demand a presence and they will surface when they are needed for the individual to process a space in their life.Perhaps characters in a story are demanding the same opportunity to express and share what they have never been given permission to do before. I deeply admire the writer who is fearless enough to bring their characters to the surface and give them life, expression and to tell their story. I know this is a little philosophical, and yet as a writer myself, writing is the purest form of expression I know. Some paint, some play music and sing and some … write.I absolutely adored this book. I saw myself clearly in the lead character Helena, the part of myself that I wish to hide from my world; the one who has a set of rules to keep herself safe and the one who is too afraid of acknowledging her own fears and expressing them because she just may break apart if they are acknowledged and brought out of hiding. Helena did that for me. Helena made signs with a list of rules for onlookers to follow. I make internal folders. Nobody can see them but me and if the truth be known, I’m not always aware the rules are there. They silently get checked off every time I feel uncomfortable but they never blatantly shout, “Rule #1 – Don’t expect anything from me!” Helena showed me that they are there and now I find myself recognizing them. They are coming to the light. Perhaps this book was a touch of therapy for me … maybe all books are in a way.This book was brilliantly written. The characters were pure and believable. I sat in the room with them, rode in the car with them, spent time outdoors with them and sat in with their conversations taking in every detail and giving it permission to nourish me.Every time I put the book down to resume my life, I felt a lift and a charge. I felt creative and nourished and looked forward to my next moment where I could pick the book back up and carry on. I’m not sure I wanted this story to end and yet, it was the ending that gave me peace, closure, satisfaction and a deep sense of awe at the author’s ability to draw me in and suspend time.I’ve read the reviews that the book got off to a slow start. Perhaps that was a negative or a strike against the story and yet, I found the slow pace comfortable and soothing. Pieces of the puzzle were being laid down with every page and I enjoyed piecing them together. A satisfying book doesn’t always have to clip at a fast pace in order to be gratifying. Things don’t have to happen quickly to keep the reader entertained. Sometimes, the gentle current of a lazy stream, is enough to bring the reader to a place of solace, peace and entertainment.Don’t worry, the author will keep you moving along. There is no dead space in this story. Every page offers up bits and pieces to keep you moving along … kind of like bread crumbs. They nourish the reader a little piece at a time and keep the seeker moving in the direction of the story. How delicious!As the story begins to wrap up, I invite the reader to grab their seat belt, strap themselves in and grab a box of tissues. The ending is so, darn epic, delicious and satisfying!I promise, you won’t see it coming and when it finally arrives, if you’re like me, you may want to clear your calendar for the day so you can finish it up because if you put the book down, it will call to you in your sleep, in the hours of the day when you find yourself wanting something juicy to chew on.Read this book and then go tell all your friends about it. It’s that good!

It's hard to put into words how this story made me feel. While tragic and sad, there are moments of understanding, love, healing and friendship. This story keeps you engaged and when the truth comes out it will shock you. A great read!

It gave me a completely different perspective as a reader, it’s a tough book to read but in it’s way therapeutic

I love reading books and finish 1 or 2 a week, after a long time felt like I read a book that stays with me after reaching the end

This book was absolutely heartbreaking. The plot twists were truly twists and unexpected. The way that the writer manages to get you into Helenas head and truly feel what she felt (I ain’t even married or have kids so that’s a real skill) was electrifying. I honestly didn’t expect how purely sad it was and I wish I could go back in time to before I’d read this book so that I could read it again for the first time.Absolutely beautiful and entertained me for an hour or two whilst I’m sick with covid

Nicht alle Bücher von Alessandra Torre treffen meinen Geschmack, bei manchen spricht mich schon der Klappentext nicht an. Aber die, bei denen es gefunkt hat, gehören zu meinen absoluten Lieblingen. Ganz oben auf dieser Liste steht »Black Lies«, das ich mittlerweile mindestens ein halbes Dutzend Mal gelesen habe - und gehört (das Audiobook ist klasse!)Auch »Sex, Love, Repeat« ist ein superspannendes Buch, das nur am Rande.»Ghostwriter« ist ein komplett anderer Roman als die Vorgänger. Kein Liebesroman, keine Erotik. Wer die Autorin kennt weiß jedoch, dass man sich am Ende auf eine Überraschung gefasst machen kann. So auch hier.Einmal angefangen konnte ich das Buch nicht aus der Hand legen und habe die ganze Nacht durchgelesen. Die Spannung hat sich ganz allmählich aufgebaut und mit jedem Kapitel gesteigert. Gegen Ende war sie kaum noch auszuhalten.Ich hasse es, wenn Rezensenten schreiben, dass man Taschentücher bereithalten soll. Um solche Bücher mache ich normalerweise einen Bogen, da ich die Erfahrung gemacht habe, dass Autoren über die Betroffenheitsschiene auf Biegen und Brechen auf die Tränendrüse drücken.Hier war es anders. Helena ist niemand, den man so einfach ins Herz schließen kann. Sie unternimmt alles, um eben das zu verhindern. Eine umso größere Leistung, dass ich zum Schluß eine halbe Packung Kleenex verbraucht habe.Das Ende war intensiv & emotional. Die Wendung hat mich kalt erwischt, obschon früh klar war, dass dieses Buch kein klassisches Happy End haben würde. Die Einsichten in Helenas Leben, ihre Lebenssituation, die Lügen, Manipulationen - die Lieblosigkeit und emotionale Verwahrlosung, das alles in kleinen subtilen Dosen über Dekaden verabreicht, kann einen Menschen schon vergiften. Oder brechen.Helena ist nicht zerbrochen. Sie hat einen anderen Weg gewählt und einen hohen Preis dafür gezahlt.Fazit:Absolute Leseempfehlung für einen fesselnden Roman. Intelligent und spannend erzählt, der mich mit seiner Intensität immer tiefer in die Geschichte gezogen, und um meinen Schlaf gebracht hat. Einfach toll.