Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for a review. Though I enjoyed the setting and details of the story (having spent some time in Baltimore recently, it all checked out) I had a difficult time with the story. Ultimately I think it was because Gerry is just not a likable character, despite being the main character and having the book written from his perspective. I did like that the ending tied up a lot of details neatly, but this story was just not an enjoyable read for me.

Dream Girl is sort of an up-to-date homage to Stephen King's Misery. It is more in the realm of psychological thriller than horror. The main character, Gerry Anderson, is a successful fiction writer/College Professor. Although he has been asked before, he is very uninterested in writing a memoir. In fact, he tries to lead as private a life as possible. He is 61 years old and not very in tune with social media. He suffered an accident and we meet him as he is bed-ridden and reflecting over his life. His Magnum opus was his first literary work, Dream Girl. The plot revolved around the inspiration behind Dream Girl, his family history, and his relationships with women in his life. Most of the action in the book happens in the flashbacks. Gerry isn't a very good narrator for telling you much about what is happening in the current timeline. You know just enough to keep the book going. I found the book to be a chore to read and was not enamoured by the character of Gerry. I did, however, enjoy the ending. Many times the ending of books can make or break how you feel about the story. Here, the ending works pretty well.

"Dream Girl" is advertised as a thriller, but I found it more to be a horror novel. It was interesting to me, how the horror-iest things happen "off scene".

The author sneaks in literary and movie references and also inserts a past character from a different book, which I love to see!

It took me a little while to get into this book but once I did, I read it pretty fast. This was a good thriller from Laura Lippman and I am looking forward to more books from her in the future

I’ve only read one book by Laura Lippman previously but will definitely be picking up more.

Although slow-moving, this book is certainly not boring and I was sucked in immediately. Bed-bound after an accident, Gerry begins to believe he is being harassed by someone claiming to be a fictional character from his best known book. The story moves between Gerry’s memories (jumping around a bit which is a tad disorienting, but this is maybe intentional) and the mysterious events that you are never sure are real or not. The writing is great; I’ve gotten very tired of psychological thrillers with poor writing and obvious predictable “twists” but this one kept me guessing.

Recommended to anyone who loves slow burn thrillers, especially the thrillers that drop lots of references to classic mysteries and thrillers.

"Everything is in the before moment. That's where life is richest, in that moment of possibility and anti-say it, the audience screamed at the screen-pation. ... And then the ball finds its slot and the story ends even as it begins." (Dream Girls, Laura Lippman)
Thank you William Morrow and Custom House and NetGalley for providing access to Laura Lippman's new book Dream Girls for review. This was a great thriller and the ending, yes!! The almost tongue in cheek play on the idea in the quote above about anticipation, well done. I can feel who how Ms. Lippman was indeed waiting for the ball to find its slot with her plot and her resolution.

I am almost never fully satisfied by the end of a thriller and yet this one was just right, I really appreciated how Ms. Lippman took the reader on a complicated story, at times with shifting tone and focus, and generated some uncertainty in the reader about what kind of person Gerry Andersen really was and if how he viewed himself was really accurate (was he really a good man?), and then had such a delightful and insightful end that, for me, explained all of this. I appreciate the intentionality of the story and the creativity, and I think delight, Ms. Lippman showed in writing and sharing this story.

PLOT: Gerry Andersen, famous writer, is forced to consider his past relationships, his most famous character, and if he is losing his mind after an accident leaves him in the hands of a possibly manipulative nurse (themes of Misery are intentional and well respected, especially with a theme about books and movies and reality vs fiction woven into the plot.... it works!). Is he losing his mind, being gaslit, or is someone trying to hurt him and exact revenge for something he may or may not have done? Is he trying to create a past that misrepresents who he really is and was?

THOUGHTS: There is a lot to enjoy about this thriller, even horror, book. First, Ms. Lippman has a strong focus on intentionally creating confusion, I felt as unsure and even scared once or twice, about what was happening to Gerry... there is a create theme of anticipation and I just love how Ms. Lippman takes this seemingly small part of a memory, a former friendship, and then perhaps makes the whole plot about that theme.

Second, I love when writers weave in connections, purposefully, to other books and movies and shows a respect for her idea, plot, and the broader genres she is examining. In some ways Gerry is doing this work for her via his role as author, teacher, and of course protagonist and I appreciate those moments of connection to real world books, movies, and culture.

Third, I respect a slow burn that is also somehow a fast read. The book is atmospheric, at times does play with tone and style and I think intentionally makes you question if Gerry's own ideas about himself are really fair to others in his life... He seems unaware of the harm he has perhaps created, thinking himself a good man or just someone who can and does move on with his life... and yet, it seems it is this thinking and his past that are keeping him from now moving on after his accident. This is thought provoking as is the idea that a theme was how Gerry didn't want to write his memoirs and yet... this book becomes in a way his memoir. That was well done as well.

Fourth, as noted above, I loved the end. It made me smile and then sit back and say how interesting and I like how the end tackles some of what might be a criticism of the book (shifting tone, confusion or seeming inconsistencies with how Gerry is portrayed, moving alliances or sympathies) and makes it all work. It was rewarding to the reader and also respectful of the reader who might have been wondering about some of these aspects of the writing and the plot.

I think this is a great book for mystery lovers and worthy of thought provoking discussions in book clubs. I hope people appreciate the writing and plot development, how Ms. Lippman is playing with themes a bit, and that the plot is worth the time.

Thanks to Netgalley and Faber and Faber Ltd for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Gerry Anderson is a novelist in his early 60's that has recently relocated from NYC to his hometown of Baltimore to care for his mother who has Alzheimer's. Soon after her death, Gerry has a freak accident leaving him bed ridden and in need of round the clock care. He starts receiving notes and calls from a woman claiming to be the Dream Girl that was the subject of one of his novels, but there seems to be no evidence of these calls causing Gerry to wonder if he is losing his mind.

This book was ok for me. Gerry was not the most likeable guy. He was something of a womanizer and had 3 ex wives. I had a hard time keeping the 3 of them straight let alone all of the other women he encountered that were featured in the flashbacks that were present throughout the book. Overall the flashbacks weren't always easy to distinguish and they skipped around to many periods in Gerry's life and featured too many people he had known. I am not sure how much of it was relevant to the story. Not my favorite Laura Lippmann novel but I have read most of her books and I am sure this won't be my last.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book. Unfortunately, I read over 100 pages and it failed to grab my attention. I have given Lippman many chances and I just do not enjoy her work.

Dream Girl by Laura Lippman
Publication Date: 01 July 2021
Blog: What's Rachel Reading

Dream Girl is a mystery/thriller that follows Gerry, a famous author who is bedridden because of an injury. Lippman sets the tone for "Dream Girl" in the first few pages by describing the atmosphere of his room as one where Gerry is almost powerless, stuck, and alone with his thoughts which soon turn dangerous.

Gerry's main antagonist in the beginning is himself and his own thoughts. Those thoughts soon turn to more concrete terrors that he faces and the real antagonists start to reveal themselves. With his injury, he's unable to control the actions that are taking place around him and he becomes an observer to his own demise.

Gerry is not the most likeable character. He's a self-absorbed, flat character who cannot understand why anyone would want to bring him down. He's not an awful person but, from what we know, there is not much to him. The secondary characters are the stars in this book and where the real information and mystery lie.
The touch on #metoo was wonderfully and necessarily done.

I enjoyed the twists, and there are a few in this story. I found it very easy to read and one that is not easy to put down. The flow of the book is interesting because of the twists. It starts strong in the beginning and has a strong ending but with having a completely differently conclusion than expected.
I do wish there was more of a dialogue, backstory, or information given on some of the secondary characters but I do not think the lack of information takes much away from the story.

Readers of any thriller/mystery novels will enjoy this book. "Dream Girl" has twists and turns that keep you guessing until the very end.

Thanks to Faber and Faber LTD and Netgalley for the advanced copy to review.

Laura Lippman is one of my go to authors. This book is a little outside her wheelhouse. It's good but not great. While the details ultimately come together, it seemed to ramble at times.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55425157-dream-girl?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=Z2PvaNIxrs&rank=3

I loved Dream Girl, i was expecting a bog standard psychological thriller but instead got a disarming, macabre almost horror story. claustrophobic with echos of Misery and Gaslight, Gerry is the ultimate unreliable narrator with a tenuous grasp on reality, hallucinating, on painkillers and physically kept in his bed. Exploring themes of the old vanguard in the literary world and the abuses that come with that power and fame, viewed with modern eyes it shows the great clash of the old and the new. This was an excellent and engrossing read, very cleverly plotted and with even though the characters were unlikeable they were very well drawn and very engaging.

Dream Girl is a psychological thriller. Gerry Anderson is an author and had preciously been a college professor. He is currently bedridden due to a fall down the stairs. He had a night nurse and a personal assistant that are the only people that he sees since he is confined to his bed. He is having trouble sleeping partially due to his injuries. In addition, he has been having troubling phone calls from someone that claims to be Aubrey who is a character in on of his books He is concerned with who the calls are from as Aubrey is someone that he made up for the book years ago.

He is one a number of medications that his night nurse gives to him. He is starting to have hallucinations and wonders if they are caused by the drugs. He is wondering what really happened and what is his imagination. The story gets interesting when he wakes up with a dead woman in his room. He has no memory of his murder. Things start getting twisted and secrets come out after this. It is an interesting book.

An interesting Misery-like haze between delusion and reality with a dose of psychopathic revenge - yep, that sums it up without any spoilers! An engaging read, with a few surprises along the way - doesn't move fast, but at a steady pace that keeps you turning the page.

"A letter, three phone calls, a tweet, a visit..."

Aging writer Gerry Andersen is convalescing at home, confined to a hospital bad in his lavish Baltimore apartment after a leg injury, with only his assistant and night nurse for company. Wavering in and out of a drug-induced slumber, he begins receiving late-night phone calls from a mysterious woman named Aubrey, who claims that he owes her something. The only problem is...Aubrey doesn't exist. She's the titular character of his novel Dream Girl, the book that skyrocketed him to literary fame.

I've read and enjoyed Laura Lippman's other recent novels, but in Dream Girl, she is writing on an entirely different level. In her Author's Note, she calls this her first horror novel -- and it definitely does have horror elements. It's incredibly Hitchcockian in its writing and execution, with several creepy cinematic moments that were just so much fun to read and picture in my head.

But I wouldn't say this is mainly a horror novel. Dream Girl is, at its heart, a writer writing about writing: the craft itself, the motivations and successes and failures, the critics, the myriad ways the literary scene has changed both organically, and under societal pressure. It's also a critique of the treatment of women in modern society, fitting solidly in with the #MeToo movement. In Gerry, Lippman takes us directly into the mind of a member of the "old guard": a white male writer, a bit of a chauvinist at best, who sees the industry changing around him -- who can't keep up but also doesn't really try. Being in Gerry's head is fascinating; he is a well-crafted character who is more than a little icky, while at the same time sympathetic and very funny.

I'm not going to discuss Lippman's inspirations here, because I think even the mere mention could be spoiler-y. Suffice it to say, she was clearly inspired by several books and films and I just loved how she turned those inspirations into this wholly original, brilliant, modern noir novel. She's a crazy good storyteller, and this is the best story of hers I've read so far.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for providing my copy in exchange for an honest review!

From reading other reviews, this seems to be a 'marmite' book. I'm afraid that I fell into the 'not really' camp. If the author was a man, I would deem this book misogynistic, as all of the women portrayed in the book are not only hugely unlikeable, but incredibly unbelievable and unrelatable. The only thing I really liked were the literary and cinema references.

I have to be honest and say that I didn't love this book. I didn't hate it either, but for me it does not match up to other books I have read by Laura Lippman. I didn't like a single character, every female character (bar one) was literally insane, and at times the plot just meandered.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Gerry Anderson who is a writer gets injured one day. He remains in bed most of the day on pain killers. He deams of events in his childhood which he would like to forget. This book dragged on at times.

BOOK REVIEW
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Title:Dream Girl
Author: Laura Lippman
Pub: July 2021

This was a page turning psychological thriller. It’s one of my favorite genres so I was pulled into the plot quickly. Gerry Anderson is a 63 year old renowned author for his bestselling novel, Dream Girl. Three times divorced, his love life seems complicated and we see various encounters he has with females throughout the novel.

Gerry is bed bound due to a recent injury at the start of this book and has an assistant and nurse caring for him. The story is told in a dual timeline bouncing back to when Gerry was younger. I liked the timeline and didn’t find it difficult to follow at all. He starts to experience unusual events while he’s sleeping or barely awake that involve eerie phone calls and visits from The Dream Girl from his novel Who is and what does she want?

A great thriller with a macabre plot that incorporated so many modern day issues like cancel culture and the me too movement etc. I really enjoyed this book. One of the things I did find somewhat distracting from the storyline was the continued reference to old movies and books. I think because Gerry was an author and this was part of his character it was included, but because I didn’t know so many of the references, I often just glazed over those parts.

Overall, I recommend Dream Girl and will read more Laura Lippman in the future.

"Dream Girl" is classified as a thriller, while Lippman calls it a horror novel. I found it humorous but in a macabre way with the scariest things happen off scene. Gerry Anderson, a 61 year old one hit wonder writer, is bedridden in is Baltimore penthouse with a bilateral quad tear. He has a night nurse, and an assistant that takes care of him during the day. Does it sound it a little like Stephen King’s "Misery"? Most certainly, but that is Lippman’s intent. People die, Anderson in an Ambien and OxyContin induced haze contemplates his past life.

Lippman fills her book with literary and movie references which adds to the humor. She even includes a scene with her character Tess Monaghan. My favorite literary quote that appears is “exit pursued by a bear.” (If the quote is unfamiliar then I suggest you look it up and read the work in which it is originally used.)

Dream Girl is well written, has a vivid sense of place, numerous damaged characters, and the perfect ending. I loved it!

I really enjoyed this book, it verges on horror with parallels to Stephen Kings Misery.
Gerry Andersen has had an accident which leaves him laid up in his swanky Baltimore apartment. Gerry is an author and has had a runaway success with his novel Dream Girl, although it’s been a while since he has written anything else. Two women look after Gerry while he is laid up, his personal assistant Victoria and a night nurse, Aileen. Gerry is having weird phone calls from someone claiming to be Aubrey, the girl from his book. But she is not a real person and her character wasn’t based on anyone. Are the phone calls real or is it a result of all the pain meds he is on. Then he has a shadowy nighttime visit from Aubrey.
What is the truth, are these hallucinations? But things are about to get a whole lot worse when Gerry wakes one morning to find a dead girl in his bed.
Told with flash backs to Gerry’s childhood, his recollections of his three marriages, his childhood and his book tours and also some amusing insights into a writers mind. It’s a great read.
#netgalley #dreamgirl