Dream Girl

Laura Lippman

Jun 2021 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

Booklist Editors' Choice!

Called One of the Best Mystery Books by NPR, Washington Post, Crime Reads, Library Journal, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and Dublin City Library!

"With this tip of the hat to Stephen King's Misery, Dream Girl is funny and suspenseful, with a dread-worthy final twist." —People

“My dream novel. I devoured this in three days. The sharpest, clearest-eyed take on our #MeToo reckoning yet. Plus: enthralling." —Megan Abbott, Edgar Award-winning author of Dare Me and The Fever

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.

Aubrey, the title character of Gerry Andersen’s most successful novel, Dream Girl, is so captivating that Gerry’s readers insist she’s real. Gerry knows she exists only in his imagination. So how can Aubrey be calling Gerry, bed-bound since a freak fall? A virtual prisoner in his penthouse, Gerry is dependent on two women he barely knows: his incurious young assistant, and a dull, slow-witted night nurse.

Could the cryptic caller be one of his three ex-wives playing a vindictive trick after all these years? Or is she Margot, an ex-girlfriend who keeps trying to insinuate her way back into Gerry’s life?

And why does no one believe that the call even happened?

Isolated from the world, drowsy from medication, Gerry slips between reality and dreamlike memories: his faithless father, his devoted mother; the women who loved him, the women he loved.

Now here is Aubrey, threatening to visit him, suggesting that Gerry owes her something. Is the threat real or a sign of dementia? Which scenario would he prefer? Gerry has never been so alone, so confused – and so terrified.

And then he wakes up to another nightmare—a woman’s dead body next to his bed—and the terrifying uncertainty of whether he is responsible.

Ratings and reviews

Laura Lippman’s latest outing, Dream Girl, is rich with allusions to classic literature and theater. It also contains refences to the current age, thereby illustrating some enduring connections in themes and character arcs. In Lippman’s version, Gerry Anderson is an author who is riding a wave of popularity based on his titular third book. When he needs to move to be closer to his ailing mother, he sees this as an opportunity for a fresh start—and a convenient exit for a stale relationship. As soon as he transplants to Baltimore, Gerry is harassed by his agent looking for the next bestseller that he hasn’t yet started. As he is grappling with all these major life changes when he takes a tumble on the stairs that forces him to be bedridden for a few months. His sole visitors are an assistant and nurse providing full-time care, and the unwelcome woman he tried to leave behind. In his drug-assisted recollections Gerry remembers why he had had his accident. He had been startled by a note he had received from a person claiming to be Aubrey, the fictitious protagonist of Dream Girls. The note disappears and phone conversations show no trace of that the communications took place. The author is also unsure of their reality, given his increasing use of medications. He remains helpless as he mentally scours his memories to resolve the mystery. As Gerry’s flashbacks arise, it becomes clear to the reader that Gerry has done some terrible things in the past and is unrepentant. Dream Girls moves along at a nice pace and has some interesting, if implausible twists. This book would suit fans of Stephen King’s Misery or the Lincoln Rhyme collection by Jeffrey Deaver. Thanks to the author, William Morrow and Edelweiss for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Gerry Andersen is a novelist recovering from a fall. He's confined in a hospital bed in his own high-rise apartment, cared for by two women he really doesn't know well. BOOK BLURB: Then late one night, the phone rings. The caller claims to be the “real” Aubrey, the alluring title character from his most successful novel, Dream Girl. But there is no real Aubrey. She’s a figment born of a writer’s imagination, despite what many believe or claim to know. Could the cryptic caller be one of his three ex-wives playing a vindictive trick after all these years? Or is she Margot, an ex-girlfriend who keeps trying to insinuate her way back into Gerry’s life? But no one believes that these calls have even happened. Is the medication warping his mind? Has he lost his grip on reality? Is this the start of dementia? Or is there something more malevolent happening? You be the judge! A blend of psychological suspense with a touch of horror, the characters are deftly drawn. I do confess to not like the main character at all ... his drivel, narcissism, got a little tiring. I did have to flip through the pages every so often looking for something that would draw me in. The concept was a good one, but the story line failed for me. I have read this author before and been completely satisfied ... here's hoping this is an anomaly and her next book will be what I've come to expect. Many thanks to the author / William Morrow Books / Faber & Faber Ltd / Netgalley for the digital copy of this psychological thriller. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

About the author

Since Laura Lippman’s debut, she has been recognized as a distinctive voice in mystery fiction and named one of the “essential” crime writers of the last 100 years. Stephen King called her “special, even extraordinary,” and Gillian Flynn wrote, “She is simply a brilliant novelist.” Her books have won most of the major awards in her field and been translated into more than twenty-five languages. She lives in Baltimore and New Orleans with her teenager.