The Ghostwriter

From the instant New York Times bestselling author of The Last Flight and The Lies I Tell comes a dazzling new thriller.

June, 1975.

The Taylor family shatters in a single night when two teenage siblings are found dead in their own home. The only surviving sibling, Vincent, never shakes the whispers and accusations that he was the one who killed them. Decades later, the legend only grows as his career as a horror writer skyrockets.

Ghostwriter Olivia Dumont has spent her entire professional life hiding the fact that she is the only child of Vincent Taylor. Now on the brink of financial ruin, she's offered a job to ghostwrite her father's last book. What she doesn't know, though, is that this project is another one of his lies. Because it's not another horror novel he wants her to write.

After fifty years of silence, Vincent Taylor is finally ready to talk about what really happened that night in 1975.

These discussion questions were provided by the publisher, Sourcebooks.

Book club questions for The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark

Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.

Would you ever want to be a ghostwriter—doing the work in the background but never acknowledged—or do you prefer to be the star?

Have you had experience with a family member or loved one with dementia? What was/is that experience like?

Olivia feels her family’s past and secrets are so harmful to her that she hides them from everyone, even her closest partner. Do you think she’s right to do so? Are there things you keep from your loved ones?

How does Olivia remember her childhood, and how does that differ from how her father remembers her childhood? How have Olivia’s and Vincent’s pasts affected their actions and relationship?

Halfway through the book, whom did you suspect of killing the siblings? Did you believe Vincent could do it?

Poppy claims that film doesn’t lie “like memories do.” Is this true? Are there more accuracies in film, or can film be as misleading
as memories?

Poppy is shown to be a fierce advocate of women and women’s rights. How do you think that affected her decisions throughout
the book? Did she take risks she shouldn’t have?

Danny, Vincent, and Poppy have a complex sibling relationship. Do you think birth order matters in siblings? Did it matter to Danny, Vincent, and Poppy?

Olivia believes that Margot’s and Mark’s memories about what happened may be colored by their friendships with Poppy and
Danny. Do you think you could recall something with complete accuracy? Do you have particular memories that you know are
clouded by your feelings at the time?

What do you make of Tom’s reaction to Olivia’s confession? Do you think he was overreacting, or were his expectations clear
from the beginning?

Considering only the reader can glean the whole truth of the murders at the end, were you satisfied with how much knowledge
Olivia and Vincent are able to gather?

The Ghostwriter Book Club Questions PDF

Click here for a printable PDF of the The Ghostwriter discussion questions

"Expertly plotted and exquisitely twisted… Julie Clark masterfully weaves together a daughter's long-held suspicions and her father's deadly secrets with the tragic events from the past. The Ghostwriter kept me turning pages in this suspenseful search for the truth." ― Ashley Elston, #1 New York Times bestselling author of First Lie Wins