This thriller left me cold, a little bored and irritated with the characters and I struggled to get into it and ultimately gave up.. It takes a long time to get going, the pace is not helped by the movement of time periods, and the background information got pretty dull.. Gerry is not a likable character, but then those who plot against him are not much better, so there is no one to get behind for or hope for a positive outcome. I'm sure others will enjoy it more than I, but I found it an empty experience.

I got a definite Stephen King 'Misery' vibe from this book, as well as layers upon layers of stories and narration. Who to trust? If we trust the characters, do we trust all of what they say or just some of it. This is definitely a psychological thriller with a not so perfect or trustworthy narrator. I didn't like Gerry's character purely because of how he treats women. His misogyny and his consciousness but loose understanding of the #metoo movement is uncomfortable to read but it lends credence to the whole book. His life becomes unravelled and we hop between different years, in no particular order. It was confusing to begin with but I was soon accustomed to the quick transitions. Overall, this was a fast paced decent thriller. Also, I'm scared of Aileen.

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review. Dream Girl is out in July 2021 😍

Dynamic and delusional characters. Well developed. So many gratuitous plugs regarding US politics that had nothing to do with story line.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book for an honest review.

So Laura Lippman can write, but what makes her one of the best authors writing today is her ability to experiment as she writes. This book, while a mystery, is very different than what she's written before.

I do not want to give anything away, but the book explores writing and is obviously influenced by another story, although with enough twists the story is entirely new.

If you have not read Laura Lippman before, please start. She is an exciting writer who is consistently readable, if not genre loyal.

This is one of those books which is terribly pleased with itself - mentions of other authors and books, 'in' gags about publishing, a convoluted plot and references to 'me too'. Sadly it left me cold, a little bored and irritated with the characters.

It takes a long time to get going, the pace is not helped by the toing and froing through time, and I was not convinced that I needed all of the background scene setting. Gerry is not a nice person, but then the characters who plot against him are not pleasant either, so there is no one to root for or hope for a happy ending. A shame as I really enjoyed 'Sunburn' but this one is not for me.

Laura Lippman produces another home run. With her twist on the classic Stephen King novel Misery this is a fine exploration of writers behaving badly, revenge fantasy and the age old questions of who is manipulating who!! With a cameo by her well known PI Tess Monaghan, Lippman has managed to write a stand alone novel that somehow links in with her Baltimore series of books. Once again the city of Baltimore is almost a character in itself although the claustrophobic nature of the apartment in which much the action is set contributes to the sense of menace in the writing.

A disappointment.. Gerry Anderson, a successful novelist, has moved from NYC to Baltimore to help his dying mother. He buys an apt., and soon after moving in, injures himself by tripping over his rowing machine or something. He is confined to bed and has a night nurse and day time assistant. Someone is gaslighting him with info about his breakout novel DREAM GIRL suggesting they know on whom it is based.

Tess Monaghan shows up, and things start to look up. But she refuses the case because the apt. gives her the creeps.

Well, thanks for that. I was hoping she would save the book. Too bad, the book is not saved. The nurse who is not a nurse and the assistant who is not an assistant are former creative writing students and they are out to somehow get even with Gerry or something.

Not up to Lippman's usual standards.

Dream Girl follows Gerry Anderson as he struggles to understand the confusing phone calls from a woman who has never existed.
Overall good book which kept me reading. I found the flipping between times to be confusing at parts. Decent storyline.

* I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book from NetGalley and Faber and Faber Ltd in exchange for my honest review

I was intrigued by the blurb, and as I've recently re-read Stephen King's Misery and was pleased to see how well it holds up, I was looking forward to reading a modern, #MeToo take on the story. However, I found that spending time inside the protagonist's head was thoroughly unenjoyable, and it made the book a chore to read.

Can characters actually come alive from novels? Who would impersonate a character from a book? Who would want to haunt Gerry Anderson?
Gerry finds himself bed-bound, at his staff's mercy when Aubrey begins making late night phone calls to him. Mysterious happenings being and Gerry is the only witness. How does a character, Aubrey, come alive from his novel, Dream Girl written years before?
Laura Lippman knows how to write a spectacular novel. Dream Girl keeps you guessing from start to finish. For me it had a Hitchcock/ Steven King spin on the story, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Lippman takes you from the present time and switches between past memories. Each section is clearly marked so you know what time frame Lippman is taking you.
I will definitely be recommending Dream Girl to others and will always look out for Laura Lippman's work. Special thanks to NetGalley, Laura Lippman, and Faber and Faber Ltd Publishing for the advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest opinion. 5 stars

#DreamGirl #NetGalley

I was intrigued by the blurb but ultimately found the book a hard reader. In likeable characters and constant switching between present and past meant this book was just not for me.

Gerry was a unlikeable old fool. This was a hard novel to stay invested in but finished it. Fell flat half way through and never really picked up steam. I think it’s because I disliked the main character so much.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc

3.5 A hard book to review, it felt like a smart book, but not one that i enjoyed reading, the main character was unlikeable and it was told in first person/stream of consciousness/back and forth to different time periods. There were a lot of literary references, that made sense for the book, but not so much for me as a reader. It had potential but then it went in a different direction and the motivations of the other characters not clear at all. ultimately admirable but disappointing read

I really love Laura Lippman's books, but Dream Girl fell a little short for me. Lippman does an excellent job of portraying the "dream state" of the main character, but it felt disjointed and confusing. Plus, Gerry Anderson is EXTREMELY unlikeable. I mean I truly hated him. So it was hard for me wish anything but harm and vengeance upon him. Definitely not my favorite Lippman book, but Sunburn and Lady in the Lake remain two of my favorite thrillers.

Thanks to NetGalley for the book
Gerry is a writer who after an accident that leaves him bedridden begins to receive calls from Aubrey the main character of his most famous novel.
It’s a well-written novel, however the pace is very slow for my taste. The plot also has leaps in time that don’t help the rhythm and I found Gerry’s character unattractive.
Still, it’s an interesting novel though not for me.

After building her glittering career with a long-running, multi-award-winning series starring Baltimore private eye Tess Monaghan, Laura Lippman has in recent years spread her wings with a number of outstanding, very different, standalone thrillers. From the multi-layered tale of family and justice in Wilde Lake to the James M Cain-esque Sunburn to exploring various prejudices in Lady in the Lake, Lippman is masterful.

Following the multiple narrators and broad scope of her last novel, Lippman flips the script in Dream Girl with an intensely claustrophobic tale that largely takes place within the four walls of novelist Gerry Anderson’s new condo. And inside his mind. After a freak accident, bed-bound Gerry only has a nurse and PA for company, so when he starts receiving phone calls from Aubrey, a character from his most famous novel, he doesn’t know what’s real or fantasy. Is he losing his mind, or is he in danger? Who can he trust?

Put simply, this is a dreamy, brilliant novel. A slow burn creeping suspense that wears its homage to the likes of Misery well, while being its own original thing. Lippman has a wonderful way with words, lulling readers while setting many hooks, and seasoning the journey with plenty of wit and humour. An incisive and unpredictable novel from one of the finest exponents of the crime genre, anywhere.

I felt the beginning of the book was very disjointed. The main character Gerry is a novelist and he goes back and forth between describing his first few wives, his family life, having two families simultaneously. It might be clearer to read in a book, but on the Kindle it was hard to follow the different chapters and flip back between the different time lines.

It was challenging to follow all these different characters, who in many cases were not connected. I didn't feel a strong connection to the characters. Toward the end, after yo-yoing back and forth, the plot settled in to revolving around two or three characters. For me, the last quarter of the book was the strongest. The book's ending was interesting but I felt I had to wait too long to get there.

Overall, the plot was hard to follow. It took me longer than usual to finish the book, because I didn't feel drawn to the plotlines and I wasn't grabbed by the story.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book, although I think writers might find those aspects of the book interesting. 3/5 stars.

Dream Girl was a good read. Started off a bit slow, but I ended up enjoying the story and plot. Definitely not my favorite, but did still enjoy.

Thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Dream Girl began very well but began to pall, I’m afraid. Around half way through there is a thoroughly ridiculous decision by Gerry, the protagonist, and after that I skimmed a good deal without missing much, I think. I found the ending contrived and far too much of a deus ex machina and I wasn’t sorry to finish the book.

The set-up is good. A successful novelist is confined to bed after an accident and, while pretty doped-up on pain killers, begins to receive odd phone calls from someone claiming to be the “real” version of a character he made up in his most successful book. Laura Lippman writes very well and for a hundred pages or so I was intrigued and involved. However, I began to find the story predictable, rather familiar and increasingly implausible. What begins with some rather sharp insights into Gerry’s attitudes to women moves on to some #metoo issues, which are well handled but which don’t say much which is new and the thriller plot didn’t do it for me at all.

There is enough here to make me want to try another of Laura Lipmann’s books, but overall I found this rather run-of-the-mill and hence quite disappointing.

(My thanks to Faber & Faber for an ARC via NetGalley.)

I was drawn into this one after reading the premise, the main character Gerry Anderson is a novelist and is getting phone calls from a woman claiming to be Aubrey, a character he invented for a book.

Unfortunately after taking the bait of the book description the novel felt very slow and it was difficult for me to build up any enthusiasm for the novel. Narrated by Gerry the story flips time zones between past and present and for simple old me became a little confusing. There were bits I enjoyed but not enough to make it an enjoyable read.

Struggled to take to any of the characters and generally thought the plot was too slow and confusing.

I would like to thank both Netgalley and Faber and Faber for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.