A wild ride, a runaway chariot that spun around in every direction until ....

THUD

The suspense and satire along the way kept me riveted. Gerry's thoughts and actions were truly riotous.

Gerry is a famous novelist laid up in bed while he recovers from a fall. He is asleep more than he's awake. He is often not quite asleep and not quite awake. His nurse, Aileen (enter Drama!) looms over him serving pills with his dinner. She is a "cheerful Lady Macbeth, humming as she works." He wonders if he is having delusions or hallucinations.

A mystery caller, missing letters , a fictional tweeter. Gerry asks repeatedly, "Do I know you, who are you?"

This train was off the rails, someone truly does steal the show and I loved every minute of reading about it!

I read Laura Lippman's previous book, Sunburn, and LOVED it, so when I saw this on NetGalley I got very excited.
It did not disappoint.
If you like slow burn, psychological thrillers, and #MeToo revenge fantasies, then this book is for you. The narrator (Gerry) is soooo unlikable (no really, he is a horrible person) and that made it fun for me. I enjoyed the non-linear flashbacks and thought they added a lot to the story.
I will say that the book contains a lot of references to super old movies and books, none of which I had seen or read, so those parts were kind of lost on me.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book (I finished it in less than a day), and would recommend it to others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Faber and Faber Ltd for the ARC!

Gerry Andersen, an award winning novelist of the book Dream Girl, was in an accident that left him bed ridden. He starts to receive calls in the middle of the night from the Dream Girl herself; Aubrey. Aubrey is the main fictional character in Dream Girl that Gerry created. There is no record of these calls and he doesn’t know if he is dreaming it or not. Is he going crazy? Is dementia catching up to him?

This novel is a slow burn, psychological thriller, more than a horror story. I have not read any of Lippman’s other work so it was a treat going into this one blind. I was enthralled by the plot initially and was eager to get through the book to see how it unfolds. Unfortunately, I do think there were some details lacking in the plot. There are a bunch of flashbacks to Gerry’s past, which I thought would tie up in the end, but just ended up being random flashbacks. There were too many characters in this book that were a bit pointless in my opinion. The author’s writing was really nice to read, but there were a lot of references to classic films and books that just flew right over my head.

I felt like the ending was a bit rushed. I did enjoy the middle chunk of the book but was a bit disappointed by the ending.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book is set to be published on June 22, 2021.

I think it was Stephen King who once called Laura Lippman the closest thing the United States has to Ruth Rendell. I couldn't have said it better. Like Rendell, Lippman's stand-alone novels are penetrating psychological portraits with an emphasis on current social themes (in this case, the #Metoo movement). I couldn't put this book down after I got into it. The plot focuses on an aging writer, Gerry, whose most famous novel was published decades earlier. After several failed marriages and many romantic failures, he's now recovering from an accident that leaves him homebound. While he's groggy with Ambien, he receives a phone call from the fictional character who made him famous--the "dream girl" of the title.

The book flips between scenes from Gerry's past and present, providing the reader with the full scope of his life. The story is part homage to Stephen King's MISERY, but just as importantly, it's a book about writers and the literary sene of the past few decades. I loved hearing Gerry's (Lippman's) thoughts on Jonathan Frazen, Philip Roth, and other literary giants of the last fifty years. Readers of her Tess Monaghan series will also be happy to see a cameo from their favorite Baltimore detective.

This might be my favorite Laura Lippman book yet. Highly recommended. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest opinions.

After an accident leaves him bedridden, author Gerry Andersen begins receiving letters, phone calls and visits from a woman claiming to be Audrey - the central character from his most successful novel DREAM GIRL.  With a history of mental illness in his family, is Gerry beginning to lose his mind or is someone from his past out for blood?

I received an advanced copy from the publisher in exchange for a review.

While I’ve read a handful of novels by Laura Lippman, DREAM GIRL immediately jumped out to me after seeing a blurb from Megan Abbott where she said she devoured it in three days; labeling it “razor-sharp” and “enthralling”.

Let’s get this out of the way – I absolutely hated Gerry Andersen.  The guy is insufferable.  If he isn’t extolling the virtues of his own writing, he’s tearing down the work of others (dismissing the work of Chandler and Hammett) or lamenting the way the world has now turned into something he has a difficult time navigating given the ever-changing landscape of social justice.  It’s hard to find sympathy for Gerry at times; having to spend over three hundred pages with him can be grating.

But, that’s the point.  Lippman doesn’t want this guy to be likable.  Like she has Gerry say in the novel, “my characters are my characters… I think it’s somewhat naïve, as a reader, to talk about whether writers “like” their characters.  That’s not the point of what I’m doing.”

Gerry is a character that often tries to do well (despite his actual beliefs) and in doing so, believes himself to be without enemies.  However, as one character points out (and I’m paraphrasing here), if he thinks he got to where he is in life without fostering enemies, he’s out of his mind.  It’s the crux of the #metoo movement, which this book tackles, that powerful men often underestimate their power and how their actions can carry devastating effects for those who refuse to go along with them.

Despite its rather brief length, I found the story did take a while to get going.  Once it does though, it’s pretty hard to put it down.  And it has a hell of a twist at the end that I didn’t see coming even though I’m not sure how I missed it.  I knew a twist was coming, so maybe I was too busy trying to work out these insane scenarios in my head that in the end, were pretty laughable.

In the author’s note, Lippman said she had been inspired by Stephen King’s Misery as well as a desire to try her hand in the horror genre.  I will say that the Misery inspiration is hard to overlook for sure, as it almost feels more like an homage than anything.  While I’m not sure if this is one I would want to place in the horror section of a bookstore, it’s definitely a twisty psychological thriller.

DREAM GIRL is scheduled for release on July 01, 2021

This is clever and funny and satisfying. Unfortunately the main character is SO grotesque it's hard to read about him - that's a compliment to the author, but still, enter with care! If you've more than had your fill of mediocre white men alternating between patting themselves on the back for their genius, and wondering why their marriages don't work out, maybe avoid. Honestly, Laura Lippman must have felt nauseous the entire time she was writing this. I hope it was cathartic for her.

The way the mystery wraps up is a little silly, but I don't mind that at all. This is the first Lippman I've read, and having discovered that a minor character in it has a whole series of books to herself, I'll definitely be looking those up.

My thanks to Faber & Faber and NetGalley for the ARC.

"Dream Girl" is the story of once-famed writer Gerry Andersen who is confined to his bed after he takes a fall in his Baltimore apartment. What happens next is a fever dream of homage to some of the great literary works like Steven King's "Misery." Lippman is genius in her weaving of themes and storylines. While Gerry is in his drug-addled haze while recovering, the reader is going on a hazy journey through his past with him. Some parts did seem a little long, but it was a thrilling read that I couldn't put down with a delightfully twisted ending that readers will never see coming.

Did I enjoy reading from Gerry’s perspective? No. Was this a good book? Yes.

That about sums up my feelings about this book. Gerry is a deplorable man who thinks quite well of himself and that his enemies are few. He is a semi-successful author who earns plenty of royalties from his hit book Dream Girl to live comfortably.
When Gerry suffers a serious injury from an accident, he ends up on bed rest in his luxurious apartment and in the care of his assistant and nurse. While under a haze of pain medication, Gerry starts receiving phone calls from someone claiming to be the inspiration for the main character in Dream Girl. Which is impossible because he completely invented that character. Constantly in a dreamlike state and on his cocktail of pain meds Gerry begins to lose touch with reality thus becoming an unreliable narrator.

I did not enjoy being in Gerry’s head, but I also could not stop reading. He is a misogynist who believes he has almost no possible enemies except for, maybe, his three ex-wives and one recent ex-girlfriend. He has no idea who could possibly be impersonating his fictionalized heroine.

This book jumps around from the present time to key moments throughout Gerry’s life. The sections on his past may seem random, but by the end they all fit together to reveal a nauseating truth. The comparison to King’s Misery is definitely apt in this novel.

CW: sexual assault.

This is my first Laura Lippman book, but it will certainly not be my last!

Thanks to Faber and Faber and Netgalley for the digital ARC.

I enjoyed this book and author. Plenty of twists to keep you wanting to read. I will be picking up more by author. Very much enjoyed this book! Thanks to publisher and NetGalley for chance to read this ARC.

The story is told from the point of view of Gerry Andersen, a reasonably successful writer, who has moved from the hustle and bustle of New York to Baltimore for personal reasons. He suffers an accident and is bedbound for months isolated from his friends and family. This is when things start to go a bit strange… Gerry receives phone calls from a woman claiming to be the main character in his best selling novel and his secrets are threatened to be revealed. Although the premise of the story is rather unique, it is fairly predictable. Overall it is an enjoyable and interesting read.

I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. To be forthcoming, I requested this ARC and was turned down, but it became available as a read now, I grabbed it rather than wait for it from the library (release date 6/22/21). I've read all of Lippman's books. This book does echo Stephen King's Misery and the MeToo movement. I hate to give too much away.

Gerry Andersen is a fairly successful author who moved between New York and Baltimore throughout his 3 marriages and becoming his mother's caregiver when she had dementia. He becomes injured from a fall in his Locust Point condo in January 2019 and is bedbound for months while his assistant Victoria works there during the day and his night nurse Aileen comes at night. Lippman takes us through the events of his months long recuperation and the events of his previous life all jumbled up. There are clues, of course to pay attention towards but with Andersen's sole POV and rumblings it can be difficult, intentionally for the reader to focus on the red flags and herrings. The ending was a masterful conclusion, maybe I was eager to finish it but the character development was superb and the elements of horror were done well.

There should be content warnings for sexual assault and mistreatment with meds. Part of the reckoning of the MeToo movement is for men to be conscious and aware that their actions in the past have not been innocent, particularly understanding consent. These men who tell themselves they are good, but P.S. they did this that and the other thing so maybe they *aren't* Boy Scouts after all. That's probably the more uncomfortable topic for men. I was excited to see P.I. Tess Monaghan who had a brief part in the book and her reaction to Gerry Andersen, perhaps is most telling. This book wavers around a 3.5 /5 for me.

WOW what a great book. I never saw the twists coming. I could not solved the mystery on my own.
Gerry Anderson is a writer who has moved to Baltimore for family reasons. A series of events places him traction isolated away from friends. Someone begins calling late at night and threatening to share secrets from the past. Can he figure this out before it's too late?

I loved the set up - a mix of Misery and Rear Window, this thriller will keep you hooked. There is even a cameo from Tess Monagham! Gerry is incredibly unlikeable but Lippman's prose keeps you interested and engaged. Highly Recommend!

My thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for this book. Unfortunately my review is only for 16 percent of the story.

Gerry is an author who wrote a book, Dream Girl. He falls on a staircase and gets letters from Aubrey, his character in the book. Is she real? That's what Gerry wants to find out. I could not connect with the story flow. So much information crammed in with the running sentences. All information about the apartment he is in, his ex wives, authors name appearing in middle of the page(probably unedited copy), then right in the middle flashes of past events with the year in the middle of the page. Very slow build up. I felt like I had to force myself to continue which was my signal to move on. Plus it felt like elements of Misery.

I remember reading Laura Lippman the 1st time on summer vacation in high school, so her novels hold a bit of nostalgia for me. There were things I really like about this story, but sometimes these were also the things I disliked.

We are in the head of Gerry, an older writer who has seen some success in his career. His head is simultaneously an interesting place to be, and a maddening place to be with some of his opinions on the younger generations and everyone’s intellect but his own.

The classic and popular literature and film references were both fun and overdone. They are fun when you have seen/are familiar with the source material and understand the reference but not so much when you can’t immediately call to mind an actress from the 60’s and her entire filmography.

The plot itself was predictable but a good time seeing how it unfolds. You can definitely see where the story is going if you read that this is a Misery and Gaslight mashup before you start, but the journey is where the enjoyment is with this one.

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest opinion. Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher!

Well, this is certainly very different from the other Lippman I'd previously read (Lady in the Lake) - the author herself namechecks King's Misery and Roth's Zuckerman Unbound, and it also reminded me of those literary game-playing mysteries like Magpie Murders. I'd say this is slow to get going and it takes a good percentage of the book before we reach the end of the blurb, and it's definitely plot-driven with a lot of women weaving in and out. The ending is one where I suspect readers will either throw the book at the wall, or grin manically - I'm in the latter category!

Laura Lippman, Dream Girl, First Published in the UK, Faber & Faber Ltd 2021, First Published USA, William Morris, Harper Collins 2021, CPI Group (UK) 2021.

Thank you, Net Galley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof in exchange for an honest review.

Tess Monaghan PI, one of Laura Lippman’s continuing characters, makes only a short appearance in this novel. However, her interaction with the main character, Gerry Anderson, is instructive. It tells the reader something about Tess Monaghan as well as much of Gerry’s story that good PI that she is, Monaghan has investigated. Gerry has done nothing to apprise himself of her ability – the person he wants to employ to enquire into mysterious phone calls from a woman purporting to be the Dream Girl of his successful novel. Gerry’s knowledge of Tess is limited to an interview with her in a magazine, when his immediate reaction to her photograph was that she was ‘not his type’. Although ‘it had not occurred to him that she could turn him down’ she does so and leaves the novel. Her explanation for refusing his request is his lack of self-awareness which would undermine any examination of events and their cause. This is a clever use of Tess Monaghan, although potentially disappointing for her fans. However, the value of her short commentary should not be underestimated. A clever move by Lippman.

There are some Misery (Stephen King) like aspects of the work, referred to by Lippman in an afterword. I also thought about the phone calls to elderly people in Muriel Sparkes’ Memento Mori and their impact on their recipients. Gerry’s fear, confusion, apathy, and self-delusion are fed by letters that appear temporarily, the phone calls that are heard by no one else, and leave no evidence of having been received, possible sightings of strange events and non-existent visitors during the night. Gerry’s dependence on painkillers given to him by his overnight nurse, Aileen, his entrapment at the top of his apartment in an unwieldly metal hospital bed, his inability to write another novel, and reliance on self-aggrandisement through memories of his professional and personal past increase his distress.

Gerry’s story creates some comic moments as well as apprehension; sympathy vies with uncertainty, and at times dismay, at Gerry’s self-regard. The relationship with Margot, a former lover is well written, encouraging the reader to adopt Gerry’s interpretation of the difficulties the relationship has imposed upon him. Similarly, his relationships with Aileen, his nurse; Victoria, his new assistant; and Phylloh, the receptionist at his apartment; his agent and friends, while raising some questions, are almost effortlessly seen from Gerry’s perspective. Even knowing that other protagonists might well have a point of view that differs from Gerry’s, it is hard to get past Gerry’s own interpretation of his life and relationships. In many ways he is a really engaging character, with his literary and cultural asides; the story of his parents and their relationship with each other and him; his professional writing experiences and humorous (and yet, on reflection are they really?), commentaries on life and personalities. The reader is not made directly cognisant of any alternative perceptions until the end of the book, although there are abundant, but subtle clues throughout.

Laura Lippman has cleverly demonstrated the way in which, even with the clearest of signposts, a reader can be so drawn into a character’s life it is difficult to extricate themselves from the main protagonist’s point of view. As a mystery that has a logical and appealing solution the novel works well. As a feminist investigation, if the reader is so disposed to read it that way, the novel works very well. To be able to draw a reader into an account of what is, on reflection, the life of a misogynist, without immediately calling him to task, is a very clever feat. I was disposed to read this novel as a mystery, with an absorbing feminist intent, and found it a satisfying read.

More like 2.5 stars. I would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. I have always enjoyed the author's books and look forward to each new one unfortunately for this one, that was not the case, I couldn't get into it at all.

I absolutely devoured this literary delight from Laura Lippman, the story is incredibly haunting, a little creepy which really added to the ambience of the read.

It's a twisted tale told in a noir horror style, the characters pop and it is beautifully unpredictable with a thought provoking kick ass ending.

Easily one of the best books I've read this year.

Gerry Anderson wouldn't win an award for author of the year. Divorced three times and fleeing a girlfriend in NY, none of his relationships seem to end well. He has sold his NY apartment and moved back to Baltimore to be closer to his dying mother. The ink is barely dry on his new place when she dies, and now the question is, what will he do with the rest of his life.
He has few friends, few interests, a steady stream of income from his books, and apparently, he is just an all-around great guy. The universe has a way though of showing its disdain for his shallow and often hurtful life. Gerry, you see is the most unreliable of unreliable narrators.
An accident leaves him bedridden with only his personal assistant and night nurse to care for him. Soon strange things start happening. He receives disturbing phone calls from a fictional character in one of his books. Is he hallucinating from his medication, losing his mind, or has someone decided to make Gerry pay for his past actions?
When he wakes up one morning to a dead body on the floor, he is about to find out if he is dreaming or if his life has become a nightmare. The timeline often shifts from the present to events that occurred in his past. We learn more about him and much of it is quite disturbing. How he sees himself is a far cry from the truth. His accident may wind up being the worst mistake of his life.
This was a hard one to figure out until some major information was shared. If you love Laura Lippman's earlier books, you will appreciate it when a favorite character of mine, briefly makes an appearance. To me, this was part horror, part psychological thriller, part revenge, and ultimately the undoing of an odious man. Dream Girl was hard to put aside and I really enjoyed it.

Laura Lippman, you’ve done it again! I loved this biting satirical mystery about an aging writer with a warped sense of self-perception and entitlement, especially where women are concerned.

Everyone already knows that Laura Lippmann
Is one of the best writers working in the mystery genre today, and her prose really shone here. “Dream Girl” is the name of the book, and is also the name of the novel our irascible and unlikable protagonist (?) Gerry wrote back in 2001. Dream Girl was Gerry’s one shining success that made him a literary wunderkind at the time, And accordingly, Gerry appears to still be living in some version of the past, but maybe more like the 1980s, when popular male writers were treated like rock stars and revered for bad behavior. Gerry still thinks that’s how life is, as evidenced also by things like his old-timer’s proclivity for handwritten checks in lieu of EFTs and his even more ancient belief that all women are best and most fulfilled while serving him.

Lippman really does a masterful job of showing how myopic Gerry is about himself. When Gerry begins to get cryptic letters from a woman in his past, he simply can’t IMAGINE who they might be from. He can’t think of any woman he’s ever wronged! Despite the fact that he has three ex-wives, some 30 “one night stands,” and numerous female students he clearly objectified. In fact, it becomes clear that Gerry objectified all women, from the “nurse” who helps him while he’s confined to bed with an injury, to his ex-girlfriend, to his former wives and students. It takes awhile for the murders to start happening, but the reader will be less shocked that Gerry about them.

I’m not sure how Lippman makes this awful man so much fun to read about. But I think much is due to her deadpan wit, superior writing, and self-awareness (while Gerry has none). In addition to being a very fun read, this book also has some things to say about how Gerry’s sort of men view women and how their views have stayed static as society changes. On a deeper level, the book asks interesting questions about an author’s relationship to his or her subjects and inspirations. So I loved this book as both a feminist and a fan of fiction.

The book starts off a little slow establishing characters and plot, but I didn’t mind at all because the writing was so wonderful. I think readers will find the beginning either slow or engrossing depending on their enjoyment of her writing style, particularly the satirical edge, which I loved. When I got to the fantastic end, I was extremely impressed at how Lippman was able to pull off something so clever, so symbolic, and so entertaining on its face.

“Dream Girl” solidifies Laura Lippman’s place as one of our most literary modern mystery writers. I really look forward to delving more deeply into my unread books in her backlist, because this book reminded me why I love her writing so much. 4.5⭐️

Thanks to Faber and Faber, NetGalley, and the author for this wonderful ARC.