Dream girl : a novel / Laura Lippman.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

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.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Gerry Andersen, a successful novelist, is laid up in his Baltimore condo following a nearly fatal fall from his floating staircase. Gerry's only contacts are his nurse/caregiver, his personal assistant, and a most unwelcome recent girlfriend who gains access by claiming to be Gerry's wife. The doctor who is monitoring his progress in transitioning to a wheelchair is Gerry's only other occasional visitor. Gerry has a cordless phone though, and, out of the blue, gets a call from someone claiming to be Aubrey, the fictitious "Dream Girl" from his award-winning novel. Later, there's no trace of the call in his landline's memory. Did he actually get the call or did he imagine it? Repeated untraceable calls begin to make Gerry question his sanity. What if his character somehow came to life to settle her differences with her author? Jason Culp's narration effectively conveys Gerry's inner turmoil and characterizes folks in flashbacks from Gerry's despicable past. VERDICT Lippman's (Lady in the Lake) fans will want to have this audio alternative. Is it a great psychological mystery, or a long, contrived journey to Gerry's demise? Lots of humorous literary allusions make it a writer's book. Recommended.--Cliff Glaviano, formerly at Bowling Green State Univ. Libs., OH

Publishers Weekly Review

Successful novelist Gerry Andersen, the protagonist of this delicious literary thriller from Edgar winner Lippman (Lady in the Lake), has moved to Baltimore from New York to be near his ailing mother. He has barely settled into his duplex penthouse when his mother dies. While mulling over his agent's suggestion that he write a memoir and trying to overcome the rising fear that he'll never write again, Gerry slips and falls down his dangerous (but artistically designed) staircase. His injuries are severe, and he's confined to bed and cared for by round-the-clock nurses. Befuddled by painkillers, Gerry's mind drifts back over episodes in his life: his childhood, the highs and lows of his three marriages, his book tours and teaching jobs. One night, he receives a phone call from a woman claiming to be Aubrey, a character in his first--and still royalty-producing--novel, Dream Girl. The calls persist, as do shadowy nighttime appearances of a woman. He scrambles to separate truth from possible hallucinations until the morning he awakes to find a woman undeniably dead in his bed. Perceptive, often amusing insights into a writer's mind make this a standout. Lippman is in top form for this enticingly witty, multilayered guessing game. Agent: Vicky Bijur, Vicky Bijur Literary. (June)

Booklist Review

Just as Lippman's Sunburn (2018) offered a kind of homage to James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice, so her latest stand-alone pays respect to Stephen King's Misery. Gerry Andersen, a best-selling novelist, is bedridden in his Baltimore penthouse after a freakish fall, tended by an assistant and a night nurse. Then the phone calls and letters start, purportedly from a fictional character, Aubrey, the heroine of Gerry's breakthrough novel, Dream Girl, who claims she will expose how he stole her story without attribution. Knowing that Aubrey was a product of his imagination, Gerry is first baffled then panicked by this intrusion into his life, especially as there are no records of the phone calls. Has Gerry imagined the whole thing? Lippman brilliantly moves back and forth in time, gradually building the narcissistic Gerry into a confoundingly complex character, both repellent and vulnerable, a man whose ill treatment of the multiple women in his life suggests numerous possibilities for the person behind the newly arisen Aubrey. But don't expect to figure this one out; Lippman never stops twisting the plot into a deliciously intricate pretzel, right up to the jaw-dropping finale. This is both a beguiling look at the mysteries of authorship and a powerful #MeToo novel, but that's only the tip of a devilishly jagged iceberg that asks us to look very deeply into the hearts of its multidimensional characters. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Expect Lippman's latest to be among this summer's biggest novels, aided by massive social-media outreach.

Kirkus Book Review

An injured literary lion is held captive in his waterfront Baltimore condo. There's a moment in Lippman's latest novel when her delightful series detective, Tess Monaghan, walks into the room and, for a moment, it seems everything could be all right. Unfortunately, it's just a cameo, and we're soon back with our uninspiring cast of three: novelist Gerry Andersen, who's had a debilitating fall, and the two women taking care of him, personal assistant Victoria and night nurse Aileen. At 61, Andersen has never repeated the success of his prizewinning bestseller, Dream Girl, and it's been quite a while since he wrote anything at all. He moved to Baltimore to take care of his mother in her last days, but even after her unexpectedly speedy death, he didn't return to New York, where the last of his many bad decisions involving women is waiting to shake him down for whatever she can get. This ploy doesn't work, and the woman shows up in Baltimore. Even more distressing, Gerry gets a phone call from a woman claiming to be the inspiration for Dream Girl, only, as he's told everyone for years, there is no real person who played that role. All the while, no matter what happens, Andersen's mind generates a literary or cultural connection, from Pete Townshend's solo album to Ben Jonson's plays to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Some are explained, some aren't, so the reader sometimes feels as stupid as Gerry thinks everyone is. It's too bad this book has to be compared to Misery, because despite similarities in setup, it's no Misery. All the reveals come after you have figured them out; the murders are played for camp. The most gaspworthy moment in the book comes in the author's note: "If you want to play the game of figuring out who Gerry Andersen is, check out the author photo on this book." No! It can't be. In her 25th novel, Lippman messes up a near-perfect batting average. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.