Ghostwriter by Travis Thrasher

Reviewed by Laura Goodwin

Dennis Shore is a horror and mystery thriller author who is recently widowed and has a daughter who attends school out of state. In the past, Dennis has had some not so desirable fan/stalker run-ins. After the loss of his wife to cancer, the author has a severe case of writers block. In part due to his grief and maybe exhaustion and lack of sleep, he finds a manuscript that a fan had sent him to get his opinion on. He decides to use this as his own writing and publish a novel, Empty Spaces, and taking full credit for the work.

While at a book signing, Dennis is greeted by the author of his stolen work, a man named Cillian Reed. Cillian toys and badgers the author at first, and Dennis knows he should not have stolen his work. As the novel progresses, so do Cillian’s threats and actions. In turn, this makes Dennis question his own sanity thru the grief process. At one point in the book, Dennis comes home to find his own pages from his novel ripped up and soaked with blood writings strewn all about his yard. Cillian eventually takes his threats to the people closest to Dennis, his friend Hank and his own daughter, Audrey. Filled with this new sense of rage and vigilantism, Dennis goes after Cillian and beats him up.

The reader is introduced to a sinister man named Bob who lives next door to Dennis and is even more evil than Cillian. Almost like the devil himself, the reader learns that Bob is the one who had killed Cillian. Towards the end of the novel, Bob abducts Dennis and has him tied up to a chair in his barn. As Dennis is so close to death, he catches a glimpse of heaven and sees his wife Lucy. Hank comes to Dennis rescue and saves his life, killing Bob in the process.

Dennis finally makes his peace with the loss of his wife and is able to overcome his writers block and starts on his next novel, Us and Them. This idea actually came from a package his wife had sent and he uses this inspiration for his next novel. In the end, the reader is glad to see that Dennis has grown stronger and is able to overcome his hardships.

I highly recommend this book; it was well written and was full of suspense. I like how the author breaks it down into five sections, each titled words from a Pink Floyd song. The references to God, good and evil are excellent making his novel better than any Steven King one. Once you start reading it, it is hard to put down! This book is definitely geared towards the fans of the thriller/supernatural genre.