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A review by emilyrainsford
The Fiction Writer by Jillian Cantor
challenging
mysterious
tense
4.0
The Fiction Writer is a suspenseful story about a failing fiction author who gets offered good money for a mysterious ghostwriting job for a rich and enigmatic man who lives in a fancy house in Malibu. He wants her to write a book about a family secret involving his grandmother and Daphne du Maurier (author of the classic "Rebecca").
But he's weirdly unforthcoming about the details of the project and Olivia soon finds herself caught up in a tangled web of secrets and lies...
I enjoyed this book! I have never read Rebecca so I didn't have any previous expectations or hang ups in that regard. It's definitely not a thriller (I feel like the cover looks a bit thriller-ish?), more of a suspenseful drama, but it was engaging, intriguing and easy to zip through. I perhaps would have liked a little more excitement at the end, but that might have been a case of my expectations being a bit off.
There is a "book excerpt" motif used throughout that I thought was really well done. It reveals one of the twists in a way that I thought was really clever and managed to take me by surprise (no easy feat at this point of my reading journey tbh).
There's definitely a few points where you don't know who or what to believe, and the weird atmosphere with the rich guy in his big house sets you delightfully on edge.
I would definitely check out more of this author's books. I thought this was an enjoyable read and would make a great vacation or book club pick.
But he's weirdly unforthcoming about the details of the project and Olivia soon finds herself caught up in a tangled web of secrets and lies...
I enjoyed this book! I have never read Rebecca so I didn't have any previous expectations or hang ups in that regard. It's definitely not a thriller (I feel like the cover looks a bit thriller-ish?), more of a suspenseful drama, but it was engaging, intriguing and easy to zip through. I perhaps would have liked a little more excitement at the end, but that might have been a case of my expectations being a bit off.
There is a "book excerpt" motif used throughout that I thought was really well done. It reveals one of the twists in a way that I thought was really clever and managed to take me by surprise (no easy feat at this point of my reading journey tbh).
There's definitely a few points where you don't know who or what to believe, and the weird atmosphere with the rich guy in his big house sets you delightfully on edge.
I would definitely check out more of this author's books. I thought this was an enjoyable read and would make a great vacation or book club pick.