Dream Girl

A Novel

By: Laura Lippman

Narrated by: Jason Culp

Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

“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 best seller 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.

In the end, has anyone really led a blameless life?

Injured in a freak fall, novelist Gerry Andersen is confined to a hospital bed in his glamorous high-rise apartment, dependent on two women he barely knows: his incurious young assistant, and a dull, slow-witted night nurse.

Then late one night, the phone rings. The caller claims to be the “real” Aubrey, the alluring title character from his most successful novel, Dream Girl. But there is no real Aubrey. She’s a figment born of a writer’s imagination, despite what many believe or claim to know. 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 a dreamlike state in which he is haunted by his own past: his faithless father, his devoted mother; the women who loved him, the women he loved.

And now here is Aubrey, threatening to visit him, suggesting that she is owed something. Is the threat real or is it a sign of dementia? Which scenario would he prefer? Gerry has never been so alone, so confused - and so terrified.

Chilling and thoroughly enjoyable, touching on timely issues that include power, agency, appropriation, and creation, Dream Girl is a superb blend of psychological suspense and horror that reveals the mind and soul of a writer.

©2021 Laura Lippman (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

Held my interest continuously

Good narration, excellent plot, and the writing was creative and interesting throuout the story.

Enjoyable

This book kept me guessing and also had me laugh out loud a few times. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's like a combination of "The plot" and "Misery" is the best way I can describe it.

Verbose and slow

I was exhausted listening to the main character's inner monolog. it took too long for the book to get interesting and then it was over.

Dream Girl

loved the story line and the twist at the end had me surprised. Thank you!!

If triggered by #metoo don't do it

This didn't seem like a Lippmann book to me. If you can't take listening to an unremorseful man talk about his conquest and divorces, this is not the book for you. I could not finish, so maybe it works out in the end???

disappointed

Unlike most Laura Lippman books, I struggled to finish this one. Not a favorite.

Another hit from Laura Lippman!

Laura Lippman never disappoints! This was thrilling and very interesting! Even makes you laugh at times! Reminiscent of Misery by Stephen King!

Excellent Narrator

EXCELLENT NARRATOR

Narrator was perfect at playing Gerry. Story kept me interested and is funny as well as suspenseful.

Average

I bought this on the recommendation of our Newspaper. Very confusing story and reminded me of “Misery”. Different but had trouble finishing it.

Not my favorite Laura Lippman

The main character was so unlikable, in fact, except for the mom, all the characters were awful people. it was in no way a pleasure to read. Contained multiple, ugly, vulgar sex scenes. Very macabre. Even
though none of the sex involved minors, Jeffery Epstein kept coming to my mind. I loved that Tess Monaghan made a cameo appearance, but even she. it turned out, wanted nothing to do with this morbid tale.