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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
Amateur Sleuth Suspense Psychological
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What listeners say about Dream Girl

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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  • Tawny
  • 2021-06-23

You might like it. I didn’t.

What a disappointment.

For starters, the cover, the story and the narrator just don’t match up. The horrendous female impersonations are just... wow😳. I’m gonna say that the narration alone is a strike against any feminine movement... every woman sounds like an unhappy 60 year old nagging smoker who has brought nothing to the table ever.

Then of course we have the now expected political throat ram. “I can’t understand how educated, successful people like me would be upset about Barack as president. Do people really make decisions because of race alone?” C’mon now. REPUBLICANS WANT REPUBLICANS TO WIN. DEMOCRATS WANT DEMOCRATS TO WIN. There are racists in world. But why the continued insistence that a MAJORITY of the world is racist. What exactly are we accomplishing with this non-stop insertion/ assertion? Wanna hear about “white privilege”, because, well, why not? This book covers that too, obviously 🙄.

If you’re liberal, or not tired of being called a racist or privileged jerk, this book is for you 😀.

7 people found this helpful

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  • Gretchen
  • 2021-06-24

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.

5 people found this helpful

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  • Doris
  • 2021-06-23

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???

3 people found this helpful

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  • Yvette
  • 2021-06-24

Dream Girl

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

2 people found this helpful

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  • Marjroy J. Greenhalgh
  • 2021-07-06

Not Good

The narration is awful. It took me awhile to get beyond the narration. The way he makes women’s voices sound is terrible.
The main character is a misogynist. I’ve never read/listened to any other book by Lippman and had waited for this book to come out but I’d skip it.

1 person found this helpful

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  • Bernadette Fiege
  • 2021-08-30

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!

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  • Mary P.
  • 2021-08-05

disappointed

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

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  • Wilma
  • 2021-08-04

interesting

I think some parts should have come across as much creepier. the narrator served very glibb about these sections. but the story is interesting. ending was unexpected

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  • mritech
  • 2021-07-30

Average

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

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  • Anonymous User
  • 2021-07-07

Disappointed

I genuinely love most novels I’ve read by Laura Lippman but I found this novel disappointing. It was drawn out and somewhat predictable. The surprise ending didn’t pack much impact because I just wanted it to end.