Today I am sharing my review of GHOSTWRITER, a new stand-alone crime fiction by the brilliant Stewart Giles.
Format – Kindle
Publisher – STILL Books
Publication Date – 30th November 2021
Genre – Crime thriller, mystery and suspense
Author – Stewart Giles
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The Ghostwriter
Never take anything for granted. No matter how great things seem – it can all shatter in an instant.
Matt Gardner has a decent life. He has a good job, a fiancé who adores him and he’s recently found out he’s going to be a father. Everything is perfect and the future looks bright.
But then strange things start happening – someone has got into his social media accounts and is causing havoc with Matt’s family and friends.
What starts off as a minor nuisance escalates into something much more sinister and Matt soon realises that some invisible, malevolent force is hell-bent on destroying him. Some kind of Ghostwriter is dictating the course of his life – composing his autobiography without his input, and he finds himself powerless to stop it.
When an incident with a fifteen-year-old girl attracts the attention of the Police, Matt’s whole life is thrown into the stuff of nightmares and one by one his family and friends start to doubt him. He finds himself alone and only when this Ghostwriter ups his game and hints on what this is all about does Matt realise the true horror of his situation.
All of this has its roots thirty years earlier when Matt was witness to something despicable. It was something he’d put out of his mind, and something he thought was over, but this Ghostwriter somehow knows what really happened and is determined to make Matt remember in the worst possible way.
What readers are saying about Ghostwriter:
An absolute masterpiece of psychological suspense. It’s a read that will stay with me for some time. It’s My Book of the Year!!! – Carol Stone
Just finished reading and all I can say is wow! Stewart has hidden talents. I read this in one sitting .. couldn’t / wouldn’t put it down for anything. – Linda Strong book reviews
It was a fascinating concept and I ended up reading it in a day. – Maureen
A brilliant stand alone book is all I’m going to say. I loved reading the whole story this author has once again not let me down with this book, readers will love it – Booklover Bev
There are twists and turns and I couldn’t work out who the ghost writer was. A very clever, well thought out premise and one that kept me turning the pages rapidly. – Misfits Farm
Review
A stand alone from one of my favourite authors, Stewart Giles. I love Stewarts books but this one is totally different and wow what a read. This book is so stunningly realistic it is something that could (and maybe has) happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere.
Having survived a double tragedy in his teens Matt now has a good life. He is working as a Maths teacher at the local comprehensive and is about to be promoted to Head of Department. He is living with his fiance who is expecting their first baby. Yes life is good!. The only fly in the ointment is someone trying to hack into his Social Media accounts.
When the hacker ups his or her game Matt finds his life falling apart around him. But who has her upset enough for them to want to wreck his life?
Matt finds himself trying to limit the damage caused while trying to hang on to his life and hopes for the future.
The twists and turns start at the very beginning and continue all the way through the book as the reader follows 2 story lines, one from 1987 when Matt was a teenager and the other the present day as events from 1987 have a direct impact on the present day. Many red herrings add to the suspense and the ending is explosive, shocking and definitely one I didn’t envisage.
Absolutely brilliant read and very skilfully written as the author manages to develop the characters very well given this is a stand alone thriller.
5 stars from me.
STEWART GILES
After reading English at 3 Universities and graduating from none of them, I set off travelling around the world with my wife, Ann, finally settling in South Africa, where we still live.
In 2014 Ann dropped a rather large speaker on my head and I came up with the idea for a detective series. DS Jason Smith was born. Smith, the first in the series was finished a few months later.
3 years and 8 DS Smith books later, Joffe Books wondered if I would be interested in working with them. As a self-published author, I agreed. However, we decided on a new series – the DC Harriet Taylor: Cornwall series.
The Beekeeper was published and soon hit the number one spot in Australia. The second in the series, The Perfect Murder did just as well.
I continued to self-publish the Smith series and Unworthy hit the shelves in 2018 with amazing results. I therefore made the decision to self-publish The Backpacker which is book 3 in the Detective Harriet Taylor series which was published in July 2018.
After The Backpacker I had an idea for a totally new start to a series – a collaboration between the Smith and Harriet thrillers and The Enigma was born. It brought together the broody, enigmatic Jason Smith and the more level-headed Harriet Taylor.
The Miranda trilogy is something totally different. A psychological thriller trilogy. It is a real departure from anything else I’ve written before.
The Detective Jason Smith series continues to grow with book 16 recently published. The first 5 books in the Detective Liam O’Reilly series are now available.
Website: www.stewartgiles.com
Twitter: @stewartgiles
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stewart.giles.33
BOOKS BY STEWART GILES
DS JASON SMITH SERIES
Book 0.5 – Phobia
Book 1 – Smith
Book 2 – Boomerang
Book 3 – Ladybird
Book 4 – Occam’s Razor
Book 5 – Harlequin
Book 6 – Selene
Book 7 – Horsemen
Book 8 – Unworthy
Book 9 – Venom
Book 10 – Severed
Book 11 – Demons
Book 12 – Deadeye
Book 13 – Motive
Book 14 – Australia
Book 16 – Wishbone
DI O’REILLY MYSTERIES
Book 1 – Blood on the Island
Book 2 – Lies on the Island
Book 3 – Fear on the Island
Book 4 – Malice on the Island
Book 5 – Revenge on the Island
Book 6 – Christmas on the Island
DC HARRIET TAYLOR SERIES
Book 1-The Beekeeper
Book 2-The Perfect Murder
Book 3-The Backpacker
Trotterdown a box set of DC Harriet Taylor books 1-3
DS JASON SMITH &DC HARRIET TAYLOR SERIES
Book 1 – The Enigma
Book 2 – Dropzone
Book 3 – The Raven Girl
Trilogy: The DS Smith & Harriet Taylor box set
THE MIRANDA TRILOGY (psychological thrillers)
Miranda
Mistress
Medusa
STANDALONE HORROR
The Divide
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