Dream Girl

In this horror-tinged thriller, Laura Lippman tells the story of an author who is stuck in a hospital bed in his exclusive Baltimore apartment, being cared for by a night nurse and his assistant, who begins receiving calls from a woman who claims to be the main character in his best known book. As she insists that he owes her, he wonders which of the many women in his life might have wanted to do him harm, but he's always been such a nice guy, in his own estimation.

This novel takes the thriller into a darker place. Gerry is both attempting an honest evaluation of his own life and an unreliable narrator of his own experiences. As he thinks back over his life, there's more than a little self-justification and complaints about the show more over-sensitivity of women. But someone is out to get Gerry and figuring out who that is might be his only chance to save his own life.

This book is a bit of a departure for Lippman, who has been moving towards more depth in her popular crime novels. I appreciate that she's always improving her craft, but while I enjoyed this one, it's not my favorite. show less

Lippman is brilliant and scary. How can any reader not love all the variations on writers and modern fiction? I am always on about novels in which no one ever reads, or in which someone is a reader but isn't shown reading, or talking about books. This is just marvelously book-rich.

And Gerry Anderson feels at once archetypal and plausibly real. Not that I imagine he is based on a real person, but we've all encountered goys who resemble him in various ways. He is such a mediocre sort of guy, and also so defensive, and horrible, and clueless.

Highly recommended to just about everyone for the sheer readerly fandom, but also because Lippman is so great at creating expectations and fulfilling them in unexpected ways. Just the thing if one is show more looking for a riff on classic crime novel themes, writer themes, horror themes, or a combination thereof for Halloween.

Library copy show less

A bed-ridden author’s life unravels in Laura Lippman’s “Dream Girl”

Famous author Gerry Andersen’s life has been filled with missteps, but none greater than his purchase of a glamorous Baltimore apartment. The dutiful son, Gerry has recently returned to Baltimore to care for his ailing mother. When she unexpectedly dies, Gerry faces the dilemma of whether to sell the apartment and return to New York City, or remain in the place that spawned his best selling novel, “Dream Girl.”
Fate decides for him when Gerry tumbles down his floating staircase, breaks his tailbone and is indefinitely confined to a hospital bed. For the first time in his life, Gerry’s life spins out of control. He becomes isolated from his friends, his show more agent and the literary world. He becomes dependent upon his apathetic assistant and his disinterested night nurse, and Gerry becomes imprisoned in a dream world fueled by painkillers and the paranoia of an inherited early onset dementia.
The plot thickens when Aubrey, the protagonist in “Dream Girl” comes to life. A woman claiming to be the “real” Aubrey calls him, writes him letters, and provocatively tweets about him. Are these communications real or is he going crazy?
The Aubrey mystery is the tip of Gerry’s iceberg. After a tragedy occurs in his apartment, he really doesn’t know what to think. Is he the perpetrator or a pawn in a “gas lighting” scheme?
Through flashbacks, Gerry exposes the good, the bad and the ugly of 60 years, as he grapples to understand the current circumstances. He relives his father’s abandonment, and his lifelong devotion to his beautiful mother. He revisits his college friendships, which blossomed along with his writing talents and his winning the prestigious Hartwell Prize. And he dissects his three marriages to smart, beautiful women, which occurred during critical stages of his mercurial literary career. Mostly, he remained faithful to his wives and lovers, in spirit if not in body. Convinced that these women bore him no ill will, he still wonders whether a former friend, acquaintance, lover or wife could be instigating the Aubrey pranks.
No aspect of his life is exempt from his obsessive search for Aubrey. He exams his successful career for potential enemies, all the while believing he has been the model of civility, professionalism and sexual equality. But the reader realizes he has been fooling himself.
The snapshots of Gerry’s existence reveal a man so egotistical he has been clueless to the emotions and needs of others. Despite his protestations, his views of women, politics and sexuality are archaic and inappropriate. Seducing, controlling and objectifying women have been motivators throughout Gerry’s life, and it is ironic that his assistant and caregiver become his gatekeepers when tighten their grip on him.
Despite the money, awards and fame, Gerry finds himself alone. There is no one to help him discover the truth about who is taunting him or why, or to save him.
In “Dream Girl,” Lippman has drawn a character study of man who is clearly the product of his past, and relates to the world through the lens of the cultural milestones-books, television shows and movies-of his time. Gerry Andersen is a dinosaur, stuck in the glory days of his literary triumphs and unable to navigate the rapidly changing world.
As I read “Dream Girl,” Stephen King’s chilling “Misery” and Fellini’s masterpiece film “8 ½” were brought to mind. In the former, a famous writer is held captive by his number-one female fan after an accident. In the latter, an author reflects on his relationships with the women who shaped him. Each of these works addresses the theme of assuming responsibility for one’s actions. Like Gerry, these male protagonists failed to accept blame for the injury they caused, and paid the price for their chauvinism.
Lippman’s “Dream Girl” is a psychological thriller focusing upon the moments in a life. Each event has an intermediate implication, and a long-term impact, upon each successive event. Stitched together, they comprise a patchwork quilt of one’s life. Through Gerry’s flashbacks, Lippman drops breadcrumbs, enticing the reader along the path to the “Aha!” moment, long before Gerry arrives there.
As a writer, Gerry Andersen took pride in devising the plot, the climax and the ending in his novels. And keeping the identity of his “Dream Girl” secret. In Lippman’s “Dream Girl,” she has woven a complicated web of deception, hubris, power and sexual politics, with a fitting, and surprising, conclusion to Gerry’s story and legacy. show less

The novel is in the most part, the inner ramblings of the central character, a novelist caught up in one or two or possibly three murders. Gerry Anderson is 61 and is confused at the turn the sexual revolution of his youth has taken. “In his aging body and his aging mind can he allow himself the thoughts and metaphors and pronouns that were permissible when he was young? Is that so much to ask?” he asks.

Had the novel been more about Gerry and less convoluted in plot, it would have been an amusing satire of life post #metoo.

The first two thirds of Dream Girl were suspenseful, but the whole plot became too confusing toward the end. I can understand why Lippman chose the ending as it fitted the premise of the novel, but to explain this show more would be a spoiler.

I did enjoy the sly references to other novelists, and the cynical comments by the MC, on political correctness, cancelling and #metoo. Lippman’s wit saves this novel, and I have to admit I was sucked in by the plot, at least for a while. show less

Today is release day for Laura Lippman's latest novel - Dream Girl.

Here's the premise....."After being injured in a freak accident, novelist Gerry Andersen lies in a hospital bed in his glamorous but sterile apartment, isolated from the busy world he can see through his windows, utterly dependent on two women he barely knows: his young assistant and a night nurse whose competency he questions." There are so many possibilities in this plot!

I don't want to spoil the details for you, but let me say that Misery and Gaslight sprang to mind as I started listening. But Lippman puts her own spin on things as the book progresses, with a nice gotcha at the end.

Dream Girls is fully stocked in unlikable characters. I found Gerry to be a pompous, show more self inflated lout who is quite sure in his own mind that he is not. He's been married many times and is also quite sure he has been a more than adequate lover to many along the way. The two young women he has hired are Victoria, the personal assistant and Aileen the night nurse. Victoria seems passable, but his hiring of Aileen had me questioning his competency. Which of course, is part of the plot....

As always, Lippman's writing is clever and I quite enjoyed the dark, satiric humor she ascribes to Gerry's inner dialogue. Lippman slowly builds the tension with every new turn in the story. And we explore Gerry's life through his past memories and present predicament.

And....Tess Monaghan makes a cameo appearance! I miss her...sigh....

I chose to listen to Dream Girl. The reader was Jason Culp and he was the perfect choice for this tale. His voice has a lovely gravelly undertone that's quite pleasant. He enunciates well and is easy to understand. Culp's voice suited the age of the character and cemented my mental image of Gerry. He speaks at just right speed, allowing the listener to fully appreciate every word. He captures and projects that dark humor so well with his voice. Different voices used for the the supporting cast. And this was the perfect book to listen to, rather than read, for me. show less

Lippman is venturing into a different territory here. I labeled it "fiction" because I didn't think it is a mystery, but in fact there is a mystery in it. More, though, is the element of horror that creeps in.

Gerry Andersen is a writer who is laid up because of a bad injury. He can't get up and move around because he is confined to a hospital bed and his leg is strung up in knots. To help him get through the many weeks of recovery, he has hired a nurse and an assistant.

Years ago Gerry wrote a best seller called Dream Girl. The star of that book was Aubrey, a nuanced, complex woman. While he is laid up he starts to hear from "Aubrey" - telephone calls, notes. But he can't figure out who is doing this to him. "Aubrey" insists that the show more fictional woman is based on a real person but Gerry insists that she is entirely fictional.

These odd intrusions on his life, which are hard to prove even happened, do start to make Gerry wonder if he's imagining it all. But he's sure, he's sure his mind is intact. Meanwhile he meets with people, he talks to his assistant and nurse, and he thinks. We discover that he doesn't tell the entire truth about his life, but it appears that he is lying to himself as much as to the rest of us.

The solution to this odd mystery leads to no relief, but instead greater frustration and anxiety for Gerry. And plenty for me as well.

****spoiler alert*****
Don't read until you've read the book...

I picked up quickly the similarities to Misery by Stephen King, and at the end Lippmen mentions this inspiration as well. The book has at least as much suspense and slow-building horror to it as that classic. I don't think I will soon forget it.

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Read again. My thoughts on the second reading:

I was surprised to find Laura Lippman in the book bin at Winco, especially a novel I had not read before. (I thought I had not read it before but now I see that I had!) I think I have read all of her other books. She is clearly a favorite of mine.

This one is quite an interesting psychological thriller, if I can use "thriller" for a story that keeps one guessing. No wild and crazy shootouts, nothing like that (fortunately). The book crept up on me. I wasn't immediately taken by it. But there was enough to make me keep reading until I was seriously hooked.

Gerald Anderson is a successful author who is having some difficulty getting started on another book. It just won't come. He is living in a luxurious apartment in Baltimore, where he moved from New York to be near his dying mother. Now that she has died he is struggling to write. His apartment is two stories, with the living area upstairs, bedrooms downstairs. One day he starts down the tricky stairs and seriously injures himself. In fact, he is confined to bed for months and has to hire help.

The help comes from Victoria, an assistant, and Aileen, nurse. The two cover the 24 hours in a day with a two-hour gap between them. Gerry's only alone time. He does not find their company stimulating or remotely interesting, but realizes he must have them around to do what needs to be done for his health and his everyday affairs.

Not long after he is confined to bed he receives a letter from someone with a return address of Fait street in Baltimore. His most successful novel, Dream Girl, features a young woman living on Fait St and he wonders what is up with that. He invented the character, after all. Before he gets a chance to read the letter it disappears. With the two unhelpful helpers involved he has to stay frustrated.

This is followed by mysterious phone calls, from "Aubrey", the chacter in Dream Girl. Saying she is coming to visit him. But he cannot verify that the calls actually happened. Nobody was there to hear them and the records don't show anything.

Gerry wonders if the drugs he is taking is affecting him, but he honestly does not think so. He interviews a detective (Tess Monaghan, whom we know from the many books about her) and she listens to his story but is unwilling to take the case.

Gerry's situation becomes worse when a former lover shows up, wanting him to provide housing for her. She is difficult to get rid of, and Gerry entertains the thought that maybe she is behind the letter and calls, but he just doesn't think it's her style. One of her visits leads to a horrendous incident, which changes the dynamics in the household. Here is where I started to see parallels with a well-known horror story.

The characters are well-drawn and interesting to get to know. Gerry sees himself as fundamentally a good person, but his actions suggest he's a bit delusional. Each time we read of a part of his past we have to wonder what it was like for the other persons.

At the center of the story is the book. The book that Gerry insists is not based on any real person. Yet is that the case? Could he have created a nuanced character who is a woman?

I enjoyed reading this book more than I have enjoyed any other for quite a while. There is so much good stuff, from the language bugaboos that Gerry complains about to the attitudes of others. It's smart and it's refreshing. show less

Lippman's first "horror" novel (as she defines it) was a letdown for me. I do not like the genre. I was repulsed by Gerry Andersen, the narrator, a raging egomaniac of a writer with a strong resemblance to Phillip Roth, and he just gets worse as more is revealed about his three ex-wives and the other women he bedded, based strictly on their looks. Revenge comes in the form of two women he ignored. Every single person in this book is venal and unpleasant, like Stephen King's Misery, and there's no Kathy Bates to redeem it. I hope Lippman goes back to her standalone mysteries.