Laura Lippman doesn’t waste any time amping up the disquietude in her latest novel. In Dream Girl (June 22, William Morrow), 61-year-old novelist Gerry Andersen, who’s moved back to his hometown of Baltimore, lives in a fancy penthouse apartment. After an accident leaves him bedridden and downing Ambien, he begins having hallucinations of the leading lady of his own popular book titled, yes, Dream Girl. Gerry gets letters, calls, and in-person visits from Aubrey, but no one believes him, not his night nurse, Aileen, or his assistant, Victoria. Told in three different timelines—from the 1960s to the present day—Dream Girl stages a fascinating reckoning of sorts for Gerry. Lippman uses her dubious hero, who lacks self-awareness, to comment on relevant affairs of the last few years, particularly the #MeToo movement. The psychological thriller zeroes in on pivotal moments of Gerry’s life and how his childhood with an absent father and sad single mother shaped his career and interactions with women.Read about another entry on the list.
Lippman is best known for her Tess Monaghan series about a reporter-turned-private investigator. Tess makes a cameo in Dream Girl, but the story is focused on Gerry’s possibly deteriorating state of mind, unraveling sordid details of his past at a satisfyingly measured pace. “In a world that is speeding up, novelists were obligated to make people slow down,” Lippman writes.
The Page 69 Test: Dream Girl.
--Marshal Zeringue
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