Here are 16 books that The Ghostwriter fans have personally recommended if you like The Ghostwriter. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The Poppy Fields

Unknown Author

By Nikki Erlick ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Poppy Fields as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

AN INSTANT BESTSELLER! Pre-order now to receive the stunning DELUXE LIMITED EDITION-only available on the first printing while supplies last! The collector's hardcover features solid sprayed edges and illustrated endpapers.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Measure-the million-copy bestseller and a Read with Jenna TODAY Show pick-comes a stunning speculative story of healing, self-discovery, forgiveness, and found friendship.

"A masterful, tender exploration of love, loss, and the poignant echoes of memory... A profoundly moving read." -Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of The Many Daughters of Afong Moy

What if there were a cure for the…


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Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

Book cover of Forget Me Not

Unknown Author

By Stacy Willingham ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Forget Me Not as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Don't miss the gripping new thriller from the author of A FLICKER IN THE DARK about a woman searching for answers to her sister's disappearance decades ago

'Absolutely riveting. Simmering tension and genuine shocks make Forget Me Not a thriller I'll remember for a long, long time' RILEY SAGER

'Shocking and totally twisted. Totally unique, I've never read anything like it' MARY KUBICA

'Could not put it down. A perfect thriller for summer reading' SAMANTHA DOWNING

"I have a sister. But we haven't spoken in years"

That's what I told everyone. I lied.

My sister's been missing for 22 years,…


Book cover of The Last Flight

Cara Bristol Author Of Alien With Benefits

From Cara's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Outspoken introvert Voracious reader World traveler Homebody

Cara's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Cara Bristol Why Cara loves this book

When Claire’s abusive, powerful politician husband sends her out of town, she intends to use the opportunity to leave him and disappear. But a last-minute itinerary change foils her plans and alerts her husband that she intends to leave him.

In a chance encounter, she meets Eva, who is also looking to escape. Thinking they can solve each other’s problem, the two women swap identities and tickets and board the other’s plane. But Eva’s plane crashes, leaving no survivors. Claire realizes the tragedy might be her true ticket to freedom —until she discovers the secrets Eva left behind.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat until the last page. Everything about The Last Flight is top-notch: the plot, the twists, the characters, the pacing, the setting details, and the writing. I was sorry when I finished reading it.

By Julie Clark ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Last Flight as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY BESTSELLER, & INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER!
"The Last Flight is thoroughly absorbing-not only because of its tantalizing plot and deft pacing, but also because of its unexpected poignancy and its satisfying, if bittersweet, resolution. The characters get under your skin."-The New York Times Book Review
Two women. Two flights. One last chance to disappear.
Claire Cook has a perfect life. Married to the scion of a political dynasty, with a Manhattan townhouse and a staff of ten, her surroundings are elegant, her days flawlessly choreographed, and her future auspicious. But behind closed doors, nothing is…


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Book cover of Trusting Her Duke

Trusting Her Duke by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.

Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…

Book cover of The Tiger's Wife

Eugenia Cheng Author Of X + Y: A Mathematician's Manifesto for Rethinking Gender

From my list on beyond romance, motherhood, or emulating men.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been thinking a lot about what feminism means for me. In this interview, I said, "I wish more authors would write about strong women, beyond the strength and importance of motherhood, but not just emulating traditional male behavior." I feel that this is the kind of strong woman I am, as a woman forging a non-traditional path in mathematics. I have been on something of a mission to find books like this, and particularly ones written by women. I find such books frustratingly rare, so I wanted to recommend a few that I have found. There is more to being a woman than falling in love and having children.

Eugenia's book list on beyond romance, motherhood, or emulating men

Eugenia Cheng Why Eugenia loves this book

This is a gorgeous, poetic, magical book, with a strong female character with a mission that is not about falling in love and having children. Although there are love stories in the book, they are unusual ones (as shown by the title) and that is not the main narrative arc of the central protagonist. I long for books where women do something other than fall in love, have children, or emulate men.

By Téa Obreht ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Tiger's Wife as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction 2011! 'Having sifted through everything I have heard about the tiger and his wife, I can tell you that this much is fact: in April of 1941, without declaration or warning, the German bombs started falling over the city and did not stop for three days. The tiger did not know that they were bombs...' A tiger escapes from the local zoo, padding through the ruined streets and onwards, to a ridge above the Balkan village of Galina. His nocturnal visits hold the villagers in a terrified thrall. But for one boy, the…


Book cover of Everything I Never Told You

Surbhi Bansal Author Of Do Not Follow

From my list on coming home to complicated mothers, messy families, and your own unfinished past.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always been drawn to stories about daughters coming home to complicated mothers and the unfinished versions of themselves they left behind. As an immigrant who moved from India to the U.S. at thirteen, and now as a physician and mother, I live in that in-between space where past and present, duty and desire constantly collide. Reading great novels that explored these tensions was the spark that pushed me to start writing my own. I gravitate toward books where family love is real but messy, home is both refuge and trigger, and women are allowed to be imperfect, angry, tender, and still deeply human.

Surbhi's book list on coming home to complicated mothers, messy families, and your own unfinished past

Surbhi Bansal Why Surbhi loves this book

This book opens with a daughter's death, but it's really about everything that went unspoken long before that moment.

I love how Ng peels back the layers of race, gender, and parental expectation in a 1970s Midwestern family. It's a masterclass in showing how quiet misunderstandings and unvoiced desires can ripple through generations.

By Celeste Ng ,

Why should I read it?

10 authors picked Everything I Never Told You as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The acclaimed debut novel by the author of Little Fires Everywhere and Our Missing Hearts

"A taut tale of ever deepening and quickening suspense." -O, the Oprah Magazine

"Explosive . . . Both a propulsive mystery and a profound examination of a mixed-race family." -Entertainment Weekly

"Lydia is dead. But they don't know this yet." So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue. But when Lydia's body…


Book cover of The Misfortune of Marion Palm

Eugenia Cheng Author Of X + Y: A Mathematician's Manifesto for Rethinking Gender

From my list on beyond romance, motherhood, or emulating men.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been thinking a lot about what feminism means for me. In this interview, I said, "I wish more authors would write about strong women, beyond the strength and importance of motherhood, but not just emulating traditional male behavior." I feel that this is the kind of strong woman I am, as a woman forging a non-traditional path in mathematics. I have been on something of a mission to find books like this, and particularly ones written by women. I find such books frustratingly rare, so I wanted to recommend a few that I have found. There is more to being a woman than falling in love and having children.

Eugenia's book list on beyond romance, motherhood, or emulating men

Eugenia Cheng Why Eugenia loves this book

I love the concept of the main character, Marion Palm. She's a sort of anti-hero, exactly the sort of woman society expects us not to celebrate: she commits crimes, and then abandons her family when she's been found out. She goes on the run, like the characters in The Last Flight but for different reasons. And yet I found myself rooting for her. Her crime is almost victimless (or rather, the victims are mostly stuck-up rich people we are not exactly encouraged to sympathize with), and her motives are not selfish. In the end, I took this as a book about a woman unapologetically seeing her own worth and looking for people who will appreciate her for it, albeit in bracingly unconventional ways.

By Emily Culliton ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Misfortune of Marion Palm as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Entertainment Weekly Best Debut Novels 2017

A wildly entertaining debut about a Brooklyn Heights wife and mother who has embezzled a small fortune from her children's private school and makes a run for it, leaving behind her trust fund poet husband, his maybe-secret lover, her two daughters, and a school board who will do anything to find her.

Marion Palm prefers not to think of herself as a thief but rather "a woman who embezzles." Over the years she has managed to steal $180,000 from her children’s private school, money that has paid for European vacations, a Sub-Zero refrigerator they…


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Book cover of The Duke's Christmas Redemption

The Duke's Christmas Redemption by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.

Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…

Book cover of Sounds Like Titanic

Eugenia Cheng Author Of X + Y: A Mathematician's Manifesto for Rethinking Gender

From my list on beyond romance, motherhood, or emulating men.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been thinking a lot about what feminism means for me. In this interview, I said, "I wish more authors would write about strong women, beyond the strength and importance of motherhood, but not just emulating traditional male behavior." I feel that this is the kind of strong woman I am, as a woman forging a non-traditional path in mathematics. I have been on something of a mission to find books like this, and particularly ones written by women. I find such books frustratingly rare, so I wanted to recommend a few that I have found. There is more to being a woman than falling in love and having children.

Eugenia's book list on beyond romance, motherhood, or emulating men

Eugenia Cheng Why Eugenia loves this book

This is my only non-fiction pick, but it reads a little like a gripping work of fiction except that I had to keep pinching myself to remember it really happened. The author is writing about her experience as a professional violinist in a "fake" orchestra. It is a wonderfully nuanced look at the gray area between "fake" and "real", which is devastatingly pertinent to our times. It challenges us to consider if we can actually always tell the difference and if the difference is really clear-cut at all. The reason I'm including it in the list is that the main protagonist, the author, is a strong woman who is determined to make her own way. And there is one section I found particularly satisfying, in which (and I don't think this will give too much away) she refuses to include any romance in the book. She declines to write of…

By Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sounds Like Titanic as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

When aspiring violinist Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman lands a job with a professional ensemble in New York City, she imagines she has achieved her lifelong dream. But the ensemble proves to be a sham. When the group "performs", the microphones are never on. Instead, the music blares from a CD. The mastermind behind this scheme is a peculiar and mysterious figure known as The Composer, who is gaslighting his audiences with music that sounds suspiciously like the Titanic movie soundtrack. On tour with his chaotic ensemble, Hindman spirals into crises of identity and disillusionment as she "plays" for audiences genuinely moved…


Book cover of The Talented Mr. Ripley

Geoffrey Carter Author Of In Bad Faith

From Geoffrey's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Geoffrey's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Geoffrey Carter Why Geoffrey loves this book

Placing the reader squarely into the mind and sensibility (if you can call it that) of a sociopathic killer, Ms. Highsmith created an entirely new type of thriller; in this case, the reader is not so much concerned with whodunit as to why hedunit. Following Mr. Ripley across Europe and witnessing his extended string of crimes and the extensive web of lies he weaves--and his appreciation for the finer things in life, I was both enthralled and repulsed by his exploits. In a weird way, I admired him and found myself rooting for him. To create the interior life of such a repugnant human being, and to do it so well, is a great achievement in fiction. Not since Humbert Humbert have I read about such a likable criminal.

By Patricia Highsmith ,

Why should I read it?

29 authors picked The Talented Mr. Ripley as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

It's here, in the first volume of Patricia Highsmith's five-book Ripley series, that we are introduced to the suave Tom Ripley, a young striver seeking to leave behind his past as an orphan bullied for being a "sissy." Newly arrived in the heady world of Manhattan, Ripley meets a wealthy industrialist who hires him to bring his playboy son, Dickie Greenleaf, back from gallivanting in Italy. Soon Ripley's fascination with Dickie's debonair lifestyle turns obsessive as he finds himself enraged by Dickie's ambivalent affections for Marge, a charming American dilettante, and Ripley begins a deadly game. "Sinister and strangely alluring"…


Book cover of The Silent Patient

lisa13

From Lisa's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Unknown Author Why Lisa loves this book

The plot twist at the end was a kicker! Great story with characters that kept you guessing what actually happened. The pacing and the unfolding of the plot was handled with great finesse made this book hard to put down.

By Alex Michaelides ,

Why should I read it?

23 authors picked The Silent Patient as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

**THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**

"An unforgettable―and Hollywood-bound―new thriller... A mix of Hitchcockian suspense, Agatha Christie plotting, and Greek tragedy."
―Entertainment Weekly

The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband―and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five…


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Book cover of Old Man Country

Old Man Country by Thomas R. Cole,

This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon.

In these and other intimate conversations, the book…

Book cover of Crash & Burn

JB Schroeder Author Of Runaway

From my list on women confronting danger to reclaim their lives.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love stories about everyday people ripped out of their normal lives and forced to face the craziest situations head-on. I mean, can you even imagine? Could you find a way to survive and win? To face down life-threatening danger and evil people and rise from the ashes stronger and smarter? I’m pretty sure I’d kill if it meant protecting my children…but strand me in the wilderness and I’d likely perish from eating the wrong berries. I hate to be hungry, but I love to bring edgy romantic suspense and twisty psychological suspense to readers. Enjoy!

JB's book list on women confronting danger to reclaim their lives

JB Schroeder Why JB loves this book

Savannah Kade always delivers smart, savvy heroines—it’s her thing! But you’ll also find an alpha hero who is equal parts protective, sexy, and sweet. Oh yeah—and he’s a firefighter, too! Hot, hot, hot! This heroine is fighting for her new beginning and confronting danger she didn’t see coming. Creepy twists in the serial killer plot are left as hooks to be resolved later in the series—but trust me, the ending will satisfy.

By Savannah Kade ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Crash & Burn as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

He knew from the moment he saw her…

Sebastian Kane felt that visceral punch to the gut the first time Maggie Willis walked into his fire station. But his hesitation cost him dearly and new-in-town Maggie is already dating fellow firefighter, Rex. Even his loyalty to the brotherhood can’t keep Sebastian away when danger is on Maggie’s doorstep. Or maybe already inside her house…

Maggie fled to tiny Redemption hoping to leave behind a painful betrayal she’d rather keep hidden, but her hopes for a fresh start are quickly dying. None of the town’s residents are willing to trust a…


Book cover of The Poppy Fields
Book cover of Forget Me Not
Book cover of The Last Flight

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