Ghostheart

April 13, 2015
First published in the U.K. in 2004, this less than plausible thriller from Ellory (Saints of New York) offers little action, most of which occurs in the story within a story—the chapters of an unpublished manuscript that Manhattan bookstore proprietor Annie O’Neill receives from a mysterious stranger, who claims to have been a friend of the father who disappeared from her life when she was seven. The sheltered, single 30-year-old Annie is fascinated by the bloody adventures in the manuscript of career criminal Harry Rose and his partner, Johnnie Redbird, whom Harry will one day betray. And she uncharacteristically starts to live a little more dangerously herself (unless you already count residing in what must be the only apartment building without a front-door lock in Morningside Heights), plunging into a steamy affair with a man she barely knows. Anyone less naive than Annie should have little trouble anticipating the major plot revelations, if not the final twist. Agent: George Lucas, Inkwell Management.

Starred review from May 1, 2015
Annie O'Neill is 31, very attractive, a bit of a dreamer, and lonely. She is also idealistic enough to believe a book can change a life. Her tiny used bookstore is visited by a courtly, elderly man named Forrester, who tells her that he knew her father, who died when Annie was a little girl. Forrester's visit and his promise to return fire Annie's desire to learn more about her father. But she comes to question Forrester's motives, which seem to involve a ruthless gangster and a 50-year-old betrayal; she intuits that she may become a pawn in some new treachery. How much will she risk to learn more about her father? Ghostheart is a memorable thriller that builds slowly and changes tone like the movements in a symphony. When we meet Annie, she is a charming bohemian walking from her Morningside Heights apartment to her bookstore, and Ellory composes a lovely paean to his central character and her slice of Manhattan. Forrester's appearance and a manuscript he passes on to Annie introduce a subtle yet insistent sense of menace. The menace remains, but when Annie meets a man she finds attractive, the tone changes yet again. It's a bravura performance for readers of literary suspense, from a writer whose prose often sings.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)