Ghost Image: A Novel

Joshua Gilder?s first novel, Ghost Image is a psychological thriller set in the world of plastic surgery that moves inexorably from its startling opening episode to its resonant conclusion at an almost breakneck pace.Jackson Maebry, a rising plastic surgery intern, discovers the night he is called to the ER that the cruelly beaten and burned female patient he is attending is Allie, the girl he has just recently fallen in love with and hopes to marry. When her heart stops he overrides his colleagues, saws her chest open, massages her heart until it beats again. However, having saved her life, subsequent problems come at him with appalling speed. Will her heart still beat for him? Will he and his famous mentor plastic surgeon be able to restore her beauty? Who has done this brutal deed? When he becomes the main suspect desperation takes hold.Gilder writes with intelligence, wit and fluidity, taking time to allow his characters to ponder the more complicated issues of human frailty, trust, love and loyalty, and to lighten his story of trauma and murder with the informed irreverent banter among medical men.. This is no ordinary whodonit. At one point Allie, confronts Jackson with the facts of her disfigurement, suggesting that he never would have fallen in love with her if she?d been disfigured when he met her, drawing the parallel between her condition and his fear of his inheriting his mother?s insanity. Gilder?s writing is deft, clear, highly literate, and he brings to the page an astounding (and sometimes horrifying) amount of information about plastic surgery.I am not usually a lover of thrillers, but this metaphoric story of both mental and physical disfigurement, its causes and cures, held me captive until the last surprising page.

This thriller kept me up late at night - the highest compliment I can pay a book. It provides a unique and fascinating glimpse into the plastic surgeon's art, with graphic descriptions of operations that will curl your toes, at the same time as they keep you turning the page. Gilder ratchets up the psychological tension with his tautly written prose, and provides a convincing cast of suspects to keep you guessing right up until the end. Joshua Gilder knows his stuff, and he knows how to write!

I am just here to jump on the Joshua Gilder bandwagon. I am so happy to have a new author to read. I love suspense thrillers, but find that most of the books I pick up are so poorly written I can't even finish them. I know it is a cliché to call Ghost Image a "page-turner" but it truly is one!!!! From beginning to end, I could not put this down. The first page grabs you, not with a murder (those come later) but with a scene that immediately gives you that sick-in-the-pit-of-your- stomach and a this-ain't-good event. The story unfolds against the backdrop of California and the world of plastic surgery, however this will also appeal to those who like the forensic mysteries that are popular now, it is technical, detailed, fascinating. The characters are interesting, flawed and well developed. Some of the secondary characters will be recognizable, but the main ones are truly unique and complicated.

Ghost Image is a tense and powerful novel which launches Joshua Gilder as the most exciting new novelist since Scott Turow debuted in 1988 with Presumed Innocent. Gilder distinguishes himself from many of today's top suspense writers: He cares deeply about his characters; and so does the reader. In Ghost Image, the shocking revelations are not just arbitrary plot manipulations; the action rushes forward as the reader penetrates the darkest and most painful parts of the human soul. Gilder can create the suspense of a Grisham, but Grisham may not consistently create characters of such potency as those found in Ghost Image. The human relationships are complex, the medical science is exact, and the pace is unrelenting. The book is an innovative medical thriller, but the sharpest scalpel is applied to cutting open the raw fears, ambitions and intimate desires that seethe through these poignant characters in a painful and uncommon love story. Ghost Image is a suspenseful, can't-put-it-down page turner. I read the book in a single all-night sitting, racing to reach the remarkable conclusion before the sun came up. You will love this book, and if you are like me, you will want more. Ghost Image gets my highest rating.

I have spent all my life reading thrillers and this is the most original one since Gorky Park. The description of the surgical procedure on the first page alone is worth the price of the book.Besides the unusual setting - in the world of plastic surgery, the plot is expertly (and most unusually of all - realistically) crafted to believably maintain the tension all the way to the end. The book is never predictable and never sloppily resorts to the fantastical.Besides the highly original plot and setting, the book gleams with sharp clean prose. This is one of the happiest surprises I have had in 25 years of reading this genre.