What book is it?

[ALunchbox]

Hi, I read a book not so long ago whose title or writer I cannot remember and this is seriously annoying me! Might someone know by any chance?

• It is set in the US, possibly the East Coast.
• The main character is a middle aged writer.
• His (high brow?) books do not do very well. However, he also writes lower quality books (thrillers? mass-market romance?) that do well and keep him afloat.
• He hides this from this family, and writes the latter books under a pseudonym.
• He has two teenage/young adult daughters. One of them is a literature graduate from an Ivy League university. She at some point has doubts about those books he has been hiding from his family as she sees some similarities with his past lives (Something about his brother falling off a cliff in a national park?)
• A woman accuses him of plagiarism and there is some form of court case around this.
• He starts investigating about this woman, actually goes to her house and steals some stuff from her (1st edition books?). I think he might at some point decide to return them but ends up stealing some more or gets caught?
• I know Stephen King gets a mention but I can't remember what for exactly: does the main character exchange letters with him? Does he draw parallels between King and himself (aliases etc)?
• In parallel, his wife who is a (secondary school? High school?) teacher has an affair with a colleague. The main character tries to run him over as he is cycling through the forest.

At a guess, the book was written in the last 20 years by a North American writer.

I think I might have read this! And not that long ago, I will check my Kindle list. A Google search tells me it could be The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark but the name doesnt ring a bell so I'm wondering if I've read something with a similar storyline

Google AI says:
The book you are looking for is almost certainly "Jack of Spades: A Tale of Suspense" by Joyce Carol Oates (published in 2015).
It perfectly matches your description:

• Setting & Character: Andrew J. Rush is a middle-aged, high-brow author living in New Jersey (East Coast) who writes successful, violent thriller novels under the pseudonym "Jack of Spades".
• Plot Details: He hides this from his family, but one of his daughters starts to suspect something.
• The Accusation: He is sued for plagiarism by an elderly neighbor.
• The Investigation/Theft: He investigates the woman, breaks into her house, and steals books, specifically looking for evidence to disprove her claim.
• Stephen King Mention: The main character, Andrew Rush, explicitly compares his own pseudonym usage to Stephen King's experimentation with the pen name "Richard Bachman".
• Wife Affair: His wife is a teacher, and in a tense subplot, he contemplates attacking a male colleague she is suspected of having an affair with while the man is biking.

The novel captures the anxiety and double life of a "literary" writer producing dark, mass-market content, fitting your timeline and details closely.

ChatGPT says it’s The Plot by Jean Hanff

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_of_Spades:_A_Tale_of_Suspense

I think ChatGPT got it right this time!

The one I was thinking of is End of Story by AJ Finn. Having read the synopsis again I dont think its the right one, but its similar so thought I would put it here just in case!

Thank you very much! I can confirm it was Jack of Spades: A Tale of Suspense by Joyce Carol Oates.
I had tried to find it with CoPilot but had no luck. Thank you everyone!

Interesting that King gets a mention, as reading your description the story Secret Window, Secret Garden came to mind. And King has been the subject of many plagiarism claims himself of course. I’m tempted to find this book now! :)