GILDER, Joshua 1954-

PERSONAL: Born March 15, 1954, in Bethesda, MD; married Anne-Lee (a television journalist); children: Max. Education: Sarah Lawrence College, B.A.

ADDRESSES: Home—Bethesda, MD. Offıce—c/o White House Writers Group, 1030 15th St. NW, 11th Floor, Washington, DC 20005. Agent—Matt Williams, The Gernert Co., 136 East 57th St., New York, NY 10022. E-mail—josh@joshuagilder.com.

CAREER: Writer. The White House, Washington, DC, speech writer for Vice President George H. W. Bush, 1983-85, speech writer for President Ronald Reagan, 1985-88; State Department, Washington, DC, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights, 1989-91; White House Writers Group, Washington, DC, senior director, 1993—. Formerly worked as an associate editor for the Saturday Review.

WRITINGS:

Ghost Image, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2002.

(With wife, Anne-Lee Gilder) Heavenly Intrigue: Johannes Kepler, Tycho Brahe, and the Murder behind One of History's Greatest Scientific Discoveries, Doubleday (New York, NY), 2004.

Contributor to periodicals, including American Spectator, New Criterion, New Leader, New York Magazine, Saturday Review, and Wall Street Journal.

SIDELIGHTS: Joshua Gilder is a political writer and consultant who worked as a speech writer for President Ronald Reagan during his second term in office. During the administration of President George H. W. Bush, Gilder worked in the State Department. In the early 1990s, Gilder left government and cofounded the White House Writers Group, a business communications consulting firm in Washington, D.C. In 2002, Gilder's first novel, the medical thriller Ghost Image, was published by Simon & Schuster.

In the story, San Francisco plastic surgeon Jackson Maebry investigates the violent beating of his girlfriend, Allie Sorosh, who is brought into the trauma center when he is on call. Burned and disfigured almost beyond recognition, Allie has lost her memory and cannot identify her attacker. The ensuing mystery is filled with suspicious characters, suspenseful moments, and medical detail. According to National Review writer Sarah Maserati, "Gilder obviously took great care in making the medical details accurate and realistic, and his success shows through in the dramatic weight they carry."

A Publishers Weekly reviewer offered an appreciative assessment of the novel, stating that it is distinguished by "a gallery of distinctive supporting characters and lucid, full-bodied prose." Another admirer was Library Journal critic Stacy Alesi, who called Ghost Image a "gripping debut" that "hurtles to its conclusion." Harriet Klausner, writing in Books 'n' Bytes, concluded that Gilder's novel "is an exciting psychological thriller with so many twists and turns that readers will have to read it in one session just to see how everything is finally resolved."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2002, review of GhostImage, p. 1335.

Library Journal, October 1, 2002, Stacy Alesi, review of Ghost Image, pp. 126-127.

National Review, December 9, 2002, Sarah Maserati, review of Ghost Image, p. 51.

Publishers Weekly, October 7, 2002, review of GhostImage, p. 52.

ONLINE

Books 'n' Bytes,http://www.booksnbytes.com/ (April 16, 2003), Harriet Klausner, review of Ghost Image.

New Mystery Reader,http://www.newmysteryreader.com/ (April 16, 2003), feature article and interview with Joshua Gilder.*