Author: Jean Hanff Korelitz
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers
Publisher: Celadon Books/Macmillan Audio
Publication Date: May 11, 2021
Book Description: Hailed as “breathtakingly suspenseful,” Jean Hanff Korelitz’s The Plot is a propulsive audiobook about a story too good not to steal, and the writer who steals it.
Jacob Finch Bonner was once a promising young novelist with a respectably published first book. Today, he’s teaching in a third-rate MFA program and struggling to maintain what’s left of his self-respect; he hasn’t written—let alone published—anything decent in years. When Evan Parker, his most arrogant student, announces he doesn’t need Jake’s help because the plot of his book in progress is a sure thing, Jake is prepared to dismiss the boast as typical amateur narcissism. But then . . . he hears the plot.
Jake returns to the downward trajectory of his own career and braces himself for the supernova publication of Evan Parker’s first novel: but it never comes. When he discovers that his former student has died, presumably without ever completing his book, Jake does what any self-respecting writer would do with a story like that—a story that absolutely needs to be told.
In a few short years, all of Evan Parker’s predictions have come true, but Jake is the author enjoying the wave. He is wealthy, famous, praised and read all over the world. But at the height of his glorious new life, an e-mail arrives, the first salvo in a terrifying, anonymous campaign: You are a thief, it says.
As Jake struggles to understand his antagonist and hide the truth from his readers and his publishers, he begins to learn more about his late student, and what he discovers both amazes and terrifies him. Who was Evan Parker, and how did he get the idea for his “sure thing” of a novel? What is the real story behind the plot, and who stole it from whom?
Rating: 3 Stars
Mini-Review: This book had all the making of a great thriller, however it was pretty lackluster is my opinion.
Jacob Finch Bonner was an up-and-coming author who just never panned. While teaching he comes across a student with the makings of a great book. When the student dies, he takes the story and publishes it as his own. All of the sudden Jake is thrown into the world of success, but someone out there knows the truth.
A lot of this book felt literary more than a thriller, and at times I was just not jiving with the story. The thing that redeems this book is the twist. It was so shocking you would never see it coming at all. I am sure this will be a hit this summer.
One note , I had an advanced copy of the audiobook and the e-book, and by far the ebook wins. Narration did absolutely for this story, and this might have been the reason, I was not digging it until I made the switch to the ebook.
Thank you NetGalley and Celadon Books for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Obsessed Bookaholic 