Ultimately, it’s predictable, but that’s not to say it wasn’t highly enjoyable along the way. To be clear, I’m the stupidest of mystery readers (to the extent this is truly a mystery) and even I figured out both the book’s novel twist and the ultimate bad person terrorizing our (sort-of) hero. But I still enjoyed Korelitz’s writing, the generally nasty tone and the fun she must’ve had getting a lot of writer’s complaints off her chest through her protagonist.

Go ahead and read it - much like the fictional novel within this book, this book is clearly going to be made into a movie by an very good director, and you might as well be in on the fun early on.

I was provided a free copy of this text by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book was incredible! Very well-written and the book-within-a book model was quite well done. Jean Korelitz is definitely one to watch.

Jacob Finch Bonner has the story of his life. He knows it needs to be written. Too bad it's not his story to tell.

As an unhappy teacher in an MFA program, Jacob is going through the motions. When classes begin, he meets a sullen student, Evan Parker. Evan is disrespectful towards Jacob. He also doesn't think Jacob can teach him anything and doesn't try to hide his feelings. During their only one-on-one meeting, Evan says he has the best plot for a novel. He's sure when he is done writing it, everyone will want to read it. Publishers will fight for it. He will be famous and Oprah will pick it as the "it" book. After Evan tells him what the plot is about, Jacob disgruntedly has to agree and he knows the book will be a success.

A few years later, Jacob is in a new job. A job that leaves him time to work on a new novel but if he has to be honest with himself, he can't come up with anything good. Jacob's first novel was good but the two after have not been recognized at all.

Over the years, Jacob has never forgotten about Evan's plot. A quick search about Evan's whereabouts on social media leaves Jacob in shock. Evan is dead and he never wrote the novel!

Jacob makes a decision that will forever affect his future. He decides to bring to life the story he heard so long ago. Yet, someone is quite unhappy with his decision.

Quite an interesting novel! I was engrossed reading about both plots, Jacob's and the novel he wrote.

I had some issues about Jacob's guilty feelings. Yes, he used the plot of someone else's but the words were his. Yes, what he did was wrong but he didn't plagiarize a novel. What if Evan found out the hard way, that it can be quite difficult to write a book?

The big twist was not impossible to guess. I was waiting to see which way the author was going to take it and I wasn't disappointed.

Cliffhanger: No

4/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by Celadon Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Jake, a failed author relegated to teaching at a low-budget writing school , has an obnoxious student claiming to have a plot sure to become a best-seller. Several years later, when the student dies, Jake writes a book using that plot which does go on to become a hit--but somebody knows the idea was not his and is threatening to reveal his secret.

This had an intriguing start but then declined into a typical psychological thriller. The characters were pretty flat and the story didn't really come together very well. The writing was engaging and readable thought--I finished it in a couple of days.

The Plot is the perfect book club discussion book. Great call to reader's to evaluate ethics. This turned out to be a great thriller with some fun plot twists.

Wow! This book was definitely a slow burn, but it delivered at the end. Author Jean Hanff Korelitz did a great job incorporating the book within a book storyline. I loved all of the inside views of what it’s like to be a writer and the struggles they go through. I was also intrigued by the “plot” and loved the little snippets of the book and how it coordinated with the overall story. I love how she wove everything together. Overall, it took some time for me to get invested in this book but once I did, I couldn’t put it down!!

Thank you to Celadon Books and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book.

Wow! That was an enjoyable book. I thoroughly enjoyed the twists throughout the last third of the story. I will say that It started off a little slow (I get it though, the author had to set up the background of the main character- everything does come together in the second part of the story).

That said, I was completely engaged from the moment Jacob flew to Seattle on his book initial tour until the last sentence, "And anybody can be a writer."

I will be recommending this book to my friends and I look forward to reading more of Korelitz in the future.

I was totally intrigued as soon as I read the premise for The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz. Its brilliant and interesting and gripping.

Take a look:

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?

While the book started slow for me, it picked up and I couldn’t put it down.

This is out now!

*Previously Published at https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/the-plot/

*Thank you to the Publisher, NetGalley and Jean Hanff Korelitz for an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

“Good writers borrow, great writers steal.” –T. S. Eliot

Imagine, if you will, a best-selling author, down on his luck now, presented with a plot that he knows will be a bestseller. What if a few years down the road, he can publish that book and it becomes a smashing success? This is the plot of Jean Hanff Korelitz’s The Plot.

Jacob Finch Bonner once had a bestseller. Then he wrote another book that didn’t sell as well. Then his third book is rejected by his publisher. Now he is at Ripley College, an unknown small liberal arts college, teaching in an MFA program, and more than a little bitter about it. On his second day there, one of his more obnoxious students, Evan Parker, tells Jacob he has the plot of a bestseller. At first, Evan refuses to tell Jacob anything about the book, worried his story will be stolen. Once he does, Jacob realizes he does, in fact, have a bestseller, and is incredibly jealous.

A few years down the road, Jacob is the manager at an in-residence writing retreat, still not having written that second elusive bestseller. When faced with another difficult writer, it reminds him of Evan Parker, and he uses the computer to find out that Evan passed away shortly after the MFA program. He realizes that the bestseller they talked about was never written, and an idea forms in his head. After all, no one “owns” a plot. He justifies that there are so many books written off of Shakespeare plots. What could go wrong?

The book “Crib” is a wild success, as Jacob knew it would be. It is fourth on the bestseller list and he is doing book signings and interviews all over the world. It is beyond his wildest dreams. But then he checks his email one day and there is one message, “you are a thief” from Talented Tom. Jacob knows that Evan Parker had no living relatives. Or did he? The threats become more and more frequent as Talented Tom takes to Facebook and twitter to alert readers that this is not Jacob’s book. Jacob is now married, having met Anna at a radio station he did an interview for. He hides the threats from her, not wanting to alert her to how “Crib” was written. Jacob investigates Talented Tom and drives to Vermont, where he finds out more than he ever wanted to know about Evan Parker and his family. He then discovers more about his student and it terrifies him. Jacob realizes that the plot Evan Parker described to him may actually have a life of its own.

The Plot switches back and forth between Jacob’s story and chapters of the actual book “Crib.” I am hearing a lot of buzz about this particular novel and I can see why. While the first two chapters move slowly, the book takes off and never stops. Korelitz’s writing style is lush and flows easily. The last chapter of The Plot is one that we never saw coming and the epilogue is both terrifying and surprising. Amazing.

While this story started out a bit slow, it was an excellent read. I enjoyed the twists and turns of this one. And that ending? I did not see that coming.

Twisty, unexpected, keeps you guessing until the very end. Tight plot, interesting characters and strong writing propel the reader along. Really enjoyed this one.

A once promising one-book-wonder author named Jacob Finch Bonner takes a job teaching at an undistinguished MFA program. There he meets a secretive and cocky young student named Evan Parker. Parker tells Bonner that he has a blockbuster plot for the novel he plans to write, but he dies before he can actually write it. Bonner hasn’t published a book in years. When he hears his student has died, he decides to steal Parker’s plot, write the book, and pass it off as his own. It becomes a best-seller and Bonner becomes a national celebrity. All is well until a mysterious individual begins a campaign to publicly discredit Bonner as a thief who stole his student’s story. I wish I could say that I loved this book. I’ve read all of Jean Hanff Korelitz’s previous novels and truly enjoyed them. There is much to praise about The Plot, to-wit, the setting at an MFA program; the well-developed characters; and Ms. Hanff Korelitz’s writing style. Unfortunately, the book’s plot is not one of them. There were no major twists or turns and the identity of the villain and the ending were disappointingly predictable a bit more than halfway through the book. I had eagerly looked forward to reading “The Plot.” Despite my disappointment in this book, I’m still a fan of Ms. Hanff Korelitz’s work and look forward to reading her next book.
<br/><br/>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/42230897-barb">View all my reviews</a>

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz is a fantastic page turner.
Jacob Finch Bonner is a well written character. Jacob was once a writer with a great first book published. Now he's teaching and hasn't written in a long time.

That's when a manuscript lands in his hands and what he does next starts a the chaos and the thrilling unraveling of The Plot.

I absolutely loved this book. Highly recommend this book!

Thriller novels are difficult, in that they rely on either:

* creating tension/suspense that causes the readers to avidly keep reading out of desperate need to find out what happens/get resolution;
* have a twist that changes the lens by which the story has been viewed;
* have writing so amazing, that even if the twist is predictable, the reader doesn’t care, because it’s so fun getting there.

I applaud Jean for the work that she put into this book. The concept is interesting, and writing a book is a lot of work.

However, I was able to see the “surprise twist” about 20% of the way through the book, the writing was fine, but nothing that particularly filled me with wonder, and given that I knew where everything was likely headed (and I was correct), lacked the tension/suspense I would generally want from a thriller.

Author Jacob Finch Bonner is leading a writer's program when one of his students tells him the plot to the story he is writing. Bonner believes it will be a surefire hit, and when he learns years later the student had died without publishing it, goes ahead and writes it himself. Shortly after it becomes a success, he begins to receive messages from someone threatening to expose him. Though The Plot is a very well written story, I was able to figure out its own twists well in advance. However, it was a fun read, and I would still recommend. Thanks in advance to Net Galley and the publisher for an advance copy for review.

This book is likely to be well liked by many. I found it plodding. I didn't connect with or enjoy the protagonist and maybe we aren't supposed to like him. If so, bingo! It was just too slow and at times it seemed the author was using big words to use big words with no real point. Too much of a slow burn for me but I do appreciate the arc.

The Plot has generated enormous buzz and for good reason. It is a fantastic book and I am so glad that Jean Hanff Korelitz is getting the recognition she deserves! As someone who's been reading her work since her first novel, The White Rose, I am thrilled not just by the acclaim she's getting but for The Plot but for the depth and complexity of not just the story, but the characters! It's a smart and engaging read that also raises *a lot* of fascinating questions. A definite must-read for thriller fans, literary fiction fans, and for anyone who enjoys a good book. Very highly recommended.

This story, of a novelist being accused of plagiarism, was certainly enjoyable, and held my interest. But in the end I found it so unbelievable that I couldn't fully enjoy it. The author's description of his life as a failed writer was wonderful, but the plot of the story that pulled him into mega-bestsellerdom was so mediocre and unoriginal. And that he could KNOW this mediocre idea would be a mega-bestseller even before it was written? Yeah, no.

But again, overall the read was enjoyable, and the writing and characterization were decent, so I'm not sorry I read it. Thank you to Netgalley for a chance to review the ARC.

Thank you NetGalley for an e-ARC of The Plot for an honest review. Unfortunately, this book just didn't work for me. It was so slow and extremely predictable. No spoilers here, so my comments will be limited, but not a book I would recommend be at the top of your TBR stack. I know others who really liked this book, so if you choose to read, I hope you do, too!

Fast-paced and enjoyable book.
Jake Bonner is a mediocre writer, teaching a mediocre writing class. He encounters an arrogant student with a fantastic storyline for a novel. After the student dies unexpectedly, Jake takes that plot and writes a bestseller novel. Not long afterwards, he starts receiving anonymous and threatening messages saying someone is aware the story isn’t his own.

The novel inside this novel is titled “Crib”, not THE Crib, just the verb Crib. Which means to plagiarize, to steal. What is being stolen? Who is the thief, who is the victim?

Ironically enough, the plot of The Plot is mildly cribbed. My first thought was, oh this sounds exactly like “A Murder Of Crows,” the movie with Cuba Gooding. It departs from the movie’s storyline eventually but the premise is the same.

I did figure out the villain. There are only 3 possibilities really, and only one makes sense. It isn’t as twisty as it promises.

But it’s well-written and entertaining. Thank you to Jean Hanff Korelitz and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my review.