QUICK TAKE: I love a good TALENTED MR. RIPLEY story, and while I didn't love love love THE PLOT, I ultimately really enjoyed it. It definitely feels a little long, but the ending saves what is a bit of a slower middle section. A down-on-his-luck author decides to teach a writing course and one of his students pitches him what is essentially THE NEXT GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL. Cut to two years later, said student has died, and the author decides to steal his idea for his own, cue the awards and accolades and Steven Spielberg movie adaptation. That is, until an anonymous person starts sending the author messages threatening to expose him as the fraud he is. I was onboard until the middle section, which is essentially the author trying to figure out who his "blackmailer" is, but the ending is dark and fun and twisty and worth the read. If I'm picking a fave of this genre, it's still MAUD DIXON, but I enjoyed this one a lot.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this amazing book!

I absolutely do not want to accidentally give anything away. Ironically this is a book about a plot, which happens to make a unique and thrilling plot. Does that make sense?

If you like reading about books, writers, the art of writing you will love this book. If you love twisty and unexpected things happening around every chapter, you will love this book. If you live for the surprise ending, you will love this book.

Great characters, amazing villains and enough twists and turns to keep the reader scratching their head. Read this book and enjoy the ride!

https://www.michigandaily.com/books/author-of-the-undoing-fails-to-live-up-to-expectations-in-her-new-novel-the-plot/

Plagiarism, copying, theft; call it what you will. Each of these terms guarantees consequences, whether you’re a student, a politician or a writer.

Jean Hanff Korelitz explores the extent of literary plagiarism in her upcoming novel “The Plot.” The novel follows Jacob Finch Bonner, or Jake, a “once promising author” whose first novel was labeled “New & Noteworthy” by the New York Times Book Review. However, his following work failed to live up to expectations, which is where “The Plot” begins.

The premise of the novel seems enthralling, especially when taking Korelitz’s own success into consideration. Two of her novels have been adapted for the screen, including her 2014 book “You Should Have Known,” whose HBO adaptation, “The Undoing,” received critical acclaim. Starring actors Nicole Kidman (“Big Little Lies”) and Hugh Grant (“Notting Hill”), “The Undoing” was HBO’s most-watched show of 2020, and received a handful of nominations from several awards shows, including the Golden Globes. But past the storyline, “The Plot” falls short of achieving a similar enchantment.

....https://www.michigandaily.com/books/author-of-the-undoing-fails-to-live-up-to-expectations-in-her-new-novel-the-plot/

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55315487-the-plot?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=SEOCM9h4VJ&rank=1

Review The Plot is a suspense novel about a writer and the plot of his most recent book. It starts a little slowly, but it picks up steam closer to the end. I couldn't put it down once Jake started to figure out who is tormentor really was.

Five Stars all the way from the slow burn start to the sizzling finish, The Plot jabs relentlessly at both the writer and reader.
Meta in form, our main man Jacob "Finch" Bonner, a one-time semi-read author, has devolved into teaching a writing course at a sub-par college on the East Coast. There he works at putting an interested face on when he meets his new students. Until, that is, he meets new student, Evan Parker, the man with The Plot that cannot fail. He will be rich, famous, and in demand. He's also quite secretive about this plot but eventually divulges just enough detail for Jacob to realize that it is The Plot of the century, indeed.
Fast forward a few years and the book never comes and no one has ever heard about Evan Parker. But Jacob's career as an author is just about to skyrocket.
This book touches on many hot issues in the publishing industry today. The question is also posed: are there any new ideas under the sun? If you write the words but the ideas springs from someone else, is it plagiarism? Even more, if you tell someone else's life story, if it's not yours to tell, is that also theft? There is so much food for thought here within these pages wrapped up in an absorbing mystery/thriller. Highly recommend.

Thank you to Celadon and Netgalley for the early arc in exchange for an honest review.

Once an author on the New York Times bestseller list, Jacob Finch Bonner’s is now stuck teaching a writing course for a third-rate MFA program. One of his students, Evan Parker, refuses any help from Jacob, stating that he has such a great plot he knows the story will end up on the Best Seller’s list. He shares his plot with Jacob, and it really is an amazing idea for a story. Years later, Jacob remembers that conversation and looks into Evan’s life to see what ever happened to him, as he never saw the book Evan was working on in publication. When he finds out that Evan had died and never wrote the story, he borrows the plot and writes his own novel, which does indeed become a Best Seller and he enjoys all the perks of his fame. Then he starts getting threats in the mail calling him a thief (which is a bit of a stretch, since can you really steal a plot?). But now he’s starting to worry, will the person, calling themselves TalentedTom, go to the press with their message? The story builds from there, and I don’t want to ruin the fun for you. It’ a bit slow moving, and you get to read a lot of the special plot book, and there are some good twists in the telling. Thank you to the publisher and #NetGalley for my copy of The Plot.

I have to give this a 2.5 stars rounded to 3. It just unfortunately didn’t work for me. The beginning was painfully slow and seemed slightly forced to get the story flowing. You’re introduced to Jake who is a “failed” writer who turned into a writing teacher. He meets a student named Evan Parker who is arrogant and a jerk but has a hell of a plot he presents. He is tight lipped about the story overall but does give the plot line to Jake. Fast forward to years later and Jake finds out Evan has died and he does what any author would do with a bombshell story, he writes it.

He then begins to get emails from someone claiming they know that he wasn’t the one with that story and that he was a fake etc etc. Enter panic Jake and the story folds out but this doesn’t happen until the end. It is a loooong journey and when I finally got to the big reveal I already knew that was how it was going to play out so I didn’t have shock factor either. I wasn’t a fan of the end. This is a lot of negatives I know, but if you are new to this genre you may find it exciting and entertaining. Unfortunately it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you Celadon books and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

I have just finished reading The Plot by Author Jean Hanff Korelitz.

What an enjoyable read this was. I was interested right from the beginning. It is a plot that I felt I may have read from similar books in the past, but this one had me guessing right along till the ending.

It was a fairly quick book to read but was very engaging and interesting.

The author did a good job with the characters, and the flow of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley, Author Jean Hanff Korelitz, and Celadon Books for my advanced copy to read and review.

#ThePlotBook #NetGalley

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz is a superb read with a well defined plot and characters. The book of the Summer. Well worth the read!

I loved this book! A struggling writer teaching at a small college meets a very cocky student. He can’t seem to connect with a student, until they have a conference and the student shares what he says will be at the plot to an amazing book. The story continues on and the struggling writer finds out the student passed away. But, he passed away never writing the plot to his book. And so begins a twisted tale of plagiarism and secrets.

I have to say I love the book. It definitely has a story within a story that drives the plot. Every time you think you can guess where it’s going, it takes a twisted turns. My favorite part was that the book actually surprised me, I just hard because I read a lot of thriller/mystery box. It was smart and layered, overall a fun read.

Jacob Finch Bonner is a published author but hasn’t had any luck recently and is now teaching in a MFA program. A student shows him his progress on a plot (yep the title of this story) but the students doesn’t follow up with submitting it for publication and he died along with his idea.
Hmmm Jacob takes the plot and sure enough writes a ‘best seller’.

AT first I wasn't sure why this was on my TBR shelf.🤔
I am not influenced by ‘blurbs’ such as ‘breathtakingly suspenseful.
I laugh out loud when one states ‘hilarious’ as they usually aren’t!
Hmmm this was interesting and yes it kept me curious! But I really wasn’t expecting much.

Awww! I was in for a delightful surprise not a breathtaking surprise but definitely one I did NOT see coming. 😊
Hope I have you curious!


Want to thank NetGalley and Celadon Books for this eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for professional review purposes only.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for May 11, 2021

I’m often sucked in by an interesting premise, and The Plot was no exception. Books about books? I’m there!

Jacob Finch Bonner is a writer who published a semi-successful novel, and then wasn’t able to reproduce that level of success with any subsequent novel. During a stint as a professor, he meets Evan Parker. Evan divulges the incredible plot of the book he’s writing, and it’s apparent to both of them that Evan is writing the novel of every writer’s dreams with a plot that is sure to be a resounding success. Years pass without the novel being published, and Jake learns that Evan died. Jake writes his own novel based on the plot, and quickly becomes the famous author he always wanted to be. His life is finally on the right trajectory, yet someone knows what Jake did and threatens to expose him.

I liked this book, don’t get me wrong. I loved the plot within a plot aspect, as well as the play on the meanings of the word plot. It was very compelling, and I definitely wanted to keep reading to find out what happened. I found it very slow to start, though. It took me a long time and a lot of disengaging and re-engaging before I made it to the halfway point. It picked up from there and I found that the second half went much more quickly. I didn’t find the supposedly amazing plot to be quite as amazing as it was hyped to, and I predicted the big twist, though there were still some surprises at the end. Overall, excellent premise, some parts of the execution just didn’t work for me.

Though the first half of this novel starts off slow, the pace and the storyline picks up around the halfway point. All of a sudden, the novel becomes crazy twisty and turny and the storyline picks up. Though I guessed the culprit fairly early on and knew what was going to happen, I still enjoyed the ending and think everyone else will too.

The Plot is a fantastic read and absolutely has the potential to be one of my favorites of 2021.

So, why only four stars, Bridgett?

There are a few reasons:

1. The writing is very stylistic. I actually love the sentence structure Jean Hanff Korelitz used, but for the first couple chapters, it was a little hard to become absorbed into the story. After that, I guess I adapted, because it wasn't really an issue.

2. While I liked Jake's character, I also found him to be a little...bland. He had zero affect and wasn't terribly fleshed out. Same with Anna.

3. I figured out the BIG , final twist pretty early on. While the clues and red herrings were very well done, for me, it was still obvious. And this, fellow readers, is the main reason this book isn't getting five stars from me. There were still a few little surprises thrown in that I didn't catch, but for me, that didn't make up for the lack of a surprise ending.

Despite all those issues, I still loved this book. It was structured beautifully, and, as a writer, I could relate to so much of the content. This will definitely be a top ten read for me this year, I have no doubt.

Recommended, my peeps! Go pre-order your copy now. :)

Available May 11, 2021
4.25 stars

My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Celadon Books for my review copy.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of The Plot by Jean Haniff Korelitz.

Even though Jacob once had a shining moment as an author for his debut novel, his fifteen minutes are up, and he is now teaching for an unimpressive program. His students treat him with apathy, and he is beginning to lose hope that he will never be a known author again.

But then Jacob meets a new student, Evan Parker, who Jacob finds completely arrogant, narcissistic, and totally unimpressed with Jacob's desire to help him. But Evan has a story, a mind blowing story, a story so good that it is practically fail proof. Jacob knows that it's only a matter of time until he sees Evan's story on the shelf. But years pass, and he never does, but more than that, he sees that Evan Parker has died. But Jacob still knows Evan's story, and he also knows that Evan left behind no one that would no his story. Perhaps Evan's story can become Jacob's...

This was a BLAST to read! So much about it to love. I loved all of the literary and author references. I loved the story within a story. The mystery was so fun, the characters were very compelling. If you are looking for a well paced, colorfully layered mystery/suspense, grab this one!

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz will be one of my favorite books of 2021! After his first book lands on the New York Times New and Noteworthy list, Jacob (Jake) Finch Bonner has failed write to anything else worth mentioning. He considers himself a professional failure and has turned to mentoring and teaching as a means to support himself. It's while teaching at a third rate MFA program, he encounters an arrogant and egotistical student who, even Jake has to admit, has the plot for an overwhelming successful novel. Years after continued professional disappointment, Jake discovers that his former student has died and with him, Jake assumes, his story. It's a story to good to let go! Jake writes the novel that becomes an instant NYT best seller and Oprah Book Club pick, and lands Jake on the famous author touring circuit, giving him everything he's ever wanted. One day, however, Jake receives the text he's subconsciously been dreading...."You are a thief". Jake tries to hide his secret while also trying discover who else knows it. The Plot, which incorporates a story within the story, is intriguing, suspenseful and definitely a page turner. Additionally, I absolutely loved the peeks into the writing and publishing world which Korelitz presented with a bit of self-depreciating humor. I highly recommend this book.
Thank you @CeladonBooks and @Netgalley for an ARC of this book.

This book sounding interesting. However, I didn't care for the story. I was extremely bored. Not sure if it was writing style.

I loved this! I was completely hooked from the first pages. Spectacular twists, including the last one that I didn't see coming until it was pretty much already there. Highly recommended.

This is a great read and my top thriller from 2021.

This is a story about Jacob, a failed novelist who is now teaching at a third-rate MFA program where he encounters an arrogant student, Evan, who claims he is working on a novel with a story sure to make an international best seller. Jacob is skeptical until the student finally reveals the plot. When years go by and Jacob does not see a book from Evan, he learns that Evan passed away. So Jacob decides to steal the plot and write his own book -- which becomes a huge bestseller. He is riding high, until he receives an anonymous message threatening to expose his theft of the plot. This leads Jacob on a journey to learn more about Evan and his history in an effort to find the person threatening to blow up his life.

This story kept me completely engaged -- I couldn't put it down, I was so eager to learn more and see how the mystery was resolved. For those who enjoy thrillers or mysteries set in the publishing world, this is a must read.

Highly recommended!

This is a great thriller that kept me guessing until the very end. The main character, Jacob Finch Bonner, had a promising first novel, but since then his career has petered out. During a stint teaching at an MFA program, he meets a student who shares that he is working on a book that has a story sure to be a best seller. When Jacob learns several years later that his former student has died, he takes the plot and makes into his own book. Jacob's book with the student's story is a huge bestseller, leading to fame and fortune for Jacob. But then he receives an email from an anonymous correspondent saying they know Jacob stole the plot, leading Jacob on a wild chase to determine who is behind the messages -- and whether he can do anything to stop them.

I enjoyed several of the author's previous books, but this may be my favorite one. The plot here was quite clever. The mystery was well plotted and kept me engrossed throughout the story. Highly recommended!