It definitely took quite a few tries to get into The Plot. But it seems this is quite the hit this summer, so I gave it one last try. The first three chapters are the hardest to get through (if you enjoy parentheses in every other sentence, then don't skip these chapters!). Once you get past all the ranting and self-pity of a failed writer, the plot of the story becomes quite apparent fairly quickly. All the characters are quite one-dimension and the storyline dragged on without any real direction. It will be more enjoyable if the author focus more on developing the characters (i.e. using the first three chapters) and finessing the ending (which was a snooze fest).

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for an ARC in exchange of a honest review.

The most pretentious and narcissistic book I’ve ever read. It’s impossible to review this without spoilers so stop here if you don’t want this spoiled for you (or keep reading instead and DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME ON THIS BOOK.)







MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD:






This is going to be a bit of a rant. I’ll just list a few of the things I disliked the most.

1. WOW, this writer has a high opinion of herself. I lost track of how many times she complimented her own writing and plot. The main reason I read this book so fast was to see what made the plot within the plot sO aMaZiNg. A plot and twist unlike ANY other. A thriller worthy of Steven Spielberg directing the adaptation and Oprah putting it on her book club (both of which happened in the novel p.s.). Never mind the fact that neither of them ever pick books of this genre to promote/adapt. If David Fincher was directing, then sure, maybe. It could’ve theoretically made it onto Reese’s book club, yeah. But it’s like this author has never looked into Spielberg’s movies or Oprah’s book picks and just chose them both since they’re the most famous. After a very, very long time, we finally find out the “twist” that took the world by storm. The plot unlike any plot the world has EVER seen (keep in mind, this is set in modern day. Trump is president.) You ready for it???

*A mother gets pregnant at 15. Her future is ruined. She resents her daughter. They hate each other. When daughter is 16 she gets accepted into college early. The mother kills her daughter. (But on accident kind of?) She then takes her place at college since she’s such a young mom. The end.*

In the hands of Gillian Flynn or Karin Slaughter I’m sure this could’ve been a great thriller. I could even see it being on the NYT best seller list! But a book SO incredibly famous that flight attendants are used to passengers gasping on airplanes while reading this?? And everyone in every small town across America has heard of it within a year of release?! It was not executed well and the “twist” (I don’t agree that is classifies as one) was completely anticlimactic. I’ve read so many twisty thrillers that stand out as far superior to the fictional book “Crib.” I really am just floored with this author’s opinion of herself.

2. This book (and the book within the book) was SO boring. It blows my mind that someone labeled this as a thriller. The writing was very repetitive and the author over explained just about everything. You could cut out 150 pages and still read the exact same story. The protagonist is the absolute worst. You’re inside his head 90% of the time with very little dialogue and only a couple of side characters, so there’s no escape from his whiny, cowardly, pretentious stream of consciousness. I 100% would’ve marked this as DNF had it not been Jimmy Fallon’s summer book reads pick (in his defense, he hadn’t read it yet).

3. The MAIN “twist” ending of this book was painfully obvious. Everything about Anna seemed off to me from the very beginning and the last quarter of the book felt like such a chore to get through since I knew e x a c t l y what would happen. The Insta love, the dark backstory, the difficulty in guessing her age, how similar her name is to freaking Dianna, and so much more. The obnoxious cherry on top was her excessive monologuing at the end like a dang Disney villain.

4. Okay, my last complaint is the author literally didn’t do anything wrong in the eyes of the law. Like his publisher said, “you can’t copyright a plot/idea.” He didn’t plagiarize. He used different character names. He wrote it years after the original author died. Why was he so afraid?? Do you know how many books I’ve read that have had nearly identical storylines/twists?! Was it ethical? Probably not. But it makes no sense to me why he was so stressed about it and why Anna was angry enough to kill him.


Anyways, I’ll stop ranting now. I have a feeling this author would get along swimmingly with Kanye & Trump.

Thanks to NetGalley for my gifted copy of this book.
The Plot is a “ book with in a book” story about Jacob Finch Bonner, an author and now teacher at a 3rd rate MFA program. Once awarded the “New and Noteworthy” author to watch by the NYTs, he has basically fallen into obscurity. As a mentor of aspecting writers, he has heard everything he thinks he’ll ever hear and then some but nothing truly noteworthy and original until he meets Evan Parker. Evan has a plot for a story that he claims will blow everyone away and will have Oprah, Spielberg, and Hollywood in general, come running. During the first and only mentor session, Evan shares his “Plot” and Jacob is blown away.
Cut to several years later, wondering why he had never heard or seen this amazing book come to fruition, Jacob discovers that Evan has died and thinking that the plot was too good not to be written, writes his own version of the story he had only ever heard a brief summation of. Wide acclaim and best seller status follows, including Oprah and movie rights, he starts getting emails accusing him of plagiarism.
As he tries to discover who is threatening him, the journey leads him from Vermont, to Georgia, and back to New York.
This book had a twist I didn’t, but maybe should have, seen coming. Although it was slow in the middle, it held my interest and was a solid insight into the difficulty of being a writer.

I loved The Plot. An intriguing premise wonderfully realized with great characters, solid story-telling, and plenty of twists and turns. I highly recommend it.

Unfortunately, I am not big on DNF but I couldn’t keep reading this one… It was a very very slow start and I just couldn’t get into It! I made It to about 20%!

Perfect summer thriller, propulsive, suspenseful and and witty. This is sure to be a run away hit as it takes place in the literary scene.

It took me a few tries to get into this, but when I finally caught a groove the writing was good and propulsive. I liked the story a lot, genuinely, the problem is that it was very clear where it was going from pretty early on. And I’m not usually one to see things coming. Luckily, I do think the writing was fun enough to make this a book worth reading even if you guess early on where the author is headed. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy!

THE PLOT had a very interesting premise that was pretty unique from other psychological thrillers. It had a very Alfred Hitchcock feel to it and I was pretty interested when I first started reading it.

However, the middle of the book fell a little flat for me. I understood that it was meant to be a slow burn, but it seemed to drag a little too much for me. I also became increasingly annoyed with the main character, Jacob. While I do enjoy a good unlikable character, he became increasingly unbearable and that had me lose interest a bit with the story.

By far the best part about this book was the ending. The last quarter of the book was great and reeled me back in until the end. The ending definitely saved this book and I thought overall it was a great plot. I just wish there had been more substance in the middle to keep me engaged with the story.

I would definitely recommend this book for the ending alone, but I have also seen others who have enjoyed this book far more than I did. So give this a read if you’re looking for a different kind of thriller!

This book was such a fun read! It’s hard to explain much about it without giving anything away so I’ll be brief.

Go into this book as blind as possible. All I think you need to know is: there’s a book within a book (as you can probably guess by the title and cover), it is quite a thriller at the end, and be patient - the set-up is necessary to get to the reward of the ending.

I had a solid guess about the big twist, and while I was right, I couldn’t figure out why for a little while. But WOW the twist didn’t end there! Oh my GOSH it was a fantastic ending. Loved this book!

A captivating thrill ride about a story too good to resist and the author who steals it.

Jacob Finch Bonner’s grand plan of becoming an acclaimed novelist hasn’t turned out as he hoped. He’s resorted to teaching and struggling to hang onto the shreds of his ego. But when a promising student tells Jacob the premise of a novel he’s working on, a premise with best-seller potential, Jacob thinks he’s hit an all-new low. That is, until the student dies, leaving his book unfinished and the premise primed for stealing. Jacob writes the novel, which as expected, turns into a smash hit. But when Jacob starts receiving anonymous emails accusing him of being a thief, he begins to wonder where exactly his former student got the idea for his book, if it had anything to do with his death, and whether or not his own life is in danger.

A premuse bookworms will drool over as they white-knuckle the pages through the pulse-pounding plot line.

I had to DNF this at 33%. I just could not get into it. I have picked up this book several times over the last few months and I would find myself frustrated each time. I will keep trying to finish it but for now it’s going back on my shelf.

This book was commissioned for review by BookBrowse. You can read the review on their website.

Review posted at BookBrowse: https://www.bookbrowse.com/mag/reviews/index.cfm/ref/pr273024

Intriguing and interesting plot, although slow to take-off. Once it took off, I couldn't stop reading, even though I had guessed what the plot was!

For something so focused on the major twist of a plot, I unfortunately saw the twist in this one coming from miles away, which made it hard to maintain interest. The writing was strong, and the pacing was good.

This was a phenomenal read - it kept me up late at night finishing it!
The story moves fast, and even though I had figured out the ending, I was eager to see how it all unfolded.
Definitely a must-read this summer!

Absolutely compulsively readable -- the writing was so clear and succinct, and the plot moved at a breakneck pace. This is one of the summer reads I've now been telling everyone about. Even though I saw the twist coming about 30 pages before it was revealed, it took ZERO enjoyment away from the ending for me. Just loved it.

Wow wow wow…..great ‘plot’(see what I did there), loved the slow burn and the pacing. This book is worth all the hype.

I tried multiple time to read this, each time thinking it must be my mood or the wrong time or the stars weren't properly aligned. I couldn't make it very much further each foray. I couldn't get invested in the character, the plot seemed a bit too meta for me.

Jacob Finch Bonner is teaching at a low residency M.F.A program. His first book was called "New & Noteworthy" by the NYT. That was a decade ago and he hasn't written anything notable since then. He hates his job and can't believe he's come to this low point in his life. Enter his newest student Evan Parker who's cocky, brash, arrogant and is absolutely convinced that he's going to be the next big author. Because he's got the most amazing plot for a story. A plot so amazing and unexpected it's going straight to the bestseller list. Bonner doesn't think much of Evan Parkers claims until he hears the plot. Then he knows that for all his boasting he's right, this story will take him to the top. Then a few years go by and Bonner's life keeps getting worse. He then finds out that Evan Parker died without ever writing this book. So he takes the plot and makes it his own. He's now living the life he's always dreamed about. Bestseller lists and author tours. Then he gets an anonymous email "You're a thief."
I enjoyed this book from beginning to end. It was so well written, I couldn't put it down. I loved the twist in the plot and the twist in the book. Thank you #NetGalley and #CeladonBooks for my ARC.

What a page turner! Started off a bit slow, then bam! Looking forward to reading more by this author! Highly recommend!