To what lengths will an author take to write a successful book?

Jacob (Jake) Finch Bonner teaches a writing course that is meant to help aspiring writers improve their work, assist each other with feedback, and possibly gain an agent at the end. Writing is very important to Jake, and he misses the days when he published his first book. Although it wasn’t a huge success, it made the NYT New and Noteworthy list. His second book was a complete failure, and he hasn’t been able to get any of his other work published.

Instead, he is now teaching this course. One of his students, an arrogant jerk named Evan Parker, claims he doesn’t need any help with the fiction novel he’s writing because he already knows how good it is, and he knows it’s going to be a colossal success. Jake hears the plot and grudgingly agrees.

A couple years later, Jake has sunk lower. It dawns on him that he’s never heard of Evan again, or his book. Researching, he finds out that Evan died a couple years back. Since Evan was so secretive about his book, Jake assumes that nobody else knows the plot. So why doesn’t HE write the story, get it published, and enjoy much-deserved success?

Now, Jake is famous as his book spends week after week atop the NYT Bestsellers List. He never dreamed of how wonderful everything in his life would be. Then, one day, he gets a message on his author site, saying, “You are a thief.”

And that is all you need to know going into it. I was hooked from the start. The writing flows fantastically, and this mystery is interspersed with excerpts from Jack’s book...and that makes things interesting as he starts to investigate to find out who is messaging him, and how that person knows the truth behind the book.

Everyone talks about the SHOCKING moment in Jake’s book that had each reader gasping (think Gone Girl). I can tell you that I don’t feel that is accurate...in Jake’s book, or THE PLOT. It’s still an intriguing and gripping read with some nice moments of surprise. It’s not fast-paced, but it’s quick to get through (if that even makes sense). I guessed the culprit, but that was pure speculation on my part. The title has more than one meaning, which I love. It also has a satisfying and seriously wicked ending.

I received a free ARC of THE PLOT from Macmillan in exchange for an honest review.

Review also posted at: https://bonkersforthebooks.wordpress.com