The second installment of The Book Series was a good read. It follows basically right after the first book stopped. The Sequel follows Anna after the "suicidal" death of her husband Jacob. Anna decides to write her own book and shortly afterward she starts getting messages alluding that they know what really happened. I found this story to be a bit predictable because it followed the same timeline as the first book. We do get to learn a bit more about Anna but ultimately it felt like it was the same story but now from a different point of view. The ending was a bit cartoonish to me but did resolve most of the threads. I think most people will like this book if they enjoyed the first book.

Thank you for granting me this audiobook for review.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the gifted ALC.

I'll keep this short and sweet and say this one just wasn't for me. I am not fully convinced The Plot needed a sequel, I did really enjoy the first book.

Nevertheless I will continue to read this author's future works!

This sequel, aptly titled The Sequel, was such a fun read! I was so impressed by how Korelitz made us root for Anna even as we knew right from the start that she was the villain. Bravo! The narrator, Julia Whelan, is one of my favorites and she never disappoints!

While this book works as a standalone, I think it is so much better if you have read The Plot. I wish I had reread it before starting The Sequel so everything would have been fresh in my mind.

I really enjoyed all of the background info on the process of writing a book, getting it published, doing book tours, etc. Anna does not have many good qualities but for some reason I still found myself rooting for her.

Lots of twists, great writing and humor!

Julia Whalen is a fantastic narrator as always, I love everything she does.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I didn’t realize there was going to be a follow up to The Plot so when I saw this in the Find Titles section of Netgalley, I HAD to request the ARC audiobook! The Plot was one of my favorite & highest rated books of 2021. It’s something I always recommend to friends when they ask me for book suggestions no matter what their favorite genre is.

Anyways, as the title suggests, this is The Sequel. It begins where the previous book left off. Now Anna is on a book tour as Jacob Finch Bonner’s widow. She is constantly asked “what do you plan on doing next” by interviewers. One day Anna randomly says she plans on writing a book. Anna had no intentions of following through, but out of pettiness/annoyance with other people thinking they were better than her, she decides to actually write the book. The book has decent success for a first time author but soon she starts getting the same cryptic messages her husband received, hinting that Jake’s plot wasn’t original. In the same style as The Plot, chaos ensues!

My biggest criticism is that Anna does TOO MUCH. But then again, if she didn’t, where would we get all of twist and side eye moments from? Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I read the first book in this series, The Plot, back in 2021 when it was selected for @FallonBookclub. And since I’ve read hundreds of other books since then, my mind was a little foggy on the details. If you haven’t read the Plot, I recommend reading it immediately prior to The Sequel so all the character names and details of the mystery are still fresh in your head. Once I got a quarter of the way into the audiobook, the pieces of The Plot started gradually coming back to me, so it started making more sense.

The deranged widow, Anna, has written a novel of her own after her successful writer husband commits suicide. She may have received unfair advantages to get a top agent and publisher based on her late husband’s notoriety and not based on her own merit. Other aspiring authors seemed to be bitter about this. She goes out on her own book tour, until she starts receiving threatening anonymous correspondences, similar to what plagued her husband prior to his ending his own life. Could this be the same evil person harassing her? Or is she the evil one, doing whatever it takes to keep the truth of her husband’s story from being exposed?

My favorite book by this author is still, The Latecomer, which is a humorous family saga, but if you enjoy mystery/thrillers The Plot & The Sequel may be more your style. The audiobook is narrated by Julia Whelan, who always does a superb job differentiating many voices and especially coveys the angst and general unpleasantness of this book’s main character.

I had forgotten most of The Plot, but it was not hard to get into this. While the story in this was engaging, I do think it could have been a little bit shorter. There were times where it felt like it dragged, and our main character is not the nicest and she can sometimes not be sympathetic, so I did want to spend less time with here the longer the story went on. I did love the meta quality of it all, and the fact that it felt like something that had the capability to happen. The whole plot line does feel like something you would read in a headline, so I really enjoyed it in that way. The narration was very well done, I would listen to her again and the production quality was also well done. Overall, I think this was a solid follow up to The Plot.

I'm so mad at myself for requesting this book before I read the first one. The first book was possibly one of the worst books I've ever read. It had such a good premise only to have a terrible execution. The second book follows a main character who is extremely unlikeable, and I wanted to tear my eyes out of my head sitting through the duration of the audiobook version. I most likely won't read another book written by this author.

I was curious to see how The Sequel could follow up The Plot, and it did not disappoint. The story is a consistent but distinct continuation of its predecessor. I won't say more than that to avoid spoilers, but I will say that if you enjoyed The Plot, I think you'll enjoy The Sequel.

Julia Whelan is a legendary narrator and is fantastic here as always.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #MacmillanAudio for a free copy of #TheSequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Netgalley for this advanced audio edition of The Sequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz.

I remember reading The Plot and getting an absolute kick out of it. The Sequel also does not disappoint. It's the same amount of unhinged, slippery, and shady behavior by similarly described characters.

I would say that The Sequel perhaps went a bit harder than The Plot, to the point of ridiculousness, as well as perhaps redundancy. I wish I could have read them back to back to still have the flavor of The Plot, still firmly in my head.

Be that as it may, I was very excited to see a sequel (aptly named BTW), and enjoyed the heck out of it.

I really liked this book. I preferred The Sequel, which surprised me because I really liked The Plot. I loved how the author transitioned book 1 to book 2 it made it really easy to follow and I loved having Anna's perspective, that made it an even more interesting read. It was also really easy to listen to, the narrator did a great job.

Damn lady! I wouldn't think that literary career would warrant this type of "sacrifice". I'm hoping that this is not the authors or their spouses are doing to cover plagiarism. Korelitz, please tell me that Anna is not the fictionalized version of some author's spouse. Because if that's the case, I'm gonna read sequels with a different attention after this.

Anna Williams-Bonner was now a widow. Her uber-successful husband passed away leaving a literary heritage behind him. But towards the end of his career, he was getting these threats about how he plagiarized on of his most successful stories. Anna was thinking that maybe stress of that lead his death too. Anna was a good author too and she wanted to take advantage of leaving her husband's lime light to find hers. When she published her own book, these threats started to surface again. Along with the face of Anna I don't think I was ready for

I liked the idea of having a series based on literary terms to show how it's actually done and how those terms play a critical roles in these book. I always liked Korelitz's storytelling, and I'm looking forward to more literary terms.

This is a book full of twists...almost to the extreme. Having read The Plot I was familiar with the driving force of Anna however I do think this could be read as a standalone. I like that this is set, slightly, within the world of publishing. Makes for an interesting read for an avid reader.

I have a hard time with books when I find the main characters unlikable. I need to have someone to root for. The Sequel doesn't have one single likable character yet I still enjoyed it because the characters felt real in their unlikable qualities. I enjoyed this as but as I did The Plot, so if you've read that and liked it you will definetley want to give The Sequel a go.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in advance of publication.

I received an early copy of this book in exchange for my review. while I hadn’t read the first book, I was still able to follow along with the plot and the characters. I enjoyed the backstory that was provided and found myself questioning the twist throughout (in a good way!).I would say that this is a good book in its genre, and I am looking forward to going back and reading the first one. The audio narration set an excellent job and was easy to listen to

Such a well executed follow up to The Plot! And Julia Whelan can narrate no wrong. Great multidimensional characters, strong writing, and perfect pacing and just the right amount of twists!

This is an absolute roller coaster of a book! To say that I was completely
‘All in’ from the realization that it is actually the sequel to the 2021 book,
‘The Plot,’ is almost humorous, but it is absolutely true. I think that this
book reads well on its own, with most minor details covered.
I have not read a book this year with as many unfortunate incidences dealt
out by a single character and with specific, intentional outcomes. Somehow
as I think about each event, they all make sense if Anna expects there to
be a place for her in the next book.
My thanks to MacMillan Audio (Narrated by the incomparable Julia Whelan.)
and NetGalley, for the audio download of this book for review purposes.

The Plot THICKENS!

I feel like Jean Hanff Korelitz was really playing the long game with this one! The Plot was a stand-out read for me when it debuted a few years ago so I was excited, if somewhat surprised, to find out about the sequel. I recommend reading the first novel before the sequel as there are numerous threads woven in between. I found a greater appreciation for some of the clever details having read them back to back

This time, the story resumes from the perspective of Anna Williams-Bonner. I’m a sucker for dual perspectives so that immediately intrigued me. Though it is rare to wait for the second novel or the additional perspective… it was worth the wait!

Were the characters in this book generally likable? No. Did that make the reading experience less enjoyable? Also, no.

Whenever Julia Whelan is narrating, I’m listening! Highly recommend the audio version as it’s easy to get immersed in the story with her impeccable narration.

Big thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC!!

I loved The Plot but unfortunately the Sequel wasn't nearly as compelling. I made it halfway through the audiobook and gave up. The Plot excelled with great pacing, satirical insights into the literary world (as a writer I eat that stuff up), a compelling main character, and of course a brilliant plot. The author is a talented writer but this lacked all of the above and I just didn’t care about Anna or the story. I have no issue with anti-heroes and unlikeable characters but need to be able to relate to them or care and while I did appreciate some of Anna’s snarky insights, but it wasn’t enough to hold my attention.

The Plot was a really fun thriller and I loved "The Sequel" just as much. You really should read "The Plot" before picking this one up or you might be confused and won't get maximum enjoyment. I really enjoyed the narrator for this one, it really added to my enjoyment of this book.

I received a free audiobook from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

Holy cow, what a book! I hadn't read Korelitz's previous book, The Novel, so I was reading backwards but it was a great read! And after reading the first, a lot of details are slotted into place, but it's entirely possible to enjoy this without reading the first.

There's very little I can say about this book that doesn't spoil the first one, but I'm surprised by how reasonable this plot and follow up are. Normally, I'd say the whole story arc is just bonkers and unbelievable, but somehow it works! I made the "??WTF??" face a bunch of times during this book, followed closely by the "Huh. I'll allow it" face.

Definitely worth reading if you like mysteries and rotten people!