I can’t tell you the book-jam-happy-dance I did when I saw The Sequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz as an August selection for Macmillan Audio Influencer Program. Appropriately named, the book is a sequel to The Plot (2021). This is a dark take on ‘books about books’ and I’m here for every single bit of it. An edgy, sardonic dive into plagiarism, theft of idea, writers, publishing, wrapped in a layered, complex family drama that plays out both in the book and writing within the book.

It’s not often that a sequel can live up to the first book. Jean Hanff Korelitz manages to pick up from the Plot, weave in the original storyline making it fresh, while giving us an entirely new perspective, a new view we didn’t know was missing. My strong recommendation is to go in with as little information as possible. Inherently The Sequel spoils certain plot points for the first book (The Plot), it’s unavoidable.

Audiophiles take note, The Sequel is narrated by Julia Whelan. Her intonation, sarcasm, pacing is second to none. I’d longed for Korelitz and Whelan to team up again after The Latecomer (5/22, also recommend!). I listened to this at 1x speed just to make it last longer. I know I’m not the only one that follows narrators in the same way I do authors so was thrilled to see her narrating this. It made the difference between grabbing this in print and audio. I will eventually get the ebook and print versions of The sequel as well, but if you have to choose one I strongly suggest audio!

**Do I need to read The Plot first?**
Rarely to I highly recommend reading the first book before the second. Usually there’s enough context to get the gist for the second book to stand on its own…and it does…but… I’m still bringing this to you a month before publication (10/1) so you have time to read the first in preparation. These books are so layered, so twisty, nuanced, that I truly feel you miss out on a huge part if you haven’t read the first book.

Jean Hanff Korelitz's follow-up to the "The Plot" was everything I hoped it would be and more! I do believe I am leaning to "The Sequel" as the better of the two books, which I did not expect at all considering how much I enjoyed "The Plot"! I will keep my review as general as possible so as not to ruin anything!

The story had a great flow and I loved being inside Anna's head with all of her commentary, sarcasm, and madness! Narrator Julia Whelan, one of my absolute favorite narrators, gave this book even more life than it already had. I could not stop listening, it captivated me from the beginning to the very end.

If you haven't read "The Plot", you should definitely ready it before you pick this one up so that you understand all of the backstory. The author takes us through events of the first book from Anna's perspective throughout the book as we ride along with Anna soon after "The Plot" takes place. Now an author herself and out on her own book tour, the parallels she experiences are not unlike those her husband Jake experienced...but Anna refuses to be taken down and will do whatever needs to be done to keep her secrets safe...

The writing and the audio are simply superb, and this is one sequel I will absolutely recommend in my library! Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for giving me the opportunity to listen to this digital ARC.

Wow! This was twisted in all the best ways. I was mesmerized by The Plot and couldn't wait to read The Sequel. With that being said, this could still be read as a standalone, but reading The Plot first might help you enjoy this book even more. It's clever, layered, original, and unpredictable. At times it felt weird rooting for Anna due to her shall we say questionable moral compass, but I cheered her on just the same. I loved being immersed in the world of a writer, especially one as complex as Anna Williams Bonner. The chapter titles, being notable sequels were smart and creative. The narrator Julia Whelan masterfully brought the characters to life while adding depth and intensity to the unsettling and intriguing tale. Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my audiobook.

No sophomore slump here. The Sequel is as enjoyable and intriguing as The Plot. Anna Williams-Bonner, née Diane Parker, is the anti hero you can’t help not rooting for. Once again, while touring for her debut novel, finds herself embroiled in her past misdeeds.

If you enjoyed The Plot, you will enjoy The Sequel with its twists and turns and insights to the publishing world.

Julie Whelan is perfection as the narrator.

Thank you NetGalley and McMillan Audio for this advance copy of the audiobook. All opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and Celadon Books and Macmillan Audio for sending me an ARC of The Sequel in exchange for an honest review.

The Sequel is the sequel to The Plot, so if you haven’t read that book, STOP reading this review or you’re going to get spoiled on that book.

Last chance …. 😄

The Sequel is told from Anna’s perspective, Jake being unavailable and all. The story pretty much picks up where The Plot left off. Anna decides to write a novel based on her experiences as the widow of a novelist who committed suicide after facing anonymous online attacks. Her novel is a critical and commercial success. But on her book tour, just like her husband Jake, Anna begins receiving messages referring to Evan Parker, and implying that Jake did not write his bestselling novel. Then she begins receiving pages from Evan’s draft novel, a novel that Anna thought she had wiped from the earth. So Anna begins a journey much like her late husband’s, sifting through his past to try to find who is sending out these pages, all the while trying to decide if this person knows Jake’s secrets, or hers ….

I loved The Plot—loved the characters, the twist, and the ending—but when I’d finished reading it, I did not expect a sequel. So I went into The Sequel uncertain what to expect and whether it would feel necessary and organic. I did not expect what I got here, but that’s not a bad thing at all. At the end of The Plot, Anna seemed like a perfect antihero, the monster hiding in plain sight, literally getting away with murder(s). In The Sequel, Anna is made human again, still a sociopath, but a vulnerable one. She’s uncertain. She makes mistakes. The story here takes everyone back through the events of The Plot, but we see them from Anna’s perspective, learn more of her backstory and what truly happened, and see how the choices she made then are impacting her now.

The Sequel deliberately leans into its status as a sequel. Every chapter title is the name of a literary sequel. But the story is an uncommon version of a sequel, going back through the events of The Plot, deconstructing them, and building a new suspense story on the bones of the original. And it was a very interesting choice by Ms. Korelitz to pull back the curtain on Anna, to strip her of her seeming invincibility and see if she can once again escape the consequences of her actions. Recommended for everyone who read The Plot, and I especially recommend the audiobook performed by Julia Whalen, who is simply the best audiobook performer working today.

All I can say is if you enjoyed Lucy from "Listen For the Lie" you will want to add Anna Williams Bonner to your friends list too. Her sarcasm and dark humor had every sentence practically dripping with disdain and I LOVED it. Admittedly it took me a hot minute to settle into this book, but once I fell into rhythm with Korelitz I was enthralled. Julia Whalen (The narrorator) has mastered the term Snarky, so she was perfect for this role.
Now, what can I say about the book without getting into spoiler territory. I had read "The Plot" a few years ago and I highly recommend giving that a read before picking this one up to fully understand what is going on. Basically Anna Williams Bonner the widow of our dear friend Jacob Finch Bonner has managed to write a best seller with next to no effort, to quote Elle Woods, "Oh, Like It's Hard?"
So clearly struggling authors are insanely jelouse, and as she begins to receive puzzling excerpts from an unpublished novel that closely resemble her all to real past she begins to get a little hot under the collar. As she realizes she is being hunted her sinister slants and vindictive acts bump up to a whole new level of crazy, and I AM HERE FOR IT. Some of my favorite passages occured when Julia Whalen voiced things Anna Williams Bonner put in quotations--so funny and well timed.

It is a task to write a better book than the original but dare I saw Jean Hanff Korelitz may have done it.....

Thank you Net Galley for allowing me to read and review this advanced copy of The Sequel. I was not influenced or paid in exchange for this honest review.

Run to read this book (after reading #1 of course) when it publishes Oct 2024!

Not only did I highly enjoy The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz, but I absolutely loved The Sequel which follows Anna, Jacob's wife. I loved how the various characters were intertwined which revealed just how unhinged Anna is...and I am here for all of it! I find sequels usually lack a bit compared to the first book, but this was not the case, in my opinion. Definitely a great novel!

This is unputdownable!! I could not stop reading and needed to know how this story progressed ASAP. Anna is almost unnerving but I also found myself rooting for her. What a trip and what a great addition to this series.

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.