October 2024

There are times when you would love for an author to write a sequel, but that often does not happen. So when I saw that Jean Hanff Korelitz had written a sequel to THE PLOT (which also was a Bets On selection when it came out in May 2021), I was looking forward to seeing what came next. If you have not read the first book and are planning to do so, stop right here as there is a plot spoiler ahead.

Anna Williams-Bonner is the widow of Jacob Finch Bonner, who came to one swift demise in THE PLOT. Now, in THE SEQUEL, she has taken on the mantle of literary widow. With persuasion, she has written a book of her own called The Afterword, which sees its own success.

Besides being a twisty tale, this is a fun inside-baseball view of publishing. There are dishy lunches and agent/editor conversations with Anna. She is now, after all, an insider. When she is brought to hear the works of some aspiring writers, she is all too happy to be able to sprint away to Balthazar to lunch with her agent and editor about the misery of such a situation.

But what happens when you spin a lie? Your past comes back to haunt you. And haunt it does. Suddenly something shows up that ensures at least someone is on Anna’s trail, and they want to expose her. Up goes the body count as the author works to get those who can uncover her past out of her way. Now we do wonder if Jean has one more in her with this cast of characters. After all, she leaves herself wide open to write “The End.” Be sure to read the Afterword, as well as the Epigraph. There are some wonderful little reader Easter eggs buried in there.

If you want to hear more about THE SEQUEL, be sure to watch or listen to my interview with Jean.