THE SEQUEL by Jean Hanff Korelitz

5 stars

In this sequel to Korelitz’s exceptional thriller The Plot, Anna Williams-Bonner returns in her unsettling pragmaticism and complex motivations to eliminate anything, and anyone, she views as threatening her. Anna’s husband, the bestselling novelist Jacob Finch Bonner, has committed suicide and she’s been traveling the country in his stead signing copies of his latest book. She still has a watchful eye out for the anonymous accusations of plagiarism that hounded him and seemed to lead to his depressive demise. She has befriended his literary agent and editor and keeps up monthly lunches with his grief-stricken parents.

Suddenly, Anna gets struck by the idea that perhaps she too can write a best-seller, while attending a forest writing retreat for uppity authors. She sequesters herself in her cabin and emerges with her novel called The Afterward, a fictionalized account of a widow coping with the suicide of her famous novelist husband. Of course, it helps that she has inherited the best agent and editor in the publishing business.

As Anna now tours the country for her own book, she starts receiving excerpts from her dead older brother’s novel which is a skewered take on Anna’s own growing up in Vermont – after she thought she had eliminated all copies out there. As Anna hunts down the threat, things spiral out of control.

Best of all, Korelitz brings her signature humor to this not-so-funny plot, and manages a hilarious send up of the current state of the publishing industry and all the resentful wanna-be authors out there.

Thanks to Celadon Books and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.