Publishers Weekly
★ 08/05/2024
After the death of her novelist husband, Anna Williams-Bonner fights to protect his legacy—and hers—in Korelitz’s powerhouse sequel to The Plot. Pushed by the agent she inherited from her late husband, Jacob Bonner, to write a book inspired by Jacob’s death, Anna publishes a weepy debut novel called The Afterword. It’s a hit, but at a book signing, she receives an anonymous note indicating someone knows about the dirty truths her manuscript is masking. Certain she’s being stalked, Anna turns the tables and begins to pursue her pursuers, working tirelessly to keep her past hidden as the death toll mounts. Korelitz makes hay with her satirical depiction of the publishing industry’s ego parade—untended slush piles play a pivotal role—and she brilliantly ushers the action toward a shocking conclusion. She also offers satisfying glimpses into what makes Anna tick, placing her alongside Tom Ripley in the pantheon of amoral antiheroes. It’s another taut and compulsively readable spellbinder from Korelitz. Agent: Suzanne Gluck, WME. (Oct.)
From the Publisher
Wicked entertainment.”
—Kirkus, STARRED
"It’s another taut and compulsively readable spellbinder from Korelitz."
—Publishers Weekly, STARRED
"Ms. Korelitz’s book, mixing dark wit with coldblooded suspense, provides an unforgettable tour through the life and mind of a homicidal protagonist."
—The Wall Street Journal
“This book will fly off the shelves.”
—Library Journal
“Fans of Korelitz’s literary thriller The Plot will (manuscript theft! identity theft! murder most foul! soup!) get excited for the sequel: The Sequel, in which a certain author’s widow decides to write her own book—and discovers that she’s not the only one who knows a few secrets after all. Fun.”
—LitHub, Most Anticipated Books of 2024
"[A] hilariously snippy and deliciously mean satire of the publishing world in addition to a nail-biting suspense novel."
—BookPage, STARRED
"[A] compelling and worthy sequel, another rip-roaring thriller full of very amusing scenes of delusional writers and their awful prose and many twists and turns."
—Booklist
"[A] page-turner for sure and a worthy follow up (sequel!) to the author’s fantastic thriller The Plot."
—AARP
Library Journal
07/01/2024
In Korelitz's The Plot, Anna Williams-Bonner murdered her writer husband Jake and made it look like a suicide, all in an attempt to keep him from unearthing her untidy past. She'd murdered her parents and daughter, invented a new life for herself, then killed her brother when he wrote a tell-all novel about her and showed it to his writing teacher, who happened to be Jake. Jake borrowed its plot and wrote it up as his own book, The Crib, which became an instant success. Then Jake started digging into Anna's past, and she had to take care of him too. Now, in Korelitz's follow-up to The Plot, Anna is enjoying life as the widow of her newly famous late husband. She's written a deceitful book about the experience and is on tour promoting it. But someone is refusing to follow the script she's prepared; cryptic notes, pages from her brother's manuscript start showing up around her. What is a respectable woman to do? Anna sets out to find the culprits and remove them and the manuscript from the world forever. Along the way, she kills an innocent person, but that's just a mistake. From then on, the victims get what's due to them. VERDICT The narrative starts slowly but by the end, it steams along. This book will fly off the shelves.—David Keymer
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2024-07-04
A less-than-grief-stricken widow follows in her novelist husband’s bestselling footsteps but finds that someone knows more about her than is safe—for either of them.
Anna Williams-Bonner has no burning literary vocation, and she certainly has no need to bury herself in work to recover from her spouse’s tragic supposed suicide. But an idle remark while she’s on the road promoting Jacob Finch Bonner’s posthumously published final work prompts her powerhouse agent—the one she inherited along with Jacob’s royalty checks—to get her into an artists’ colony; Anna, whose years working on a Seattle radio show prepping a lazy boss for author interviews have given her zero respect for the literary world, figures it can’t be all that hard to produce autobiographical fiction exploiting her alleged bereavement. Readers ofThe Plot (2021) already know that Anna is not at all what she seems, and this successor volume’s deliciously nasty narration (third-person, but from Anna’s point of view) creepily depicts the inner life of a perennially aggrieved, viciously vindictive, and alarming resourceful sociopath. At a signing for her novel, a Post-it note stuck inside one copy of the book warns Anna that someone knows about the past she has worked assiduously to bury. Tracking down this threat to her new prosperity and status requires Anna to revisit that past, and as she does readers learn in grim detail about the long trail of misdeeds she’s left behind her. One wonderfully ironic plot twist plays on the publishing world’s infamous slush piles, unsolicited manuscripts that molder unread for years in editorial offices; another reveals a rare misstep by Anna. A slew of barbed characterizations—there are no good guys here—add to the mean-spirited fun. The conclusion suggests that Korelitz may decide to emulate Patricia Highsmith and keep her antisocial protagonist around for more enjoyably amoral outings.
Wicked entertainment.
