Book Review - The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

Title: The Plot
Series: -
Author: Jean Hanff Korelitz
 
Description: Jacob Finch Bonner was once a promising young novelist with a respectable published first book. Today, he’s teaching and struggling to maintain what’s left of his self-respect. He hasn’t written, let alone published, anything decent this in years. When Evan Parker, an arrogant student, announces he doesn’t need Jake’s help because the plot of his book in progress is a sure thing, Jake prepared to dismiss the boast as typical amateur narcissism. But then… he hears the plot.
 
Jake returns to the downward trajectory of his own career and braces himself for the supernova publication of Evan Parker’s first novel: but it never happens. When he discovers that his former student has died, presumably without ever completing his book, Jake does what any self-respecting writer would do with a story that, a story that absolutely needs to be told. In a few short years, all of Evan Parkers predictions have come true, but Jake is the author enjoying the wave. He is wealthy, famous, praised and read all over the world. But at the height of his glorious new life, an e-mail arrives, the first salvo in a terrifying, anonymous campaign: You are a thief, it says
 
Review: Many novels have already sprung from the brain of Jean Hanff Korelitz, the most famous being “You Should Have Known”, the basis for the chilling HBO-series “The Undoing”. For me, this is the first book of hers I read, but I will definitely not stop there. “The Plot” took me by surprise and impressed me.
 
In “The Plot”, Jake Bonner, a teacher of creative writing at an insignificant institution, learns of an extraordinary plot written by one of his student, the arrogant Evan Parker. When Evan never releases this so-called success, Jake learns that Evan has died without ever publishing the book. Jake takes the plot as his own and writes the book, turning it into to an international bestseller. But soon he receives an e-mail saying: You are a thief. Someone has found out that the plot his book is based on, isn’t his.
 
I would say “The Plot” is a thriller, but it is not very eventful. Boring, you would think, but what makes this book so interesting and captivating is the constant oppressive feeling and the fear Jake is feeling throughout the book. The book has a slow start, but after that, you will fly through it. At least I did, and I’m a very slow reader. The ingenious plot twist, that I did not see coming at all, is a surprise up until the very end. The cat-and-mouse game played in this book is very intense and I really enjoyed the inner monologue you will have after reading this book. When does inspiration turn into theft? Because Jacob didn’t steal a complete novel to publish it in his name, he simply used a plot he heard from a former student and turned it into a novel. There will always be a debate about this, because is it theft or not?
 
“The Plot” is an intelligent thriller, that kept my attention at all times. Going into to this, I thought it was going to be just okay. And those are the best book, when they eventually turn out to be fantastic books you will remember.
 
Rating: 4,5/ 5