Thank you Macmillan Audio for the ALC and Celadon Books #partner, for the advanced copy of The Sequel in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Celadon Books / Macmillan Audio
Published: October 1, 2024
Summary:
After the “insanely readable” (Stephen King) and “perfectly told” (Malcolm Gladwell) New York Times bestseller The Plot comes Jean Hanff Korelitz’s equally captivating new novel: The Sequel.
Anna Williams-Bonner has taken care of business—that is to say, she’s taken care of her husband, bestselling novelist Jacob Finch Bonner, and laid to rest those anonymous accusations of plagiarism that so tormented him. Now she is living the contented life of a literary widow, enjoying her husband’s royalty checks in perpetuity, but for the second time in her life, a work of fiction intercedes, and this time it’s her own debut novel, The Afterword. After all, how hard can it really be to write a universally lauded bestseller?
But when Anna publishes her book and indulges in her own literary acclaim, she begins to receive excerpts of a novel she never expected to see again, a novel that should no longer exist. Something has gone wrong, and someone out there knows far too much: about her late brother, her late husband, and just possibly… about Anna herself. What does this person want, and what are they prepared to do? She has come too far, and worked too hard, to lose what she values most: the sole and uncontested right to her own story—and she is, by any standard, a master storyteller.
My thoughts:
This book is so aptly named and I could not have loved it more! In fact, as much as I loved The Plot, I might have loved The Sequel even more! I really don’t think this should be read as a stand-alone…too much hinges on what occurred in the previous book, The Plot, to not have read it before coming into this one…plus it’s just another fantastic book!
And this one…like I already said – I loved the title and I loved the book! It’s hard to say much about the plot of this one without getting into spoilers for the first book, so I’ll just say that once I started this one I had a hard time putting it down. The twists just kept coming and I was shocked at every turn! But not only that…this was just a fun book. It’s a little over the top at times, but that’s the best part!
This is such a clever, tightly plotted story with a main character that you want to root for even if maybe you shouldn’t. She’s one of the best anti-heroine’s I’ve read in a while. I loved watching the layers peel back on her as the story progressed.
Audio thoughts:
When I saw Julia Whelan was narrating this, I couldn’t hit play fast enough! And what a performance she gave…perfectly paced, unique voices…everything I have come to expect from this uber talented narrator.
Do I dare hope there is another “Book Series” book in the works?
Books in this series:
- The Plot
- The Sequel
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