The Book:
The Sequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz
Published October 1, 2024 by Celadon Books
Date read: July 28, 2024
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The Sequel spoilers can be found below, but they’re hidden under a spoiler tag so you’re safe to keep scrolling if you’d just like to read my review.
The Characters:
Anna
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THE BOOK Series:
The Plot
The Sequel
The Plot (from Goodreads):
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.
The Sequel Spoilers
The Reveal:
As Anna embarked on her debut book tour she began receiving threats, just like Jake had. The blackmailer knew that Jake had stolen Evan’s story, using Evan’s name.
Anna investigated and determined that Martin Purcell was responsible, so she orchestrated a meeting with him under the guise of publishing an anthology of Jake’s students’ work. She drugged him while they were at dinner together, told the hotel staff he had too much to drink, and then pushed him down the stairs, making it look like he’d had an unfortunate accident while stumbling around drunk.
A few months later, though, her editor and agent received the same threat with another excerpt of Evan’s original book. Anna traced the postmark this time to Arthur Pickens, the lawyer who helped sell her parents’ house.
Anna went to Athens, Georgia to investigate Pickens. She broke into his house and indeed found copies of Evan’s manuscript there. Pickens caught her, drugged her, and drove her out to where the real Rose was buried. (Reminder from Book 1, Anna was really Diana, Evan’s sister who had killed their parents, then her own daughter Rose, then finally Evan. She then took over Rose’s life and started over in college.) Pickens planned to exhume Rose, take photo and DNA proof, and use it to extort Anna into giving him all the proceeds from Jake’s book.
Anna was able to overpower Pickens, kill him with the shovel, and bury him on top of her daughter’s grave. Pickens had mentioned that he got the manuscript copy from the women who bought Anna’s parents’ house, so she went there next.
The Ending:
Betty and Sylvia agreed to show Anna around the house. Betty was the sister of Patrick, who had fathered Anna’s dead child. She knew Anna killed Patrick because Patrick always wore a seatbelt. The two woman attempted to kill Anna, but she was able to overpower them. Anna killed them both and burned down the home to hide any other evidence that might be left.
I hope these The Sequel spoilers were helpful.
The Review:
Thank you to Celadon Books for this gifted copy!
I was not expecting THE PLOT to get a sequel, but I’m so glad it did. It’s hard to write a sequel that lives up to the popularity of the first book (the characters in THE SEQUEL even acknowledge this at the beginning of this book), but Korelitz does a great job of creating a totally new story with new twists without making it feel forced.
My advice would be to read THE PLOT first–you’ll be missing some key elements if you jump in with THE SEQUEL first. It’ll completely change the reading experience, although not necessarily in a bad way.
Our main character Anna is a true antihero. It’s a fun reading experience to decide whether you want to root for or against her, and the author does a good job of compelling us to like someone we know is reprehensible. Some of Anna’s actions reminded me a bit of Lily’s in The Kind Worth Killing, which is one of my favorite thriller novels.
If you already read THE PLOT, you may have been left with some questions at the end. THE SEQUEL does a great job of plugging many of these plot holes and giving the reader a few more answers regarding the events of the first book.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story and how all of the reveals came together. I’m very curious to know whether Korelitz planned to write THE SEQUEL from the start, or if it was an afterthought due to the popularity of THE PLOT. Will there be a third book in this series?
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