Review: "The Sequel," Jean Hanff Korelitz

Jake Bonner is dead. He was the best-selling author of the novel Crib, and his story was told in Jean Hanff Korelitz’s The Plot.

The Sequel is the sequel to The Plot.

I’m going to try to review The Sequel without giving away The Plot. It won’t be easy.

Then again, if you haven’t read The Plot, there’s no need to read this review. You absolutely need to read The Plot before you read The Sequel.

You are welcome in advance for this advice.

Anna Williams-Bonner is Jake’s widow. She is enjoying her new life by tending to his legacy and living off the proceeds of his very popular book. Then his agent, Matilda, suggests that Anna write a book of her own.

Why not, she thinks.

Anna is a cool, extremely focused character. So it’s really not surprising that she writes a best seller on her first try. Her novel, The Afterword, is about a woman whose husband commits suicide. Hmm…

Readers relate—big time—to the story and Anna embarks on a coast-to-coast tour. But there’s a fly in the ointment. Jake had been plagued by an anonymous figure who accused him of plagiarism. Now more accusations are surfacing, and they threaten to undo Anna’s comfortable life.

Anna is determined to put the accuser to rest. In fact, she won’t let anything stand in her way. In fact, she’s a sociopath.

Well, maybe that’s because she had a traumatic childhood. Or did she? To call Anna an unreliable narrator would be an understatement. The story exists on three levels—Anna, today; Anna’s past; and the narrative of The Crib. A few times, I had to stop and think about what fictional “reality” I was experiencing.

Anna is a fascinating character—I couldn’t help but admire her smooth but icy demeanor, evil ingenuity and single-mindedness, even as bodies were falling. I’m not sure what this says about me, but I was turning the pages too fast to care.

The book ends with an entirely plausible, yet deliciously ironic twist—and maybe an opening for yet another sequel.

An added delight was the author’s use of book titles for chapter headings—It Starts with Us and Ripley Underground and Doctor Sleep among them.

Korelitz has crafted a fascinating mystery that also pokes slyly at the literary world. It’s one of the best books I’ve read this year.