This book had a lot of hype with it, but I thought it was just okay. The idea was good, but since I listened to it over audiobook I kept getting confused when I would pick backup.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for a copy to honestly review.

Thank you to Celadon Books, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for an ALC of Jean Hanff Koerlitz’s latest novel, The Plot.

Unfortunately this one just didn’t work for me. First, I was not a fan of the audiobook. The narrator was boring to me and made an already slow-burn, even slower. Because this one was moving so slow I was listening to it on 2.0 speed and the narration was super warped, more so than when I listen on any other app. Maybe that’s a NatGalley thing, it was just really annoying.

The book was a slow burn but the plot was engaging enough for me to keep reading. I had my suspicions early on who was harassing Jake over the internet and I was curious to find out if I was right. I thought the ‘book within a book’ aspect was a nice addition and the plot of Crib (the book within the book) sounded like a something m I would have enjoyed more than The Plot...

The Plot felt very repetitive to me and information was stated over and over again. Jake mauled over his decision to take over Evan Parker’s story throughout the whole book and it just became redundant. Maybe this was another case of the synopsis telling the reader what’s going to happen in the book, and that made the pacing feel clunky. For me, the epilogue “saved” this book. I thought it was chilling and interesting and would have loved to see more from Anna’s POV throughout the book.

Overall the writing was wordy yet engaging but that didn’t save the predictability and redundancy of The Plot for me. I’ve seen a lot of positive reviews for this one so don’t let my experience deter you from picking this one up, May 11th.

Audiobook: ⭐️⭐️
Actual book: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was a miss for me. The narrator was pretty good, he differentiated the characters well and kept a steady pace though jut. I did find him a tiny bit monotone. I felt like this book was very slow paced and really predictable. I feel like I had it figured out really quickly. It took 60% into the book before any kind of action happened. It just wasn’t for me. If you like slow burn thrillers, this may appeal to you.

Thank you NetGalley and Celadon for the opportunity to listen to this book on audio.

This was a good book. Completely unexpected and as I've seen others say, it's a slow burn until it's not.

This book is a book about a book and a very specific Plot. You see, Jacob Finch Bonner is a writing teacher and the author of a one-hit-wonder trying very hard to write another successful book and despite his efforts none of his books, after his first one, is taking off.

Then he meets his student, Evan Parker. Evan is certain that he is writing a book that will fly off the shelves, no questions asked. He's really pretty full of himself and Jacob Bonner has a hard time with his confidence.

Fast forward ... Jacob hasn't seen or heard from Evan in years so he starts investigating, I mean surely his book should be #1 on the NY Times Bestseller list by now, right?

What he finds in his research of Evan Parker and what happens next is what this book is all about.
Go get a copy and see for yourself!!

Jacob (Jake) Finch Bonner is a writer and published novelist whose first book reached critical acclaim but not the commercial success he’d dreamed about. His second book didn’t reach the level of the first and so he began teaching in an MFA program at Vermont’s Ripley College that even he knew wasn’t highly regarded. Jake was also struggling the past few years to find inspiration for his next book when one of his students, an arrogant and narcissistic young man named Evan Parker, declares he doesn’t need his or anyone’s help because the plot of his book is so compelling, it will become an immediate bestseller on its own. Evan won’t share more than a couple of pages with Jake but it’s enough that he becomes highly intrigued with the beginnings of the plot.

A few years later, another student with Evan’s personality traits triggers Jake’s memory and he searches to see if that much touted story ever got published. When he discovers that Evan died a few weeks after he left Ripley, Jake ultimately convinces himself that he can pursue writing the story himself. It does become that predicted commercial and financial success and Jake's name is right up there with the well known authors of the day. But as he’s enjoying all that comes with fame and critical acclaim, he receives the first of many messages to come from an anonymous sender called “Talented Tom” who simply states, “you are a thief.” Jake’s private search sends him on a journey into Evan Parker’s past that produces astonishing results.

Let me first warn you that this story requires your patience as it takes some time to develop but there is a payoff for your efforts. When it finally takes a turn to the point where it’s hard to stop reading (or in my case, listening), the foundation that was created provides that insight into the characters you’ll need to keep up. To make matters more interesting, the story transitions between Jake’s present day movements and excerpts of his book. Those transitions were well crafted as they become more meaningful as Jake delves deeper into Evan’s life. But the most compelling aspect of the story is the question it raises about the ownership of an idea. Jake had only a fragment of Evan’s story premise but was it enough to be considered a theft of someone else’s story? You’ll be left to decide that for yourself.

I listened to the story and it took me a moment to adjust to the narrator because he was so low key. But, after a bit I realized he was just being Jake who consumes most of the beginning of the book and he did that very well. When other characters emerged, there was quite a distinction. I’m really glad I chose to listen versus read because he helped build the excitement and intrigue, especially that twisty ending. I also have to admit to having guessed the surprise revelation but not the ending. I enjoyed this slow burn novel with the provocative proposition about what constitutes theft in the writing arena. You’ll have to consider decide for yourself. And, the journey to get there was delicious.

What an amazing thriller!
This book publishes in May and I hope it gets the buzz it deserves.
This book opened up with a real life application of a moral dilemma--who owns the rights to creative idea?
A creative writing teacher is struggling with writer's block and the pressure to deliver his next book. Normally, his student do not deliver inspiring work, but surprisingly one big-headed young writer surprises Jake with an incredible plot line,

Time goes by and Jack realized that book that sounded so promising was never written. His student died, and he never finished his book. So, Jack takes the idea and writes a best selling novel out of it.

While this is a very morally heavy subject, the story itself kept a thriller pace. I found myself listening to this story every moment I could to see what happened next.
Jake faces some serious consequences for his idea "theft." Slowly but surely, he realizes the issue isn't did he steal a plot idea, but whose true life story did he tell?
The ending was a crazy twist for me! I did not expect Jake's book THE CRIBE to be a real life tale. And the person who comes after him totally took me by surprise. Also, the ending was freak phenomenal. I was so happy to finally read a thriller where the main characters doesn't make it out of the nightmare. It makes your investment in the novel so much more real.

You have to pick this up. And when you do, please message me to discuss the ending.

“Good writers borrow. Great writers steal." - T.S. Eliot (or maybe someone he stole it from - who knows?)

Jacob Fitch Bonner has always wanted to be a writer, and he succeeded...kind of. After a successful first novel, his later works underwhelm, and he finds himself teaching. One of his students shares the idea for a "perfect plot" - the kind of book that will sell millions of copies, be an Oprah's book club pick, and end up as a Spielberg movie. When he finds out the student has died, Bonner borrows the plot for his book Crib, setting himself on a course to stardom. But someone knows his secret...and they're going to tell.

Thank you to Celadon Books for providing an ARC and Macmillan Audio for providing an ALC, both on NetGalley!

Genre: thriller
Rating: 4.5 (rounded to 5 for Goodreads)
Pub date: May 11

Wow. This is going to be a short review because I don't want to give too much away! I love dark academia and books about books, so this was right up my alley. As one would hope with a book called The Plot, this one is expertly plotted, with tension that ratchets up slowly but deliberately.

Korelitz's writing flows so beautifully, and her long sentences lend themselves well to audio. I loved how the narrator Kirby Heyborne conveyed Jacob's dismay at being discovered - I could feel his tension and disquiet. Whether you read or listen, you can't go wrong. This book is begging to be adapted into a movie or miniseries (just like the fictional Crib!) If you like a taut thriller, definitely pick this one up!

Review posted to Instagram 5/1/21 and Goodreads 5/2/21.

A huge thank you to NetGalley & Celadon Books for this ALC of The Plot.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Well I’m here from the unpopular opinion club... I have seen The Plot all over the place & have heard all the hype. I dove into this audiobook with high expectations & while it was a good book, it was a very slow burn. Another downfall for me was the narration. Unfortunately, I wasn’t captivated by the narrator & I think I may have liked this book more if I would have read it instead. Don’t let me opinion sway you, it’s still a very clever read! The concept of a story within a story was really fun! I found I actually liked the ‘story’ within the story more!

I hope you enjoy this, let me know your opinion!

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz is a well-narrated thriller about a writer who got inspiration for his novel from one of his writing students. Jacob's student has passed away after giving Jacob the gist of his book that he's planning to write. Upon hearing of the death Jacob decides to write the novel his student never got to. The novel is a great success and Jacob is flying high until he beginsto receive anonymous messages alerting him to the fact that someone knows the true origin of his book. Plenty of intrigue in this book. Listen and enjoy!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook for review!

This is my first audiobook. Ever. I wish I had a ebook so I could look back on it while I write this review, but since I don't, I apologize for any vague references or misrememberings.

First, the audiobook itself. I'll be frank: It was awful. It sounds like it was put together from a library of recorded syllables rather than an actual person reading, and the reader was so slow that I had to listen to it in 1.5x speed just to get through it.

After that, though, I flew through this. The story was compelling, the mystery was enchanting, and the writing was as lyrical as Korelitz has Jake describe Evan's writing in the beginning. I do wish the voices had been a little more distinct, however, from the story of Jake and The Plot, to the story within the story, of Jake's novel, Crib, to even the first few pages we get to read of Evan's version of the novel in the beginning. The style was incredibly similar, and if it hadn't been for the chapter titles where readers are literally TOLD these are pages from Jake's novel within the book, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.

The story is as unique as any mystery/thriller I've ever read. The meta-factor definitely helped with the originality, and it was a refreshing take on the genre. Do I think the plot (the actual story that starts all the drama, not this book, The Plot) is the best thing since sliced bread; as remarkable as Jake seems to think when Evan describes it to him in his office, guaranteed bestseller and sure to be picked up by Hollywood? No. Did I see the big bad coming from about 50% in? Yes. Was the ending pretty expositional and slightly eye-roll worthy? Yes. Can I think of better way to have ended the book instead? Well, no. So.

All in all, a quick thriller that, while it didn't really keep me guessing, definitely kept me engaged, if for no other reason than I enjoyed Korelitz writing and Jake's character. I will definitely be checking out some of Jean Hanff Korelitz other books, and am grateful to have received this eARC!

(RATING REFLECTS AUDIOBOOK, NOT THE NOVEL ITSELF. The Plot is a solid 4 stars for me.)

Jacob Finch Bonner has always wanted to be a famous author. Careful what you wish for. He finally writes the novel that gives him everything he had ever dreamed of and more. The excitement over his success is tainted by his feelings of guilt. The story plot wasn't 100% his own original idea, though he did all of the work to make it happen. Now he is being confronted by an anonymous person, calling him out on where he got his plot.

I loved this story. It shows a good deal of what happens behind the scenes of the writing and publishing world. I liked Jake and wanted him to succeed. I also liked the excerpt of the story Jake wrote, enough that you almost get the feel that you have read his novel even as he uncovers it's actual history for the first time himself. I read the audio version and Kirby Heyborne was the perfect voice for Jake. The cover of this book is brilliant and ties in so well with the actual storyline. And that ending....well you will just have to read it for yourself.

Thank you to Netgalley and MacMillan audio for the opportunity to read this audio-ARC.

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟/5
Pub Day: May 11, 2021
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A plot fit for the best selling novel of all time- that is what writer Jacob Finch Bonner was waiting an inspiration for. He once made it. His work recognized and sold, but that was ages ago and now he is teaching in a third-rate MFA program. He was not even convinced that he has something to teach these aspiring writers. Enter Evan Parker, his most arrogant student who made it clear that he does not need a teacher to become the World’s Greatest Novelist because he already have “the plot” for the World’s Greatest Novel. But, Even died shortly after and Jacob will pay his respects to his former student by giving Evan’s perfect plot a life into words. As expected, the plot which he titled The Crib was a hit and the book became the most talked about, the most requested, the most read and the best seller. At the height of his writing fame over The Crib, Jacob starts getting the messages saying he was a thief and The Crib was not his story to tell!
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This was a very slow start. I don’t mind a good cooking on character building but the extra chapter long sentences makes such a dragging narrative. However, Korelitz has well crafted a book over which a reader will not just enjoy one but possibly two stories all mixed into one great PLOT! A novel inside a novel! Despite the drag, the ending of this thriller was great!! The last chapter was really jaw-dropping! I had my early suspicions as to how the story unfolds but it did not take away my curiosity. I enjoyed the commentaries about writers as a whole. There is so much a reader do not know on whats to become of a book. It really was a great PLOT!
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Special thanks to @jeanhanff, @celadonbooks for my Advance Printed Copy. To @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for the Advance Listeners Copy. The audio version narrated by @kirbyheyborne has very pleasant sound. It compliments the book much more! Once again, thank you!
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Jacob Bonner was once a published author. Now he teaches a writing class where he meets an arrogant student, Evan Parker. Jake reads one of Evan's stories and is fascinated. He later hears that Evan has died and feels the story must be told. However, it's Jake that takes the story and makes it his own. The story brings him wealth, fame, and an email stalker called Talented Tom, who accuses Jake of being a thief. Jake later starts to investigate the background of Evan to find out who he was and the why of the story while trying to maintain a happy marriage to his wife Anna.

The Plot also alternates as a story within a story with Evans book "The Crib"

I've seen elements of this plot before but really enjoyed the story and narrator and recommend. My thanks to Net Galley and the publisher.

Okay so I knew nothing about this book but I requested it based on the cover.

You basically get two stories in one. The one that Jake is writing/stole from his student, and the actual story.

Here's the breakdown in bullet points:
-the pacing was odd and took me a couple chapters to figure it out. It jumps a couple years and I wasn't expecting that.
-not to be that person, but the twist was so obvious and I guessed it immediately.
-the story of "Crib" was a bit confusing because I stopped paying attention. My fault.

All in all, this book was okay. I think if you're new to this genre, you'd love it. However, if you've read a ton of thrillers, you have an eye/ear for catching the little things that are supposed to be big twists.

I did like the narrator though. AGAIN PLEASE CHANGE THE SPEED OPTIONS! SOME OF US LISTEN FASTER THAN SPEED 2 AND ANYTHING ABOVE THAT IT SKIPS AROUND LIKE A ROBOT.

I had very high hopes for The Plot, given the blurb and the endorsements from other writers. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations. That is not to say The Plot was bad, exactly... but it was uneven.

Some reviewers have complained that it was boring and slow, and that it spent too much time discussing writers, writing and publishing. This did not bother me. In fact, if it had been more of a literary novel focusing on Jake and his life as a once promising "up and comer" facing a dire professional slump, I think I would have liked it better. As it is, Korelitz attempts to marry this literary setting with the current genre du jour -- "Grip-lit." The grip-lit part is where the book fell flat for me. The mystery was not very mysterious and the outrageous, unbelievable, never-before-heard-of plot was also not that difficult to foresee. It was still interesting enough to finish, just to see how it all played out in the end.

Overall, I'm not sorry I read The Plot. It's not a book that really amazed or astounded me on any level, but it's a solid, well-written and fairly original novel that was worth the time it took to read.

I was given an advanced copy of this audiobook by NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

2 stars for the writing; 5 for narration.

In any classroom of beginning writers, there is the one would-be bestselling author who announces their concern about copyright or trustworthiness lest another student writer "steal" their work. The protagonist of Jean Hanff Korelitz "The Plot", flopped wunderkind and uninspired professor Jacob Bonner, reacts to the paranoid beginner in his classroom as so many creative writing teachers have before--with an invisible inner eyeroll, reflecting on the infinite variations of any single plot, the importance of a writer's individual style and vantage point, the sheer difficulty of completing a book--and the ever-unknowable prospect of its future sales. Korelitz's novel, however, playfully asks the reader "What if?" What if this one time, the beginning writer was actually correct and their idea was so utterly original and compelling it was "a sure thing."

That delightful premise buoys the slow opening section of the novel, which initially presents itself as a sort of light campus satire. Bonner will be recognizable to anyone familiar with the self-serious white male author archetype that appears in thinly veiled persona in many Great American Novels of the 70s and 80s. For several chapters as the plot of "The Plot" develops around him, Bonner gripes about his students (asserting at least three times during the novel that writing can't be taught), mopes about his disappointing sales and his own failure to achieve genius, and waxes philosophic to the tune of many a bygone blog post (e.g. the MFA is a racket, no one reads literary fiction, etc.).

Certainly, "The Plot" makes a reasonable argument for the supremacy of plot over character. When Bonner appropriates his student's "one of a kind", "can't fail" idea (not unreasonably, considering the student died without writing it himself), the tension begins to ramp. Korelitz can foreshadow with the best of them and as the tension built, it became difficult to pause the audiobook for long enough to send an email. There are several big twists and at least one did take me by surprise. For a reader listening with half an ear or burning through the book on lunch break, the skillful pacing will be enough, I think, to make for an exciting read.

I wish I could say that was my experience. To be honest, though, I would have put this aside early on had I not committed to review the audiobook in exchange for a Netgalley ARC. Many of my frustrations here were similar to those with another Korelitz hit, "You Should Have Known." As there, a supposedly millennial protagonist comes off twenty or thirty years older, from their vocabulary ("lousy", "get your paws off", "he's a crook") to their get-off-my-lawn-isms (references to culture oversensitivity; a general bafflement with the internet; the can-writing-be-taught talk). As in that book, the villain's muddled motivations are inconsistent with a basic familiarity with the psychology of calculated violence. Here, again, are the periodic off-notes in reference to race and stale social observations presented as revelation. Again, the logical inconsistencies that have characters' expressing shock over facts that an astute reader will have accepted many chapters earlier.

Most difficult to forgive in a book that *is* so much about plot is the volume at which Korelitz' telegraphs the upcoming twists. The revelation of the final pages was apparent in shape if not in its details from very early on. Based on Jake Bonner's own increasing shock, I thought I must be missing something, and my imagination went wild with possibities. What a disappointment, then, to discover that Bonner's overconfident student was wrong in the end. The best plot (and this is just a pretty good one) cannot compensate for mediocre execution. The reverse however might just be true--which is why my next suspense pick will be from a writer who understands the human psyche all the way down to its murky bottom.

A solid 4.5 stars for The Plot (twist) from NetGalley. This is the tale of an author that struggles to write a novel and when the novel finally is published it is a Plot like none other…. Or was it?? Fun read and enjoyed it even as I tried to figure out where it would lead.

*** I received an advance audiobook copy of The Plot from NetGalley & Macmillan Audio.

I was very excited to receive this advance copy because I had already placed this book on preorder from Audible. I thought the premise of the book was very interesting: who owns stories? Can a writer “steal” a story they have heard? I thought it was well written and I couldn’t wait to hear what was going to happen at the end. I think it’s definitely worth an audible credit 😁

A novelist turned writing teacher at at third-rate MFA program plus an arrogant student with a book idea that can't miss... Throw in a murder (or two), a stolen idea, and lots of twists and turns and you've got the formula for The Plot. I think it's best to go into this book not knowing too much so you can enjoy the ride. All the makings of a perfect summer read!

I alternated between the print version and the audio. Both were highly entertaining, but major kudos to Kirby Heyborne and his excellent narration. This is another winner for Macmillan Audio.


Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this ARC.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for providing me with an advance audio copy - I really enjoyed listening to this story. Its not a fast paced story and even though it takes a bit to get into the story I really wanted to know how things were going to evolve. This is one of those "books within a book" type of stories and I thought the storyline was excellent. I thought that the narration was done really well - I have started to really enjoy the audiobook experience and as I listened to this book -the narrator's voice was familiar and upon checking it out he has narrated a number of books I have enjoyed.