‘It will be read by everybody. It will make a fortune. It will be made into a movie.”

I am a longtime fan of this author’s campus novels, but this story within a story surpasses them all,
Surely the most irritating question an author has to address must be ‘How’d you come up with the idea for the plot?’
With three stories in one, the intriguing premise of ‘a sure-fire’ best seller’ in this novel is what happens when writerly ambition collides with the idea of intellectual property or moral obligation and becomes plagiarism?
The ingenious narrative construction takes time to get going, but the gradual jaw-dropping incremental revelations, with literary nods to suchlike authors as Marilynne Robinson and Patricia Highsmith leads the reader to the meta fictional clues within.

Jacob Bonner was once a promising writer now he's teaching in a third rate MFA program. When one of his students tells him he's writing the new bestseller Jacob doesn't believe him until he hears the plot.
Fast forward a few years and Jacob realises he's heard nothing of the novel. When he realises the stories never been written and the student is now dead he decides to take the story for himself.

But someone knows what he did and someone wants to get him back for stealing what wasn't his.

This book begins very slowly I was ready to give up about 10% of the way through but I pushed on and I'm glad I did. It speeds up about halfway through and I raced through the end.

I enjoyed the thrilling aspects of this novel but was disappointed as I figured out the twist before it happened.

* 3.5 stars.

I didn't think I'd enjoy this book as much as I did. I found the main character highly unlikeable and raised an eyebrow at the author attempting to include extracts of the described 'sure thing' plot. However, the writing turned out to be very engaging, and although the plot of the book-within-a-book wasn't the groundbreaking one posited by the characters, it was a solid thriller, and I enjoyed the setting being about the publishing industry and being a writer. I also did end up being correct in predicting the ending, but can appreciate the foreshadowing, and solving a mystery myself is part of why I enjoy this genre, but this also may be a point against the book for some readers.

(Many thanks to Netgalley and Faber and Faber for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.)

Jacob Finch Bonner was an up and coming novelist - once lauded in the New York Times for his promising debut novel, Jacob is now teaching in a third rate MFA program, having struggled to publish anything since. When one of his students - arrogant, impossibly confident Evan Parker - refuses to share his novel in progress with the other students on the course, or accept any advice from Jacob because he is so sure that what he has is a surefire hit, Jacob is sceptical. But when Evan tells Jacob, and Jacob alone, the plot he has come up with, Jacob is hooked, and certain that Evan is right - this novel is going to be huge.

Dejected, Jacob spends the next couple of years waiting for Evan's book to explode onto the literary scene with all the fanfare it deserves. When it doesn't, he Googles his former student - maybe he didn't have the book in him after all. Except Jacob finds out that Evan isn't a slacker after all - he's dead. With the novel's plotline burning in his mind, Jacob does what any writer would do - he uses the story. It's a story that needs to be told, and if it's original author can't do it, then Jacob will.

When the book proves every bit as successful as Jacob expected, he has the world at his feet. Riches, fame, and a beautiful new wife. But someone knows what Jacob did. And they want him to pay...

I was immediately intrigued by the premise, and was expecting a pretty decent thriller, but this is so much more than that. It's a literary thriller for starters, and beautifully written, with well-realised characters and some gorgeous observational detail. I also liked how the narrative switched between Jacob's actual story, and chapters from his novel. The first two thirds of the book was pretty much a perfect novel, and I stayed up way past my bedtime, not wanting to put the book down. The last third, though still excellent, wasn't quite as strong - I guessed who the villain of the piece was pretty early on, and once the full plot of the stolen novel was revealed, I wasn't sure why Jacob had been so vehement in his mind that this was something entirely new and original and never-been-done-before as it didn't seem that unique or special to me. But they are minor things, and I have kept the rating as 5 stars because the majority of it was sensational.

I hadn't heard of this author before, but I cannot wait to read more.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher who provided me with a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this literary noir! An error of judgement propels Jake Bonner, blocked writer, to make a devastating choice about his next novel. Intelligent, intertextual, meta-fiction with enough plot twists to keep the reader guessing until the denouement. Read it in one sitting!

MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS

There is something very inception-y about writing a book about writing a book about a real life event. It must be very difficult to make prose in a fictional world sound completely different from that of the actual author. Having said that, for some reason, I was convinced that the author, Jean Hanff Korelitz, was a male author. Don’t get me wrong, as an aspiring author myself, I know that men can write good women, and women can write good men, so it shouldn’t be surprising. But Jean wrote in such a way that she had me believing that the author of this book, was actually the author in the story, a man called Jake. She just managed to capture this desperate soul so well that the real author and the fictional author, and the fictional author within that, just gelled as one complete person.

I did find the first quarter a bit slow to get into, very much detail orientated rather than a whole lot of plot, but once we got into the juicy bits, did it get going. At the beginning I did feel this book was trying to be the next big blockbuster sellout that everyone will want to get their hands on. It just felt a little bit self-conscious, if a book can be self-conscious. I think it can.

Chapter twelve starts with the line “Evan Parker was dead: to begin with”, and that little nod to my favourite book, A a Christmas Carol, was a lovely little addition, almost like it was put there just for me. And it brings us back to the main thought of this book: what does it mean to be inspired by a book, and when does inspiration become plagiarism?

The plot of this book plus the fictional book within it seamlessly intertwine so much they compliment each other without being repetitive.

There is a big plot twist sort of 2/3 of the way through in both this book and the fictional book inside, that I won’t spill here, but once it comes it feels really obvious, but I never saw it coming as I was reading it. But hold up, a few pages before the end, the mother of all twists appears that I definitely did not see coming and still found myself disbelieving as I was reading it. It was truly phenomenal.

received a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. My true rating for this book is 3.5 stars.

The story is about Jacob who is a struggling author who has a successful novel under his belt. He decides to teach some writing classes to make ends meet. One of his students has a plot that is really intriguing to Jacob. Years later he finds that his student tragically died. Jacob decides that there is no harm in taking that same plot and using it in his own novel. The problem is somebody knows what Jacob has done and is out for revenge.

The premise of this book really grabbed me and I have been waiting for the opportunity to read this for a long time. In all honesty I nearly DNF’d this book quite early on. The start is incredibly slow and it really was not holding my attention at all. I was advised to keep reading it as it gets better and the pace picks up a bit. My advice to you is the same. It is a really great thriller if you can get through the early chapters. We get to read some of the novel within this book so in that sense it is a book within a book. By halfway through the book I was really absorbed in the story and couldn’t turn the pages quick enough. I did guess the ending but it was a fun ride getting there.

Jacob Finch Bonner, once an up and coming author with his first novel being well received but with limited sales, his follow up books had been less than successful. He’s fallen on hard times, working as faculty at a run down Vermont college mentoring students on a low residency program. Most of the students have little talent and Jake is dialling it in as their teacher. One day, however, he decides to use another author’s plot to write a novel. A novel that goes on to become a talked about best seller. A novel that someone else knows is based on a stolen plot.

The narrative switches between the protagonist and excerpts of his best-selling novel. It’s a well written and well plotted novel with an original story. I enjoyed it, completing it in just a couple of days. There is a twist, although unfortunately I’d worked it out, so wasn’t much of a twist for me.

On a side note; I’m not sure the Welsh will be impressed with “…an entire English tour organised around the Hay-on-Wye festival.” though.

Oh I really enjoyed reading this book! Just reading the synopsis had me hooked, what a brilliant idea for a novel. And the twists and turns throughout were entertaining. This would be brilliant for book groups as it would definitely stimulate a lot of (heated?) conversations about ethics and morality.
I don't want to give away any spoilers at all. so all I will say is that I would have given 5 stars but I guessed at the identity of the mystery person very early on....I wonder if we are supposed to? But I would have enjoyed the book a lot more if I hadn't figured it out. brilliant though, I will be recommending to everyone.

I devoured this in a weekend - a compelling story (a story within a story really) and very well written. After a while, I could guess the outcome but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment since the writing was so good. Literary references to savour - one in particular at the end that I was pleased with myself for spotting early on. The central theme of ownership of one’s own story/idea for a novel’s plot is not so very unfamiliar but it is handled well here and the author throws up some new and interesting points. I’m happy to recommend.