The Sequel by Joan Hanff Korelitz

The Sequel is literally the sequel to the best-selling thriller The Plot. Not only does it answer all those unanswered questions, but we get a glimpse into what an actual psychopath’s mind looks like. And honestly, her mind is pretty messed up! While picking up where The Plot left off, we now delve into the devious secret past of the late Jacob Finch Bonner’s widow, and quite frankly her life as a mastermind. The story is smart and undeniably shocking!

Anna Williams-Bonner, the widow of best-selling author and perhaps plagiarist Jacob Finch Bonner whose own life included many demons, has decided she will now write her own book. Afterall, how hard could it be? Although living she is living off her late husband’s royalites, she is quite bored.

And Anna does write a book called The Afterward and lucks out because her publisher is the same as her late husband’s. They were, of course excited to have her.

As she begins her first book tour, some strange things begin to happen. A person comes to one of her book signings and is a bit off to say the least. He seems to know a bit too much about her. Coincidence? Maybe. But when she begins to receive excerpts from a story written long ago in which she thought she had purged every copy of and taken care of the person who wrote it, she realizes there is still a copy out there and she needs to find it and make it and whoever has it go away.

You see, if someone exposes her secret backstory her beloved lifestyle will cease to exist. And she can’t have that! So, she goes on a hunt to find who this person is and make sure she destroys both them and the copy. She believes she has solved the problem, but when another excerpt is sent to her late husband’s parents, well… all bets are off!

Now she knows time is running out and after failing once, she decides she must revisit her sick disgusting past because clearly that’s where the threat is coming from. She is not afraid of killing to keep her secrets …never has been!

As the reader goes on the ride of a lifetime with a true psychopath who feels nothing and cares about no one but herself, we learn her jaw dropping backstory as she tries desperately to justify her life. Who has the last copy and why now are they trying to hurt her?

The Sequel is an entertaining, imaginative, off-putting psychological thriller with shocking turns of events in the life of one very flawed yet happy widow.

Thank you #NetGalley #CaladonBooks #JeanHanffKorelitz #TheSequel for the advanced copy.

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