The Sequel

This is a novel I absolutely hated to finish ... it accomplished that lofty goal of creating a character who was distinctly and appallingly unlikeable but who obsesses the reader to a degree that seems almost impossible ... sometimes the bad guys win! This author is a favorite of mine (THE DEVIL AND WEBSTER, etc.) who just finds the twisted way to see events of ordinary life. Who needs fantasy when we have Jean Hanff Korelitz? As a writer, I am in awe, and jealous too.

On a radically different note is Jean Hanff Korelitz's novel The Sequel, the page-turning follow-up to her 2021 novel The Plot, which Stephen King said was "one of the best novels I've ever read about writers and writing." It's hard to describe without spoilers, but let's just say it's a psychological thriller with a good number of murders thrown in—some are mysteries and some happen right before our eyes—about the long, strange journey of a disturbing life story that becomes the plot of a novel. One of the questions we’re asked to ponder is, "Whose material is one person’s life… show more.