"The Sequel" | Reviewed by Chris Stuckenschneider

It takes quite an imagination to conjure up and carry through the complicated plot line and wicked surprises in “The Sequel,” by Jean Hanff Korelitz. Readers will be in for a wild ride following the blood-spattered journey of the book’s protagonist, Dianna, the woman who claims her talented, writer-husband Jacob Finch Bonner committed suicide after the publication of his successful book—when in actuality Dianna done him in.

Readers are introduced to Jacob and Dianna in the first book in the best-selling series, “The Plot,” which somehow passed me by. While it isn’t necessary to have read “The Plot” before graduating to “The Sequel,” it would have provided me with a heads-up about Dianna, a black widow who not only knocks off her husband, but murders her brother Evan Parker, as well as her daughter Rose, then assumes her identity. (She could pull that off because Dianna was only 15 when she had Rose, and was forced to keep the baby because her parents demanded she do so. It’s safe to say mother and daughter weren’t especially close.)  

Before I launch into the synopsis of the story, please note that Dianna was the murderous woman’s birth name, but she goes by Anna, so going forward that’s how I’ll refer to her.

At the beginning of “The Sequel” Anna is enjoying a cushy lifestyle thanks to the success of her late husband’s “wildly valuable literary properties.” While it’s a drag for her to act grief-stricken, that’s what Anna must do as she explains away Jacob’s suicide, telling others he was despondent over accusations of plagiarism.

About to turn 40, Anna is set, has not only inherited Jacob’s money, but has inherited his agent and editor too—a real boon for a would-be writer, which Anna isn’t. She “…had never aspired to write so much as a Hallmark card.” That all changes when Anna continues to be asked what she will do next at book events where she’s promoting her late husband’s work. Without thinking she responds that she might write a novel of her own. A proclamation that draws thunderous applause and admiration, “…how brave she is to turn her heartbreak into art,” a thoughtful response that makes caustic Anna laugh to herself.

Soon the widow admired by throngs is applying to an artists’ colony where she resides in a quaint New England woodland cottage in solace and peace creating her masterpiece. The experience puts Anna in contact with “real” writers with MFA’s from prestigious universities, but their degrees are meaningless to Anna Williams-Bonner who scoffs to herself, “If those idiots can do it, how f…. hard can it be?”

            As it turns out not too hard for Anna, whose debut novel, largely autobiographical, hits the big time throwing her into the limelight and reawakening ghosts from her past that threaten to bring her down, to expose Anna, time after time, after time. The bodies stack up as Anna pirouettes through newfound fame, creating a persona of a literary professional, but inwardly seething with hate, determined to bring down anyone who threatens to expose her.

            “The Sequel” is never over-the-top gory, its crimes matter-of-fact to Anna, a woman completely without a moral compass, whose behavior is so outlandish as to be funny. This tongue-in-cheek book about the publishing industry is a fun-read certain to impress, it’s complicated plot, all loose ends tied up, an impressive feat.

            Buy the Book.