The Sequel: A Novel (The Book Series #2) (Hardcover)

Description

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“Sequels are notoriously tricky. Even the characters in The Sequel acknowledge it. “They’re never as good as the first book, are they?”… Well, this one is. By shifting the focus to Anna, Korelitz gives the novel what many sequels lack: a sense of newness. While the story grows more intricate, she remains in control. Her plot ― ha! ― is propulsive, her prose precise.”
―The New York Times

After the “insanely readable” (Stephen King) and “perfectly told” (Malcolm Gladwell) New York Times bestseller The Plot comes Jean Hanff Korelitz’s equally captivating new novel: The Sequel.

Anna Williams-Bonner has taken care of business. That is to say, she’s taken care of her husband, bestselling novelist Jacob Finch Bonner, and laid to rest those anonymous accusations of plagiarism that so tormented him. Now she is living the contented life of a literary widow, enjoying her husband’s royalty checks in perpetuity, but for the second time in her life, a work of fiction intercedes, and this time it’s her own debut novel, The Afterword. After all, how hard can it really be to write a universally lauded bestseller?

But when Anna publishes her book and indulges in her own literary acclaim, she begins to receive excerpts of a novel she never expected to see again, a novel that should no longer exist. That it does means something has gone very wrong, and someone out there knows far too much: about her late brother, her late husband, and just possibly... Anna, herself. What does this person want and what are they prepared to do? She has come too far, and worked too hard, to lose what she values most: the sole and uncontested right to her own story. And she is, by any standard, a master storyteller.

With her signature wit and sardonic humor, Jean Hanff Korelitz gives readers an antihero to root for while illuminating and satirizing the world of publishing in this deliciously fun and suspenseful read.

About the Author

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Jean Hanff Korelitz is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Plot, The Latecomer, You Should Have Known (which aired on HBO as The Undoing, starring Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant, and Donald Sutherland), Admission (adapted as a film starring Tina Fey), The Devil and Webster, The White Rose, The Sabbathday River and A Jury of Her Peers, as well as Interference Powder, a novel for children. Her company BOOKTHEWRITER hosts Pop-Up Book Groups in which small groups of readers discuss new books with their authors. She lives in New York City with her husband, Irish poet Paul Muldoon.

Praise For…

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“Sequels are notoriously tricky. Even the characters in The Sequel acknowledge it. “They’re never as good as the first book, are they?”… Well, this one is. By shifting the focus to Anna, Korelitz gives the novel what many sequels lack: a sense of newness. While the story grows more intricate, she remains in control. Her plot — ha! — is propulsive, her prose precise.”
—The New York Times

“[A] propulsive thriller... Korelitz spins Anna’s pursuit of her accuser into a satisfying hunt, threading it with her antihero’s hilariously jaundiced opinions of literary life.”
—The New Yorker

“Like Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley or Satan in Milton’s Paradise Lost, Anna is a heinous devil who may shock and offend, but never bores.”
—The Washington Post

"Ms. Korelitz’s book, mixing dark wit with coldblooded suspense, provides an unforgettable tour through the life and mind of a homicidal protagonist."
—The Wall Street Journal

"This follow-up to The Plot finds Anna Williams-Bonner basking in literary acclaim (and moola from her murdered husband’s estate) — until pesky excerpts from a manuscript resurface and put questions of authorship, and the publishing world’s values, under the microscope."
—The New York Times Book Review, 21 Books to Read in October

“Korelitz fans will eat up this satirical, bookish suspense.”
—PEOPLE Magazine

"Through the narration of this unforgettable antiheroine, a deliciously nasty storyteller, Korelitz delivers a ripping good read."
—Esquire, Best Books of 2024

“Wicked entertainment.”
—Kirkus, STARRED

"It’s another taut and compulsively readable spellbinder from Korelitz."
—Publishers Weekly, STARRED

“This book will fly off the shelves.”
—Library Journal

“Fans of Korelitz’s literary thriller The Plot will (manuscript theft! identity theft! murder most foul! soup!) get excited for the sequel: The Sequel, in which a certain author’s widow decides to write her own book—and discovers that she’s not the only one who knows a few secrets after all. Fun.”
—LitHub, Most Anticipated Books of 2024

"[A] hilariously snippy and deliciously mean satire of the publishing world in addition to a nail-biting suspense novel."
—BookPage, STARRED

"[A] compelling and worthy sequel, another rip-roaring thriller full of very amusing scenes of delusional writers and their awful prose and many twists and turns."
—Booklist

"[A] page-turner for sure and a worthy follow up (sequel!) to the author’s fantastic thriller The Plot."
—AARP

“Chilling, creatively woven.”
—Woman's World Magazine