This novel was incredibly popular back in 2021 – remember those days? Possibly the worst of the pandemic years. We were all pretty well aware the the pandemic had gone on long enough, but none of us could agree about how to really end it and move on. That isn’t necessarily related to the book itself, but I think it might be related to the book’s popularity. Everything was so uncertain – politics, health, nearly every aspect of social or school or public life at all – it felt GOOD to have something reliable, even predictable. After years of feeling like Charlie Brown while Lucy holds the football, we were all sort of longing for the joy of actually connecting our foot to the ball, and who cares where it lands.
What I’m saying is, this book, whose premise is about a plot so intricate and novel it would appease both Oprah AND the critical litterati – is enjoyable without being either. The writing was overall clever, but the twists were not, and I can’t quite tell if the author intended for that to be the case.
Jacob Finch Bonner is a middling writer in the early 2010s. He had critical success with his first novel, but his second book was far less successful, and he was struggling to even compose his third. To supplement his part-time gigs include a summer as an instructor for a graduate residency in fiction for Ripley college, where he meets Evan Parker. Theirs is the opposite of a meet-cute; Parker is convinced he has an idea for the plot of a novel that is so good, it will be more popular than the Beatles. Despite feeling that there’s little he can learn from a writing program, he condescends to reveal the plot to Bonner during a conference. Bonner immediately recognizes the brilliance of the plot, and from the small samples of writing he has observed, he becomes convinced Parker will be the critically acclaimed darling he (Bonner) has always wanted to be.
Light spoilers ahead? Much of this comes out early in the novel, for what it’s worth.
Only, a few years pass, and that book never surfaces. So, Bonner does a little digging into his former student – and discovers he is dead. What do you think he will do next? Yes, you’re right, that is what happens.
And, when someone does that thing you assumed he would do – what will the inevitable consequence be? Yes, that happens, too.
And who is helping to bring about these consequences? Yes, exactly that person you knew from the MOMENT THEY WALKED IN STAGE RIGHT, from their very first lines – they practically had a sign around their neck saying, “Yes, it’s me, the bad guy.” That’s the person orchestrating this whole deal.
Look, it’s not necessarily BAD that the twists don’t turn. The overall quality of the writing is much higher than you usually get from a novel this predictable. It was FUN, and for a novel with a main character as anxious as this one, that’s saying a lot. The book promises a plot so insanely good no one can pass it up – and it includes the text itself, which did not do much for actually proving the quality of the titular PLOT but certainly scratched an itch for readers who might have otherwise lost their minds wondering what it could have been.
I’ve heard this was developed into a limited series for Hulu, but I cannot find it, so perhaps it will be coming soon. I’d watch it – it’s a lot of fun, and if the series doesn’t take itself too seriously it could also be quite entertaining. Put this in your “beach reads” for something compelling, but not necessarily mind-bending.