The Sequel: A Novel

· The Book Series Book 2 · Macmillan Audio · Narrated by Julia Whelan
3.5
2 reviews
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10 hr 1 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook

"Fans of The Plot, and they were legion, will rejoice at this sequel, performed with mesmerizing skill by the wonderful Julia Whelan...Whelan's achievement here seems like a little miracle, relentlessly compelling and wonderfully satisfying."—AudioFile (Earphones Award Winner)

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 listeners an antihero to root for while illuminating and satirizing the world of publishing in this deliciously fun and suspenseful read.

A Macmillan Audio production from Celadon Books.

Ratings and reviews

3.5
2 reviews
Darcia Helle
17 August 2024
There’s a line in this book, and I’m paraphrasing here, that the sequel is never as good as the first book. Sadly, that’s how I felt about THE SEQUEL. I really enjoyed the first book, THE PLOT, and I was excited to see where this followup would take us. Oddly, it felt very much the same, with a different MC leading the way. A big part of the problem for me was that Anna, our MC, isn’t just unlikable, she’s absolutely reprehensible. The beginning and ending had my attention, but the entire middle dragged with repetitive content. Still, I enjoyed aspects of the story, and I appreciated getting closure on some issues left from the first book. *You definitely need to read THE PLOT before reading THE SEQUEL.* **I received both an ARC and a free audiobook download. The fabulous Julia Whelan narrates the audiobook, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to her.**
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About the author

Jean Hanff Korelitz is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Plot and The Latecomer (both of which are being adapted as limited series), 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.

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