Jacob Finch Bonner is a stalled writer. His first book was received well by the critics but not by consumers and his second book wasn’t received well by either. A few years later, he is teaching an MFA course for aspiring writers at a third-tier liberal arts college in Vermont. There, one of his students is Evan Parker. Evan has a story that Jacob decides to tell.
Evan is a gruff, overly confident young aspiring writer who tells Jacob he has a sure blockbuster of a story. Jacob admits that he is not too bad of a writer based on the short excerpt Evan share with him, although questions his bravado. Until Evan tells him the plot of his proposed book. Evan is right – it is a unique plot with an amazing twist.
After the program ends, Jacob watches for Evan’s book to be published but it never is. Then he discovers that Evan is dead and so is his family. Jacob decides the story needs to be written and writes the story using his memory of what Evan told him about the plot.
Sure enough, Evan was right. Jacob catapults to fame, goes on a year’s long speaking tour and turning the book into a movie with Steven Spielberg! He falls in love with a Seattle woman, Anna, whom he met while on book tour. Everything in his life is working out – even as he hides the fact that he used a plot idea from a former student.
And then, an email arrives: “You are a thief.”
Jacob tries to keep the blackmail a secret from his publisher, editor, and Anna (now his wife). And as the situation become more dire, he tries to uncover who the blackmailer could be. This leads him back to Evan’s hometown, down to Georgia and back to Vermont. Who is left that could know about The Plot?
The premise of the book and “the plot” is very good and I overall enjoyed the book. I was very disappointed how the author placed blackmailer in the novel – I don’t want to use any spoilers, so I’ll leave it there.
Comments