The Sequel (The Book #2)

This delightfully devious satire picks up where The Plot left off. When Anna Williams-Bonner is offered representation by her late husband’s agent to tell her own story, she pens The Afterword to clear his name of lingering plagiarism accusations. She’s excessively pleased with her talent for both writing and publicity, but then she receives an ominous missive at a Denver book signing, in which an anonymous someone threatens to topple everything she has so carefully built. Once threatened, Anna leans even further into Tom Ripley mode to turn the tables on her attackers and silence anyone who may know the truth of her past. Korelitz clearly enjoys skewering the publishing industry in this delicious send-up: it’s got fawning fans, obsequious publicists, self-important authors, and clever literary references in every chapter title. These terrible people and their unspeakable actions make for highly entertaining reading: this is the rare sequel that’s better than the original.