Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

68 reviews

ogurule's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death and Murder

fkshg8465's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! Just do the right thing in the first place, and you can avoid a lot of trouble. Accept your mediocrity, and your life can go on as it should. Everyone likes to think they are good people, but if you need to ask, then you probably should know better. These are the takeaways from this book.

In seriousness, it was a bit drawn out, and parts were boring. At the same time, it was one of the few times that a novel within a novel worked for me. Enjoyed it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

minimicropup's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Main POV 👍:

• An author feeling like a one-hit wonder. They had a best seller, but can't figure out how to follow-up in a meaningful way. They come across as self-pitying, desperate, pathetic, hopeful, entitled, ignorant, and vain, with a touch of covert narcissism. 
• THE plot. The plot that was stolen. We get to read it in bits over the course of the story and it's pretty good. Semi-predictable but good. 

Atmosphere 😐: Accusatory, impassioned, pretentious 
We follow our MC over time from being a teacher at a small college in small town Vermont to fame in Manhattan, NY.

Cred Rating 😕: Suspend that belief
Without being OTT, this story is so OTT. THE plot isn't ground breaking, but admittedly new (I think) and quite interesting as a lit fic/thriller. As far as the plot outside of THE plot, it's a bit watered down with lots of OTT moments.

Growls and Howls 🐺:

• Long-con villain monolog. Lots of scheming, plotting, rearranging an entire life to get 'revenge' that can only be successful if multiple coincidental/convenient events occur...broke the story for me. Somehow the villain monolog worked though, because it didn't rely on someone just listening intently instead of trying to escape.
• Confusing ending requiring re-reading. The plot and THE plot eventually come together in a way where minor elements are changed (thank villain monolog for the heads-up) and ultimately I wish we had just read THE plot?

Reading Journey 🙂: Tour of a local college. Some interesting bits, potential, sparks of talent, but also a lot of polite nodding b/c not planning on applying.

Mood Reading Match-Up:

• Meta reads (book within a book and plot within a plot)
• Red herrings and amateur sleuthing
• Family secrets investigation
• Brief touches of OTT lit fic
• Unlikeable characters
• Stolen artistic IP

Vibes: 😒🤔😣

Content Heads-Up: Drug use (unintentional), Blackmail

Format: Hardcover

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Murder, Pregnancy, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Vomit, Abortion, and Suicide

Drug use refers to

fatal overdose and description of experience from overmedication

. Fire involves

death from being trapped in fire

. Adult minor relationship is

15 yr old with man in his 30s/40s (w/15 yr old thinking she’s consenting)

. Abortion refers to a character wanting one and being denied it for religious reasons.

soft_plush's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I have this book a 4 because it was better than I was expecting. Yes I kind of guessed the twist, but even before I got to the twist I was second guessing myself if I was correct. Turns out I had guessed correctly but still was kind of shocked by the end. Better than expected in my opinion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug use, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Cursing, Grief, Murder, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcohol, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Alcohol and Cursing

in my opinion Anna was wrong about Jake stealing in a sense she said that he stole Evans story which in turn Evan stole her story from the beginning. I personally don’t see how jake could have known because he only barely remembered Evans original plot to begin with but I could have just read it wrong or differently who knows.

krystalframe's review

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Abortion

dexkit10's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Murder, Child death, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

malloryhill10's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Drug use

londonsetterby's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Murder, Stalking, Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, and Pregnancy

Minor: Vomit

Death from anaphylactic food allergy

beccasherman's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, and Child death

christene_littlelibrary's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The Plot has the crazy and twisty story. A mystery novel within a mystery novel. It's about a writer named Jacob, who's once a best novelist and currently working as a teacher on a creative writing when the one of his student shared the best story plot ever that is predictedly going to be one of the bestseller novels when published. And there it started when he learned that the student died and the book was never published then he decided to write a book using that plot. The book hits, but the there's a twist! Someone knew what he did.

The writing style kind of slowed me down at first but as I read through the chapter it was bearable. It was a plot-driven and the twist was unexpected. Totally loved the story. Rating it with a 4/5.

"Everyone has a unique voice and a story nobody else can tell. And anybody can be a writer.”

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexism