History Literature / ThePlot

* GeniusBonus: People as knowledgeable about literature as a professor in an MFA program probably should be (but Jacob isn't) will recognize well ahead of TheReveal that [[spoiler:Anna's description of her traumatic upbringing is in fact taken straight from the plot of Marilynne Robinson's 1980 novel ''Housekeeping,'' [[{{Foreshadowing}} a heavy indicator that she's not telling the truth]]. She even laughs at Jacob for not having recognized it.]]

[[caption-width-right:326:some caption text]]''The Plot'' is a 2021 thriller novel by Jean Hanff Korelitz about a once-promising writer named Jacob Finch Bonner who is reduced to teaching in a MFA course at a small liberal arts college in UsefulNotes/{{Vermont}}. One of his students, Evan Parker, is scornful of his advice and says that he doesn't really need this course because he has a surefire plot that will make his book a bestseller. Jacob is skeptical until he hears the plot of the book--and then he realizes that Evan is right. When Evan leaves the class, Jacob is resigned to the fact that he will soon hear about the impending publication of Evan's novel, but nothing happens.

''The Plot'' is a 2021 thriller novel by Jean Hanff Korelitz about a once-promising writer named Jacob Finch Bonner who is reduced to teaching in a MFA course at a small liberal arts college in UsefulNotes/{{Vermont}}. One of his students, Evan Parker, is scornful of his advice and says that he doesn't really need this course because he has a surefire plot that will make his book a bestseller. Jacob is skeptical until he hears the plot of the book--and then he realizes that Evan is right. When Evan leaves the class, Jacob is resigned to the fact that he will soon hear about the impending publication of Evan's novel, but nothing happens.

Years later, Jacob discovers that Evan has died without publishing anything, so Jacob goes on to write his own novel based on Evan's plot. Sure enough, it becomes just as big a bestseller as Evan predicted. Everything in Jacob's life is changing for the better until one day he gets an anonymous e-mail with a simple message: "You are a thief." Now Jacob must find out who this mysterious troll is who knows his secret before his life and career are destroyed.

[[caption-width-right:326:some caption text]]

''The Plot'' is a 2021 thriller novel by Jean Hanff Korelitz about a once-promising writer named Jacob Finch Bonner who is reduced to teaching in a MFA course at a small liberal arts college in Vermont. One of his students, Evan Parker, is scornful of his advice and says that he doesn't really need this course because he has a surefire plot that will make his book a bestseller. Jacob is skeptical until he hears the plot of the book--and then he realizes that Evan is right. When Evan leaves the class, Jacob is resigned to the fact that he will soon hear about the impending publication of Evan's novel, but nothing happens.

* RomanAClef: Evan Parker's plot, up to and including the [[spoiler:murder and impersonation]], was ripped directly from [[spoiler:his sister's relationship with her daughter]].

* RomanAClef: Evan Parker's plot was ripped directly from [[spoiler:his sister's relationship with her daughter -- up to and including the murder and impersonation]].

** Jake finds out that the film version of ''Crib'' is going to be helmed by someone he describes simply as "[a]n A-list director, by anyone's standard," and it looks like the narrative will be playing coy about their identity. But soon afterward, the director is actually named: [[spoiler:it's Creator/StephenSpielberg]].

** At first, when discussing ''[[StoryWithinAStory Crib]]'', characters have a tendency to refer to ''''''that twist'''''' in a carefully spoiler-free manner. Later, the twist is actually revealed.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Anna gives a brief one to Jake after receiving a letter from TalentedTom and not only finding out that he stole the plot for ''Crib'' from Evan Parker, but that he didn't tell her about the harassment from Tom for months. [[spoiler: She gives him a longer one at the end after drugging him and revealing that she was Dianna a.k.a. TalentedTom all along.]]
* SelfMadeOrphan: [[spoiler: Dianna replaces the batteries of her family's carbon monoxide detector with dead ones and then makes sure she and her daughter's rooms windows are open. Sure enough, her parents asphyxiate.]]

* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler: Jacob is drugged by his wife Anna and then given a lethal overdose. Anna then reveals herself to be Dianna, Evan Hunter's sister upon whose life his story and later Jacob's book ''Crib'' is based on.]]

* TooDumbToLive: [[spoiler: The reader may be unaware of ''Crib'' 's killer plot twist until the end of the book, but Jacob has known about it all the time. Still, it's only at the end that it dawns on him that not only did Evan Parker base his unpublished novel on his sister and neice, but the part about the mother killing the daughter and assuming her identity '''actually happened in real life.''' So Jacob should be have been looking for a forty-something woman who is about the age of his wife Anna---whom he met '''the very day he began to receive threatening e-mails.''' A woman with a ''very'' sketchy past and a name suspiciously similar to "Dianna." Want some more of that delicious soup, Jake before you take a VERY long nap?]]

* BigBad: TalentedTom or [[spoiler: Dianna/Anna]]

* TooDumbToLive: [[spoiler: The reader may be unaware of ''Crib'' 's killer plot twist until the end of the book, but Jacob has known about it all the time. Still, it's only at the end that it dawns on him that not only did Evan Parker base his unpublished novel on his sister and neice, but the part about the mother killing the daughter and assuming her identity '''actually happened in real life.''' So Jacob should be have been looking for a forty-something woman who is about the age of his wife Anna---whom he met '''the very day he began to receive threatening e-mails.''' A woman with a ''very'' sketchy past and a name suspiciously similar to "Dianna." Want some more of that delicious soup, Jake before you take a VERY long nap?]]

"!! ''The Plot'' contains examples of:"

* SelfMadeOrphan: Dianna replaces the batteries of her family's carbon monoxide detector with dead ones and then makes sure she and her daughter's rooms windows are open. Sure enough, her parents aphixiate.

* Self-MadeOrphan: Dianna replaces the batteries of her family's carbon monoxide detector with dead ones and then makes sure she and her daughter's rooms windows are open. Sure enough, her parents aphixiate.