If you liked
Books like The Plot
by Jean Hanff Korelitz
The Plot is Jean Hanff Korelitz's literary thriller about a failed novelist who steals a dead student's masterwork-plot and publishes it as his own. The publishing-industry procedural texture and the structural reveal in the back third are what make it work. If you finished it and needed more reading in the same register, these are our picks.
The shortlist
What to read next
Yellowfaceby R. F. Kuang
“Yellowface by R. F. Kuang 2023 review. A struggling white novelist witnesses the accidental death of her successful Asian-American novelist friend and steals her unfinished manuscript. Kuang's contemporary satirical novel about race and publishing.”
Verityby Colleen Hoover
“Verity by Colleen Hoover 2018 review. A struggling writer hired to finish an injured bestseller's series finds an autobiographical manuscript in the family home. The Hoover thriller that broke out years after publication on BookTok and remains the most-discussed contemporary domestic thriller of the decade.”
The Silent Patientby Alex Michaelides
“The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides 2019 review. A forensic psychotherapist works with an artist who has not spoken since the night she shot her husband. The thriller debut that topped the New York Times bestseller list for over a year and became the most-discussed contemporary psychological thriller of its decade.”
Trustby Hernan Diaz
“Trust by Hernan Diaz 2022 review. Four narratives about a Gilded Age financier, his wife, the ghostwriter of his memoir, and the woman who finally tells the true story. Pulitzer Prize 2023 and the canonical contemporary literary novel about American capitalism.”
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrowby Gabrielle Zevin
“Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin 2022 review. Three decades of creative collaboration between two video-game designers. The breakout literary commercial novel of 2022 and one of the canonical contemporary novels about friendship and work.”
The Anxious Generationby Jonathan Haidt
“The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt 2024 review. The smartphone-and-social-media-driven youth mental-health crisis and a four-point reform proposal. The most-cited contemporary book on adolescent psychology.”
FAQ
Common questions about The Plot read-alikes
- What is the closest match for The Plot?
- Yellowface. Both contemporary literary thrillers about plagiarism and authorship written from inside the head of an unreliable narrator who knows what they have done and rationalizes it. Yellowface handles race and publishing where The Plot handles class and MFA programs but the structural project is identical.
- I want more Jean Hanff Korelitz.
- The Latecomer (2022, the literary commercial follow-up) and You Should Have Known (2014, the basis for the HBO limited series The Undoing) are the obvious next reads.
- I want another contemporary literary thriller.
- Verity (Colleen Hoover) and The Silent Patient (Alex Michaelides) are the closest contemporary commercial-thriller picks. Both use late-novel structural reveals that reorganize what the reader has been led to believe.
- I want another novel about creative work and authorship.
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (Gabrielle Zevin on video-game creative partnerships) and Trust (Hernan Diaz on four nested narratives about authorship and editing). Both handle related questions about who actually gets to tell which story.
The original