Will I love A Simple Plan?

I don't usually care for thrillers, but as it happens, this novel had me eagerly turning the pages. The author is a very skilled writer and has you in the palm of his hand as he propels you from one turn of events to another. This isn't just a read for entertainment, though -- it has something to say about human nature. Yet it's never fussy or pretentious, far from it.

It was a simple plan. Almost fool proof. Getting involved was an easy decision. What could possibly go wrong? But something did of course go wrong. Things got a bit more coomplicated and the plan less simple. And then, step by step by step, the simple planners got in deeper and deeper and deeper. A simple plot. Many writers have tried it, very few have carrier it off nearly as well as Scott Smith did in A Simple Plan.

I disagreed with almost every action by every character in this book. I’d find myself saying to them: “Don’t do that!” But they did do that. And it kept me reading nonstop.

It’s a strange feeling, to watch characters spin out of control, yet be unable to look away. It's also the mark of terrific storytelling, and writing that I greatly admire.

A gripping tale of greed, blackmail, betrayal, and multiple murders. Three men discover 4.4 million dollars inside a crashed airplane. No one sees them and no one knows that the plane has gone down. Why not take the money? What could go wrong? Everything.

Two of the men are brothers—one a successful businessman, the other mentally and financially challenged—that ultimately find themselves pitted against one another. 

The beauty of A Simple Plan is how Smith pulls his characters deeper and deeper into a rabbit hole, causing the reader to feel with sinking dread that redemption seems impossible.