A Simple Plan
by Scott Smith
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Scott Smith's books are, above all, methodical. For all their chaos and violence, everything seems inevitable, everyone acts logically, and yet, without fail, things go terribly, terribly wrong. It's impossible not to imagine yourself in his characters' places, wondering if you would have made similar decisions, acted in a similar way, and still come to the same calamitous end. His wildly entertaining second novel, The Ruins, placed its characters in an impossible situation that was artic...more
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I don't actually really know what to make of this book. I can't tell if I like it or not. At times I was really into it and engrossed, but at other times I felt as if the book was delving into the ridiculous and at some other points I just found the book to be out right boring. There was just a point where I couldn't really take the plot serious anymore, it was when the FBI and faux FBI came into play in which I decided to stop caring about these people.
*SPOILER*
I just felt that Jacob...more
*SPOILER*
I just felt that Jacob...more
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Read in June, 2001
OK Erin, I've commented on this book just for you! :)
While it certainly falls into the category of "candy books", it was thoroughly enjoyable and provocative. The gist of it: three average, regular, everyday good ol' boys are screwing around in the woods when they happen upon a downed plane. The pilot is dead and has been for some time, and in the plane they find a duffel bag containing four million bucks. So the three men agree on "a simple plan" of stashing the money...more
While it certainly falls into the category of "candy books", it was thoroughly enjoyable and provocative. The gist of it: three average, regular, everyday good ol' boys are screwing around in the woods when they happen upon a downed plane. The pilot is dead and has been for some time, and in the plane they find a duffel bag containing four million bucks. So the three men agree on "a simple plan" of stashing the money...more
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4 comments
Hank Mitchell is a married man with his first child on the way. He's the accountant at a local feed store in a small town in Ohio. When he and his brother (who are not very close) happen upon a crashed airplane with his brother's best friend Lou, they find a duffle bag containing over 4 million dollars. The three decide to keep the money on Hank's condition that if anyone becomes suspicious he will burn it. Hank and his wife Sarah, are smart. As things in Hank's plan begin to go wrong he takes s...more
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Damn. I had a difficult time with this one mostly because it is a page turner, but I found myself so afraid of what the characters were going to do next that I almost didn't want to keep reading. Smith brilliantly creates a tension that builds to the point that even the reader gets anxious. A couple times I really felt ill about what was inevitably going to happen next. As much as the average person would like to be able to distance themself from the decisions Hank, Sarah, and Jacob make, it'...more
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Read in January, 2008
I simple plan is amazing. I understand why this book is considered a cult classic. The first person narration is completely engrossing. I was in the mind of the character. ASP is a dark novel but, it reminded me a more classic narrative tradition. It is a novel that both fans of literature and thrillers can enjoy. I had a lot to think about when I finished the book and in the last thirty pages was rolling around in my chair, squirming actually, to get through those last pages because I was so co...more
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Read in December, 2007
My rating may seem a little harsh, but even though this book has its good points, it has some bad ones too. I guess I just had a hard time with the believability of some portions. And those plot points were crucial to the rest of the story. Now, if you can overlook those, then the story moves along fairly well. The pacing is good, not necessarily a page turner, but you do want to keep reading. But then everything seems to fall apart at the end. I'm in a book club and no one seemed to be satisfie...more
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This is a great story about greed and what it does to four people who find a bunch of money. I've only read two Scott Smith novels, but I love his approach to developing characters. By the end of "A Simple Plan", I realized just how much I disliked most everyone in the story; even the protagonist. Not because of stylistic or technical reasons or anything Smith did wrong; it's actually quite the opposite: As you get to know the characters in this book, you understand just how fractured ...more
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Read in January, 2000
This book was probably THE most painful reading experience I have ever had. I actually finished it - more because of my own stubbornness than anything. I guess I would have to liken it to the first few weeks of American Idol where the whole point is to show you the people that are really bad. I am just too sensitive for that - I feel the pain and embarrasment they should be feeling but in some cases don't. In the case of this book the pure idiocy that these characters go through after findin...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
Anyone who enjoys non stop action
This is a relatively new book and is now a major motion picture. This book is the story of one mans greed. This book brings up the question of what would you do for $4 million. This book shows just how far the main character Hank is willing to go.
Hank is a accountant at a local feed store. He is not an extremely rich man but he is not a poor man. He lives in Ohio in the same city he was raised in. A small town out side of Toledo with just an old sheriff to protect the streets. He i...more
Hank is a accountant at a local feed store. He is not an extremely rich man but he is not a poor man. He lives in Ohio in the same city he was raised in. A small town out side of Toledo with just an old sheriff to protect the streets. He i...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
readers with iron stomachs
I just put this down, and I have to say that I'm relieved to be done with it. The story rolls along with each action worse, more horrible, more miserable than the one before it making for a rough ride for the reader. The story raises questions about good and evil and the fine line that keeps a normal member of society separate from killers, criminals and the most desperate. While fascinating, the story is also exhausting. The ending is nicely ambiguous and it breaks the rules we are familiar...more
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Read in March, 1992
recommends it for:
suspense, thriller
This book is fantastic, but I hated, I mean hated the ending, which is why I can't give it 5 stars. What would you do if you found a million dollars? Would you tell anyone? These questions and others are explored in this very riveting novel. I gave it to my husband to read at the time. We had just started dating and he was so into the book, but he hated the ending and to this day (11 years later), he still teases me about how I had him a read a great book with a crappy ending. In fact, whe...more
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this is another book that was good, but where i liked the movie way more. teh book was good, as i said, don't get me wonrg, but there are some really key differnces between the movie and the book, and in the end, i just liked the changes they made in the movie more. the biggest thing for me though, was billy bob thorton's role in the movie. i wanted to cry for his character in the movei, and in the book, i just didn't seem to care about him as much. trivia note....sam rami, of evil dead fame...more
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Read in December, 2007
The novel the Rami movie is based on. Quite different from movie version. Which is cool for a screenwriter to see the process of changes from book to screen. I like to try and figure out why they made the choices they did. Best line in the novel, which is even cool out of context, goes like this "In our hearts, we were both products of our father's temperament, a man so pacifistic he refused to raise livestock- no cattle, no poultry, no swine- because he couldn't bear to see them slaught...more
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Read in May, 2008
Dit leest zo vlot als een filmscript, maar helaas ook met dezelfde diepgang. Het is nochtans een interessant gegeven, maar totaal niet uitgediept. Pas op de laatste vier bladzijden is er enige diepgang merkbaar, die een glimps geeft van wat het boek had kunnen zijn. Vergelijk dit met bijvoorbeeld Patricia Highsmith, en dan verdwijnt het verhaal van Smith in het niets. Jammer, het was een interssante synopsis.
Misschien is de film beter? Hij heeft in elk geval voldoende sterren bij imdb, en ee...more
Misschien is de film beter? Hij heeft in elk geval voldoende sterren bij imdb, en ee...more
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Read in January, 2008
This book is a train wreck. It's the epitome cant take your eyes away from it grotesqueness. But the beauty of the book is seeing inside Hank's mind as does such awful things. He considers alternatives, is pressured into the worst choice, and then rationalizes that he could simply only do one thing - it's chilling. My only complaint is that Hank always thought things like "I must be forgetting something" and I thought to myself "You idiot, you're forgetting X." and yet hi...more
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Hank Mitchell, his brother Jacob, and Jacob's friend Lou have discovered a downed plane in the snow covered woods. Within a duffel bag in this plane is $4.4 million. Do they keep it or do they turn it in to the authorities? They keep it and suffer all the consequences of their actions. Lots of plot twists and very well written although I think some of what happens is completely unnecessary and superfluous to the plot. In an extreme rarity, I think I actually liked the movie better.
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Read in March, 2008
I picked up this book because of the book "The Ruins" that I recently read from this author. I am glad that I did. Call me twisted or crazy, but I love a good suspense. This one has a lot of killing and unexpected twists and turns. When I reached the halfway point of this book, I thought it could have been the end because it was so climatic. However, to my pleasant surprise, the twists and suspense started all over again. Anyway, if you are into suspense...good book to read!
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Read in September, 1997
This was another of Bill MacDonald's recommendations (and my friend, Jeanie, says she told me to read it months ago)... so I read it. Really interesting. Hank Mitchell and his brother and his brother's friend find $4.4 million that no one is looking for. Hank is an accountant, married to Sarah who's expecting their first child in mere weeks. His life is fine, well-ordered. Until they find the money. This story is not at all predictable and one I'll be thinking about for a while.
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Read in January, 1995
Excellent escapism!
A man, his brother, and his friend discover a downed single-engine plane in the woods outside of town. The lone pilot is dead and in the back seat is 4 million dollars in cash.
A roller coaster tale ensues as the three try to decide what to do with the money and events just snowball out of control. Written in the 1st person, I felt like a co-conspiritor with them.
I wish I could find more novels like this one. It was so good I almost ate it.
A man, his brother, and his friend discover a downed single-engine plane in the woods outside of town. The lone pilot is dead and in the back seat is 4 million dollars in cash.
A roller coaster tale ensues as the three try to decide what to do with the money and events just snowball out of control. Written in the 1st person, I felt like a co-conspiritor with them.
I wish I could find more novels like this one. It was so good I almost ate it.
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