Tense and filled with dread.
Stephanie Wrobel is the USA Today and Sunday Times bestselling author of The Hitchcock Hotel, This Might Hurt, and Darling Rose Gold, which was a finalist for the Edgar Award and has been translated into twenty-one languages. Her fourth novel, Revenge Plot, will be published in November 2026. She lives in Los Angeles.
I’m a huge fan of Stephanie Wrobel, so receiving an early copy of her next thriller right in time for spooky season was a dream. I’ve read all of her books, she’s an auto-buy author for me, and I’ll never stop recommending her. Revenge Plot follows an aspiring author who will stop at nothing to get his manuscript in front of his dream agent, but things quickly take a dark turn.
By the end of the first chapter, I was hooked! It’s the type of suspense I want in a thriller. The questions just kept mounting, and the tension escalated perfectly. Every character is unlikable (besides the child), and I still rooted for them all in different ways. Something I love in the genre too! But even so, there were redeeming qualities in each of them. The character arcs were satisfying and believable, especially Arnie’s. And one thing I can always count on in Wrobel’s novels are zero plot holes. I also love a book within a book trope, it’s one of my favorites. And anything about siblings.
The pace was perfect, and the end tied up everything in a satisfying way. There are so many scenes that stuck with me. In particular, Claudia’s cooking scenes in the beginning were so cozy and I could practically smell the recipes through the pages. I haven’t been that ravenous reading a book since Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. The setting felt so isolated and I loved seeing Wrobel’s Substack post highlighting the real cabin/treehouse it was based on. So much fun!
For fans of thrillers set in the literary world, who love an immersive plot, and isolated settings.
Synopsis:
All Arnie Tenderton wants this Christmas—all he’s ever wanted—is to be a published author. For decades he has toiled over one novel after another. Each was missing something. Until now.
He’s finally written his perfect book.
What he needs next is a literary agent, someone who can get his book into publishers’ hands. Not just any agent will do, of course. Arnie wants the best. Arnie wants Claudia Conley.
She already rejected him once, and Arnie has never forgiven her. He could move on. Instead, he finds out where Claudia is spending the holidays: alone in a remote house in the Catskill Mountains. He decides to show up there to make his pitch.
Claudia may try to turn him down again, but this time Arnie won’t take no for an answer.
Because his book is about her.
And he’s not leaving until the story ends the way he wants.
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