Simple Plan [Hardcover]

Hank narrates the story in the first person in a very calm, rational, and guiltless manner. Each act is, to him, completly necessary and therefore, justified. The violence comes quickly and, just when you think it won't get any bloodier, it does. The one constant thread throughout the book, is that Hank still considers himself to be a regular guy, despite having committed unspeakable acts. His conscience is clear and life can go on with very few regrets.

Scott Smith has written a wonderfully suspenseful story that keeps building and building. I have seen the film version; it is not as graphically violent (it couldn't be!) and not as relentless in its horror. I recommend this book to fans of suspense, mystery, and crime. It is a thrilling story!

The plot revolves around two, small town brothers, Hank and Jacob Mitchell, who, along with Jacob's friend, Lou, inadvertently come upon a downed plane that is buried in the snow, deep in the woods of a rural area. In that plane is a dead pilot, along with four million dollars in cold, hard cash. All three of them could sure use the money. The question is, what are they going to do about it?

They come up with what they think is a simple plan. They will take the money and just wait and see, not spending it, until the coast seems clear. From the moment they make this decision, life is never the same for any of them. Hank, taking charge of the money for safekeeping, begins to undergo a change that is seemingly uncharacteristic for one who is outwardly so respectable, rational, and benign of countenance.

As the issue of the money begins to divide the three accomlices, greed and betrayal bubble to the surface, to culminate in a series of chilling, cold blooded murders. Meanwhile, Hank, manipulated by his Lady MacBeth of a wife, Sarah, begins a personal downward spiral, succumbing to an evil so profound, that it will leave the reader astounded.

What happens to them all makes for an amazingly powerful and riveting story of psychological suspense. Written in clean, spare prose, this well crafted novel is a riveting page turner that grips the reader from the inception, holding the reader in its thrall until its climactic conclusion. The ending serves to show the reader that what goes around does, indeed, come around.