A SIMPLE PLAN by Scott Smith

Reviewed by Melissa Fish

When I first began Scott Smith’s A Simple Plan, I had every expectation that the plot would follow the established pattern for suspense novels: a fast-paced, guilt-free story full of sympathetic characters seeking to triumph over external evils in a world of black-and-white morality. However, I quickly discovered that, even at the root of its premise, the novel defies all “suspense” novel standards, to the point of being almost completely separate from the genre. The story focuses on three rural Ohio men as they discover $4.4 million in a crashed plane, create a plan in order to hide and keep this money, and then begin to deviate from their plan, masking their crimes with more crimes until the notion of good vs. evil seems to lose all meaning. The pace of the novel is slower than one might expect, given the typical standards of crime novels; the story plods along as the narrator considers and later reflects on the personal and public consequences of his actions. It is this self-reflection that most particularly distinguishes the novel as unique, highlighting the moral ambiguity of the plotline and the author’s often blatantly obvious theme of the evil that lurks in the hearts of even the most well-intentioned.

The persona of the narrator himself adds further to the complicated mix of intellectual and emotional responses that this book induces. He is, to some degree, sympathetic, apparently driven by his desire to resolve the situation for the betterment of his family to actions that invariably, contrary to his intent, worsen his plight. However, he is simultaneously an utterly repulsive character, continually committing inhumane acts for the sake of a cause that never quite seems justifiable. The author attempts to balance these two extremes by raising the question of whether the reader would act differently in this particular situation, gently suggesting that perhaps we have no right to judge this man for his crimes. At certain points in the novel, this query is an effective, thought-provoking tool; however, as the deeds of the narrator begin to escalate in atrocity, the author’s attempt at moralizing becomes ineffective in the face of what are unquestionably unconscionable actions.

As I drew near the end of the book, I found myself wanting desperately to hate it for not being the quick, pleasant read that I had anticipated. The characters seemed to me to be frustratingly naïve, the events horrific and somewhat unbelievable, and the themes and symbolism quite heavy-handed. Despite these faults, however, I found that the novel has invoked a lasting emotional reaction in me, a result that suggests that the author has effectively accomplished what he set out to do: to create a story that deeply affects our sense of security in ourselves and calls our simplistic perceptions of good and evil into question.