Alright!
We are halfway through A Simple Plan, and by this point, the story’s direction should be clear.
What starts as something contained is no longer under control. The tension isn’t coming from new ideas or a bigger concept—it’s coming from consequences. Each decision is starting to close off options rather than create them.
That’s the shift.
Pay attention to how the characters think through what they’re doing. The logic still feels reasonable on the surface, but the outcomes are getting harder to ignore. Remember, this isn’t about escalation in the traditional sense. It’s about being pushed deeper into something that can’t be undone.
Post your responses in the comments below: what moment made it clear things weren’t going to hold together, and what’s standing out most to you so far?
Alright, here we go…
– Mid-Month Check-In –
!! ISAAC HUNTER’s BOOK CLUB !!
The book we are currently reading in May is A Simple Plan by Scott Smith.
Unlike many thrillers that rely on scale or spectacle, this story stays small—and that’s what makes it work. The tension doesn’t come from what might happen. It comes from what’s already been set in motion.
What begins as a controlled situation is starting to break down. Each decision narrows the path forward, and the characters are no longer choosing freely—they’re reacting, trying to manage something that’s slipping.
Favorite Character so far:
Hank stands out, not because he’s heroic, but because of how he thinks. His decisions feel logical, measured, even responsible at times—which makes the direction things are heading more unsettling. You can follow his reasoning… even when it’s clearly going somewhere bad.
Favorite Scene:
The moments that land hardest are the quiet ones—when a line is crossed and then quickly justified. Not dramatic, not explosive. Just a shift that can’t be undone. I liked the scene where Hank and his brother are at their old family farm, and Hank realizes his brother thinks he can buy it back.
Main Thought:
The real tension in A Simple Plan isn’t about the situation itself. It’s about how far someone can go while still believing they’re in control—and still telling themselves they’re doing the right thing.
Discussion Questions:
- At what point did it become clear to you that the situation wasn’t going to hold together?
- Which decision so far felt the most justified—and why?
- Post your thoughts below. This is one where the discussion matters more than trying to “solve” the story.
!! NEXT MONTH’s BOOK SELECTION !!
Originally, the plan for June was to read Summer of Night by Dan Simmons. But over the past few weeks, several unexpected developments have come together, and we need to adjust a few things to accommodate them.
Tentatively starting in June, we will launch a local chapter of the Isaac Hunter Book Club at the Reedsport Library. The launch event will include a reading, a Q&A, a book signing for those interested, and voting on July’s book selection.
To help introduce the new local chapter, June’s book selection has shifted to one of my own novels: In the Meadow.
More details are forthcoming, so stay tuned.
!! Post Below to Join the Club !!
If you would like to join us in Isaac Hunter’s Official Book Club, post a comment below saying that you are present and accounted for. And if you are reading this months or years after, by all means, join in after the fact, post down below, and start reading. Better late than never!
!! IF YOU LIKE THIS BOOK, YOU WILL LOVE MY WITCH GNOSTIC HERESIES SERIES !!
You can purchase the first book in the Witch Gnostic Heresies trilogy right now for a limited time up to 70% OFF, so act now while we still have copies in stock!
Check out this excerpt from my novel, Our Daughter:
“Okay, mom,” Randy said.
“You behave yourself and be nice. You’re lucky to have company while you wait for the doctors.”
The woman turned and started back the way she came.
“The nurse said it would be twenty or thirty more minutes, so we’ll eat quick and be back up here before they take you in, okay?”
“Okay, mom.”
“Sorry for him,” the woman said to Katie as she walked by.
“He’s funny.”
Katie grinned.
As the woman left, Katie noticed the boy moving around again on the bed. Before she realized what was happening, the tiny lump disappeared and she could hear the faint sound of bare hands and feet on the tile floor.
He was low crawling under the beds toward her.
A moment later, Randy popped his head out from under the nearest hospital bed, craning his neck around to look up at her.
“Hello, there,” Katie said.
Randy disappeared back under the bed, the bed sheet draping down almost to the floor. Katie could still see three little fingers pressed to the tile.
“What are you here for?” Katie asked, readjusting her seat in the chair, trying to get the ache in her chest to lessen.
For whatever reason, the wheelchair was really uncomfortable.
“Why are – “
Randy’s voice trailed off for a moment as he looked around.
“Why are you here?”
“I’m getting my leg fixed,” Katie said. “See?”
Randy poked his head back out from under the bed and looked at the leg she was pointing to.
“What’s wrong with it?”
“The doctor said it’s broken,” Katie said. “Shattered.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah. Ouch.”
“Can you feel it?” Randy asked, able to stay out from his hiding place.
“I can feel it, but it’s not too bad,” Katie said, then tapped the IV in her arm. “This thing is giving me medicine of some kind for the pain. At least that’s what the nurses said.”
“Why are you – “
Randy stopped mid-sentence.
He scooted out from under the bed entirely and slowly crept over to er on all fours.
“What are you, some kind of spider?” Katie asked, giggling a little.
“What are you?” Randy echoed.
He was now only about a foot away from her chair and sat there, his legs folded up under him, gawking up at her.
“What are you staring at me for?”
“I’ve never – “
Randy put out a hesitant hand and ever so gently touched her arm.
“Are you some kind of ghost?”
He looked around again.
“Are you – ”
He leaned in, talking in a whisper.
“Are you dead?”
A nurse came around the corner and stopped abruptly, spotting the empty bed in the far corner where Randy should have been.
“Randy Andrews,” the nurse said, her hands now on her hips. “You get right back into the bed and you stop playing around, please. They are ready for you in surgery.”
Katie watched as Randy scrambled on all fours under the beds and back up onto his, pulling the sheet back over top of himself again.
She started to ask him about his question, but couldn’t get the words out before his parents appeared at the door.
Katie sat there quietly, watching Randy stare back at her from under his sheet. She glanced over at his parents and the nurse, noticed Randy’s dad had no hair on the top of his head.
Are you dead?
What kind of question was that?
The snap of the wheel locks being disengaged on Randy’s hospital bed jarred Katie out of the confusion she was in.
The doctor she’d first seen was now at the door, waiting for Randy.
He was his surgeon.
They wheeled Randy out of the room, his parents following right behind, disappearing to the left, heading for his operating room.
The pre-op room was empty again.
Dead.
Are you dead?
What kind of crazy question was that?
The nurse came back through the double doors.
“It won’t be long now,” she said.
“Okay.”
Katie tried not to think about the dull ache growing just behind her sternum.
The nurse disappeared around the corner as Katie watched the double doors to the operating rooms slowly shut.
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What do you think?