A Simple Plan is a 1993 thriller novel by Scott Smith. The New York Times review said the book had "emotional accuracy with an exceptionally skilled plot." A film adaptation, directed by Sam Raimi, was released in 1998; according to the Times review, the novel is so dark that the story was adjusted to soften the ending.[1]
Plot
The story is set in a small town in northern Ohio that is snow-covered throughout the winter. The narrator is Hank Mitchell, an accountant and family man. He begins by stating that his parents had died in a car accident when their vehicle collided with a semi; Hank believes it was a suicide as his parents had been deep in debt due to over-borrowing and mismanagement. On New Year's Eve, Hank and his elder brother Jacob set out to visit their parents' graves, accompanied by Lou, Jacob's only friend. When a fox runs in front of Jacob's truck, he swerves and crashes into a ditch.
Jacob's dog chases the fleeing fox into a nature preserve. The three men go after the dog and find a crashed plane; inside the plane is the dead pilot and a gym bag with $4.4 million in $100 bills.
Hank wants to turn the money over to the authorities, but Jacob and Lou, both unemployed, want to keep it. Hank's compromise is that he will hold onto the money until after the plane is discovered in the spring. If there is any mention of the missing money, he will burn it; otherwise, after six months, they will split it equally and separately leave town.
Hank's wife, Sarah, accepts the idea, at first reluctantly, then enthusiastically. The following day, at Sarah's suggestion, Hank and Jacob return to the plane and plant five hundred thousand dollars in the cockpit. A curious neighbor - Pederson - sees the tracks in the snow and Jacob, in a panic, hits and apparently kills the man. When Hank returns and sees that Pederson is still breathing, he suffocates him.
Having racked up gambling debts in anticipation of his share of the money, Lou tries to blackmail Hank for his third of the money ahead of schedule. At Sarah's urging, Hank and Jacob con Lou into saying on tape that he killed the neighbor; in an ensuing scuffle, Lou and his girlfriend are both killed. Hank stages the deaths as a domestic dispute, murdering a man next door - the landlord Sonny - in the process. Jacob makes it clear that he is uncomfortable with the set-up, so Hank shoots and kills his brother. The police, the media, and the townspeople all accept Hank's explanation of the carnage.
Later, Hank buys a condo at an auction, which turns out to be a scam. Having lost the majority of their savings, they need the airplane money more than ever.
Soon afterward, Hank learns that the FBI is looking for a lost plane with $4.4 million in ransom money on board. When both the town sheriff and the remaining kidnapper are killed in the search for the plane, Sarah believes that they finally are home free. But Hank, called in for questioning, learns that the serial number of every tenth bill had been recorded, and there is no way to tell the marked bills from those that are not marked. If the money is spent, it can be traced.
Sarah tells Hank that she has already spent one of the bills at a convenience store, and he goes there to steal it back. In a fight with the cashier, Hank kills the man with a machete. When an elderly woman demands to be let into the store, he kills her as well. Hank flees with the bill and is never suspected.
Hank goes home and burns the money over Sarah's protests. In the epilogue, Sarah has a baby boy, whom they name Jacob. A few weeks after the birth, their daughter nearly drowns in a wading pool and suffers permanent brain damage. Hank and Sarah accept this as punishment for their crimes. Hank narrates that he pictures his brother Jacob from time to time, because only this memory makes him feel human.
Critical reception
In its 1993 review, The New York Times called A Simple Plan a "beautifully controlled and disturbing first novel."[2] The Chicago Tribune described the book as "a tragic journey as compelling, resolute and relentlessly grim as The Treasure of the Sierra Madre."[3]
