From the publisher’s website:
In mainstream literature, it is not unusual to find a great novel whose themes are simultaneously universal and local. humanity and the human condition can be represented through characters and events that reflect the environment of an author living in a specific time and place. In the case of The Scorpion, the 13th novel by Kim Won-il, one of Korea’s most acclaimed contemporary writers, the crippling repercussions of childhood trauma- trauma that has occured and still occurs today in every culture across the globe- are shown against the setting of Korea’s tortured history. The Scorpion, can be read both as historical fiction and as a contemporary crime novel.