In The Investigation (2012, English version 2014), JM Lee gave readers an historical novel combined with a course in poetry appreciation. Somehow, it didn’t work for us. In Painter of the Wind, Lee gives his readers an historical novel combined with a course in art appreciation and it works a lot better. The novel was … [Read More]
Tag: Mystery and thriller
Selected publications
- Monika Kim: The Eyes Are The Best Part, Octopus 2024
- Im Seong-sun: The Consultant tr Brother Anthony of Taizé, Bloomsbury 2023
- JM Lee: Painter of the Wind tr Hannah Pang, Stella Kim, Harriet Press 2023
- JM Lee: Broken Summer tr Brother Anthony of Taizé, Amazon Crossing 2022
- Gu Byeong-mo: The Old Woman with the Knife tr Kim Chi-young, Hanover Square Press 2022
- Kwon Yeo-sun: Lemon tr Janet Hong, Head of Zeus, Other Press 2021
- Jeong You-jeong: Seven Years of Darkness tr Kim Chi-young, Little Brown 2020
- Seo Miae: The Only Child tr Jung Yewon, Point Blank 2020
- Kim Young-ha: Diary of a Murderer, and other stories tr Krys Lee, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2019
- Kim Un-su: The Plotters tr Sora Kim-Russell, Fourth Estate 2019
- Jeong You-jeong: The Good Son tr Kim Chi-young, Little Brown 2018
- JM Lee: The Boy who Escaped Paradise tr Kim Chi-young, Pegasus 2018
- JM Lee: The Investigation tr Kim Chi-young, Pegasus 2014
- Yi In-hwa: Everlasting Empire tr Yu Young-nan, Eastbridge 2002
Book review: Kwon Yeo-sun – Lemon
Someone, somewhere, must have done a study of multi-person narratives in Korean fiction – novels which tell the same story (or different episodes involving the same characters) from two or more different perspectives. Two of the best-loved Korean novels in translation use the technique: Please Look After Mother and The Vegetarian. And this year, we’ve … [Read More]
Book review: Yi In-hwa’s Everlasting Empire
Some time ago I watched Park Chong-wan’s 1995 historical mystery movie Eternal Empire on DVD, having purchased it on the strength of its inclusion in Darcy Paquet’s list of top films from the 1990s. I must have been tired when I watched it: I simply have no recollection of what I thought of it, though … [Read More]
August Literature Night: Seven Years of Darkness
The KCC’s Zoom literature night in August features the hottest thriller of the year. You can read LKL’s review of it here. The normal lottery-based system applies. Seven Years of Darkness by Jeong You-jeong Wednesday 26 August 2020, 7pm RSVP via the KCC’s website by 9 August. About the book A young girl is found … [Read More]
Book review: Jeong You-jeong – Seven Years of Darkness
Jeong You-jeong: Seven Years of Darkness Translated by Kim Chi-young Penguin / Little, Brown 2020 Originally published as 7년의 밤, EunHaeng NaMu Publishing Co, Seoul 2011 It felt like a long wait. We’d seen the movie adaptation a few years ago (Choo Chang-min’s Seven Years of Night, which screened at the London Korean Film Festival … [Read More]
Mi-ae Seo: The Only Child
Seo Miae’s The Only Child is the latest thriller to come out of Korea, following on the heels of Jeong You-jeong’s Good Son and Kim Un-su’s The Plotters. Seo debuted in 1994 with the short story 30 Ways to Kill Your Husband and won the GrandPrize for Korean detective fiction with the Dolls Garden. She … [Read More]
Review: JM Lee – The Boy who Escaped Paradise
The Boy Who Escaped Paradise J.M. Lee, translated by Chi Young Kim Pegasus, 2016, 288pp Originally published as 천국의 소년, Seoul, 2013. A fifty-year-old North Korean is found shot to death in a flat in Queens, New York; beside him is a wounded man, the presumed killer. On the floor around the bodies are mysterious … [Read More]
Brief book review: The Plotters
Kim Un-su: The Plotters Translated by Sora Kim-Russell Fourth Estate, 2019, 304 pp Originally published as 설계자들, Seoul 2010 I always find when embarking on a new book it pays to have neutral expectations. That way you won’t be disappointed. But sometimes it’s hard to filter out your own personal prejudices and the word of … [Read More]
Book review: Kim Young-ha – Diary of a Murderer
Kim Young-ha: Diary of a Murderer and other stories Translated by Krys Lee Mariner Books, 2019, 200pp Originally published as 살인자의 기억법, Munhakdongne, 2013 Somewhat rashly, I approach Kim Young-ha’s novels with a keen sense of anticipation, particularly when translated by Krys Lee. Rashly, because with high expectations you usually set yourself up for a … [Read More]
Brief review: Jeong You-jeong – The Good Son
Jeong You-jeong: The Good Son Translated by Kim Chi-young Little, Brown Book Group, 2018, 322pp Originally published as 종의 기원, Eunhaengnamu, 2016 A Good Son is one of the books being hailed as the new Scandi Noir, while Amazon is billing it as “The bestselling Korean thriller of the year” – though in a Korean genre that … [Read More]
Guardian suggests Korean thrillers are the new Scandi Noir
It was not long ago that people were lamenting the absence of Korean genre fiction – such as crime and mystery stories – in translation. Well, apparently, things are changing. An article in Saturday’s Guardian talks about a “wave of interest in Korean thrillers” – highlighting the six-figure sum which bought Doubleday the right to … [Read More]