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Staff Pick
Set in a fictional Korea, The Plotters tells the story of Reseng, a young assassin whose familiar, brutal world is slowly disintegrating in the shadow of a looming power struggle. When Reseng finds himself on the receiving end of an unorthodox assassination attempt, he plunges down the rabbit hole and finds far more than he was prepared for, including a soul-shattering change of heart. Reseng is clever, confident, and fatalistic; his keen and at times odd observations on the human condition can be laugh-out-loud funny or make you pause and reflect somberly on your own situation. Fast-paced, gritty, full of vivid language and fleshed-out characters, this book was an immersive journey I didn’t want to end. Recommended By Steph C., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Named a Best Thriller of the Year by:
The Washington Post
The Telegraph
A fantastical crime novel set in an alternate Seoul where assassination guilds compete for market dominance.
Behind every assassination, there is an anonymous mastermind — a plotter — working in the shadows. Plotters quietly dictate the moves of the city's most dangerous criminals, but their existence is little more than legend. Just who are the plotters? And more important, what do they want?
Reseng is an assassin. Raised by a cantankerous killer named Old Raccoon in the crime headquarters "The Library," Reseng never questioned anything: where to go, who to kill, or why his home was filled with books that no one ever read. But one day, Reseng steps out of line on a job, toppling a set of carefully calibrated plans. And when he uncovers an extraordinary scheme set into motion by an eccentric trio of young women — a convenience store clerk, her wheelchair-bound sister, and a cross-eyed librarian — Reseng will have to decide if he will remain a pawn or finally take control of the plot.
Crackling with action and filled with unforgettable characters, The Plotters is a deeply entertaining thriller that soars with the soul, wit, and lyricism of real literary craft.
Review
"Kill Bill meets Murakami. Twisted and surreal, The Plotters is one of those rare books that will haunt you long after you've finished it. The writing is smooth, unhurried and often profound, even as it draws you deeper into the gruesome underworld of skilled contract killers."
D. B. John, author of Star of the North
Review
"The Plotters hums with menace, humor, heartbreak, and savagery. The killers and schemers haunting its pages range from dens of villainy to desperate scenes of quiet domesticity, offering a view of the world from the depths of its own shadow. The result is wild, weird, and completely engrossing."
Jedediah Berry, author of The Manual of Detection
Review
"Unpredictable, often grotesquely funny, piled with corpses and dark as a dungeon... The Plotters is also a compulsive page-turner."
Maclean's
Review
"The Plotters walks in the traditions of the noble detective and the samurai while spinning some new chewy bits probably best not mimicked. By the end, heroism rises out of the carnage to trump the nihilistic capitalism in a rousing climax."
Los Angeles Review of Books
About the Author
UN-SU KIM was born in 1972 in Busan and is the author of several highly praised novels. He has won the Munhakdongne Novel Prize, Korea's most prestigious literary prize, and was nominated for the 2016 Grand Prix de Littérature Policière. The translator, Sora Kim-Russell, is a Korean American living in Seoul, where she teaches translation.