From Description: 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?
The Plotters is a strange book that mixes noir with absurdist situations. Reseng, an antihero, is an an assassin raised in the library of Old Raccoon, the librarian. The reader is introduced to contractors, plotters, fixers, assassins guilds, assassins--and targets.
Assassins maintain a distance from their work that lets them discuss the deaths of their targets and the deaths of their fellow assassins with detachment and acceptance. This emotional detachment is necessary for an assassin, but Resang has, in the back of his mind, an awareness of the situation and actually chooses this distance to continue with his "profession." After all, he was raised for it.
Several events over the years, however, have begun to weaken the disassociation. Two particular deaths (murders) of assassins he has respected have gradually interfered with his typical "just a job" attitude. A chance to have another life with a young woman he met at 22, a chance he threw away, also begins to figure into his questioning of his role--questions he has resisted most of his life. He revisits these events in his mind.
Two recent jobs bring doubts to the forefront, and although he has always known that he will probably be a target himself, acknowledging this fact in relation to his recent experiences results in a change of goal. This is not to say that he feels remorse, exactly, but the sea change that has been building over several years takes a more dramatic turn when his friend is murdered and he gets involved with three curious women, one of whom is a plotter that had a bomb placed in his toilet.
Filled with offbeat and provocative characters, The Plotters' smooth translation is geared to making the novel flow easily for Western readers. I hope Un-Su Kim will have another English translation soon.
Read in November; blog review scheduled for Jan. 8, 2019.
NetGalley/Doubleday Books
Thriller?/Satire. Jan. 29, 2019. Print length: 304 pages.
This sounds interesting. At first glance I wasn't sure, but your description of it has me curious. Assassin stories can be fun.
ReplyDeleteIt was quite interesting. Unusual, but intriguing!
DeleteCool cover. I always like how books written by authors from other countries gives you such a different perspective on things.
ReplyDeleteOne of the themes is that there is always a plotter to fill the chair. Dispose of one, and another take his place, so the cover is both on target and interesting. :)
DeleteSounds interesting...but the surreal aspect might trip me up. Is there a historical time frame or is the book set in the present day?
ReplyDeleteI guess the assassins, whether working for political figures or "business" men, are similar to black ops groups worldwide. It may be a dangerous, but to the assassins, it is merely a job. And the plotters? They may appear respectable, but they have no qualms in directing and using criminal elements to their own ends. Reseng is a fascinating character and despite being appalled at his work, I couldn't help but like him. Watching him reexamine his life was compelling.
DeleteOh my, I don't know about this one, but at the same time, I find myself curious about it too. Your review does give me food for thought though -- thank you!
ReplyDeleteI liked it a lot!
DeleteSounds very different from the typical thriller so I'm intrigued! Plus, I can't remember the last time I read anything by a Korean author.
ReplyDeleteSome black comedy mixed with thoughtful introspection on the part of Reseng, but not at all like a typical thriller. :)
DeleteI'm not sure about this one but your review had me curious. :)
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed it, partly because it was my first book by a Korean author. The translation was terrifically readable, and I found myself trying to determine which K Drama actor I'd choose for Reseng. :)
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