So having not had much time to read books over the last few weeks (due to work pressures and an exciting crochet project that I will reveal in another post), I have now been able to finish two books in two days, as I was visiting my daughter in Edinburgh and so had airport and flight time to read in.
I found this book absolutely fascinating - to the point where I was hoping for a delay so that I could read on and on!!
The main protagonist is a Korean-AfroAmerican woman whose twin sister mysteriously disappeared from a South Korean beach and has not been seen for over twelve years. Her American based twin still senses she is alive and has never forgotten her, to the point where her grief impacts on her normal day to day life.
Through a series of events she is co-opted into a mission to find out the motivation for the actions of North Korea, whilst being employed by the CIA and from which she hopes to find her sister.
This novel has been based on many eye witness accounts of life in North Korea, the brutal Kim regime, starvation, oppression and (let's be honest here) brain washing of millions through fear. Even though we might all think we have an idea of what's going on, this novel lays it all bare.
As a thriller this novel is brilliant. As an account of North Korea it is dispiriting and frightening and holds out little (though not no) hope for that country in the future.
I cannot recommend this book enough.
The author's note at the end lists his sources and accounts he has referred to and I will definitely be reading some of these.
#StaroftheNorth #DBJohn #NorthKorea
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