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Young assassin Reseng has never questioned who his target is or his profession. But when he doesn’t follow through on the meticulously calculated plans of a job (perhaps, he muses, he’s growing tired of his line of work), he begins to uncover the tangled web that quietly runs an alternate, fantastical version of late-capitalist Korea—the setting of acclaimed Korean author Kim Un-su’s 2010 thriller The Plotters, which was translated into English by Sora Kim-Russell in 2018. As rowdy as it is dreamlike, Reseng’s journey is captured through Kim’s meticulous, vibrant prose and implores the reader to consider the different textures of control, how it flows and through whom. The novel’s universality and its unflinching question of power has garnered it numerous accolades—including a nomination for the 2016 Grand Prix de Literature Policière—and makes it a mesmerizing read for crime novel and literary fiction fans alike. —Rachel Sonis

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