Review – The Plotters by Un-Su Kim
My first Korean authored novel, translated by Sora Kim-Russell, The Plotters by Un-Su Kim is an excellent crime thriller. Jaded and grim in many ways, there’s a gallows humour threaded through this intriguing novel.
An orphan, Reseng, has lived his life within an old library under the less than attentive gaze of his adoptive father, Old Raccoon. Not allowed to go to school, he taught himself to read at nine; something Old Raccoon seemed strangely angry yet resigned too. It’s a feeling that permeates the story. Reseng has grown up running errands, carrying notes and, eventually, working his way up the clandestine organisation operating out of the library before, finally, becoming an assassin.
In this alternate Korea, where the North collapsed, corporations, criminals and government officials work together for their own nefarious purposes. People are disappeared for all manner of reasons and behind each one is a plotter; an organiser of how and when the assassination will happen but also how it will be hidden. Opening with Reseng taking out an old general, his rumination and reflections merge with his memories of other hired killers and their own sad stories. Especially their endings.
Resigned to his own premature demise, and reconciled with being cremated at the same place all his victims have been taken, he leads a unique, melancholy life. Yet, he can’t stop his own mind wandering at certain incongruities. Old Raccoon’s attitude seems constantly at odds with his actions and events play out without him even understanding anything about them. As though his own life has been redacted, Reseng is soon caught up in machinations he wasn’t even aware of. A bomb in his toilet – a plot against himself – sets in motion things that push and pull him toward a dramatic conclusion. It’s as those events build that the true heart of the novel is laid bare.
Trapped in a constant cycle of violence and surrounded by people as equally damaged, each of the characters blames their pasts for the actions. As though what shaped them determines how they must live; an inescapable reality that continues regardless. It’s this almost nihilistic determinism that colours much of the narrative. It isn’t until Reseng is confronted by the very same attitude he expounds that he’s given insight into his own life. The what-ifs and missed opportunities unbalance him, suddenly giving him a purpose beyond what the plotters determine. But, even that second chance is one constrained by his own conditioning.
It’s a stunning and cinematic end to an intriguing novel that feels more like a character study than a thriller. The melancholy of Reseng and his daily life, interjected with brutal moments, but also humorous dialogue, creates a captivating narrative of this strange underground world. Deadpan, dark and almost morbid, it is, however, never dull. Reseng, Old Raccoon and others are bizarre characters but fascinating. And, working behind it constantly are the hierarchical strategies and power plays, the very things that underpin yet are set to unravel the world these actors travel.
Brilliantly translated, The Plotters is a unique work of fiction both for its setting and it’s perspective. Strange, off-centre and enthralling it’s an enigmatic crime novel.
Review copy
Published by 4th Estate
