Books – James Church’s “A Corpse in the Koryo”
by chris ~ August 19th, 2008. Filed under: Books.
A Corpse in the Koryo: An Inspector O Novel by James Church
My review
rating: 3 of 5 stars
One of my coworkers is married to an editor for St. Martin’s, and he came to a company party one time with a bunch of free books. Among the stack, I saw A Corpse in the Koryo and the title made me give it a second glance. The fact that it was set in North Korea sold me — my sisters are adopted from South Korea, and I’ve had some interest in both countries for some time now.
The book’s pacing is not particularly speedy, but it doesn’t ever get bogged down either. The plot ticks away as more characters are introduced, more information revealed, and more twists occur. It’s sometimes hard to keep track of, but as the mystery wraps up at the end, you feel like everything made sense.
I liked the main character, Inspector O – I enjoyed his cynicism and straightforwardness, along with his lack of interest in toeing the party line. He has a dry sense of humor and an interesting outlook on life informed by both his culture and his personal experience.
I enjoyed the book, but found myself wishing at times that it would delve more deeply into the world of North Korea. It gives little glimpses of things like the difficulties in acquiring basic supplies, and the unreliability of train service, but there is not a lot of detail given on Korean culture or day to day life. Then again, perhaps a crime novel is not the right place for such.
I would recommend the book to those who enjoy realistic fiction, military thrillers, and mystery novels. It’s not normally the type of book I choose to read, but I enjoyed it.
