Reseng is a paid assassin in South Korea. Unfortunately, The Plotters tell him exactly how to carry out each murder. Reseng feels like a paint-by-number killer with no creative outlet.

When Reseng’s childhood friend Chu disobeys a plotter, Chu is targeted for murder with a hefty bounty on his head. Reseng realizes that early death is an assassin’s retirement plan and vows to do something about it.

The writing style is the star here. It reads like barely remembered childhood fables told within the greater myth of David and Goliath. I usually read books in a day or two but The Plotters requires a reader to pause and reflect on each fable to fully enjoy the book.

While not as out there as Murakami, Kim’s book is a journey that you will be glad you made. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5!

Thanks to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Who doesn’t fantasize about a library full of assassins? In this alternate version of Seoul, People called Plotters pull the strings, but no one really knows who the plotters are. They hire assassins associated with houses, similar to dojos, run by masters. Old Raccoon, one such master, lives in a house he has transformed into a library and reads books. One of his assassins, Reseng, who also reads books, has lived in the library since Old Raccoon found him in a dumpster when he was just a child. Raised to be an assassin, Reseng has obediently carried out his assignments without question, but trouble brews when he goes off script and he begins to see the cracks in the system. He picks at the cracks, but it may be that by doing so he has put himself on another assassin’s hit list.
I can’t help but think of Oldboy and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon when reading the fight scenes. A sense of the inevitable paces the action making the fighting more about style and self-awareness than passion and brute force. Two assassins encounter each other knowing they are destined to fight. They talk shop, discuss their admiration for each other’s craft, then try to kill each other. Very civilized. It was enjoyable and a refreshing take on a book full of assassins.

I was not sure I could finish this novel as gratuitous murder is not my thing...but I grew to appreciate the way the author created a believable setting and such atmospheric surroundings for the characters to live in. The choices humans make and why give the reader a lot ponder.

Thanks to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for the ARC to read and review.

First published in Korea; published in translation by Doubleday on January 29, 2019

If you want someone dead in South Korea, you hire a plotter, who plans the assassination. The plotter gives the plan to a contractor who supplies an assassin. Since the assassin doesn’t know who paid for the murder, that hierarchy protects the person who hires the plotter. And since plotters never use their real name, the police cannot find them even if they catch the assassin and are inclined to climb the hierarchal ladder. That, anyway, is the premise underlying The Plotters.

According to a key character in Un-Su Kim’s novel, everyone who holds any sort of power in South Korea knows a plotter. That key character has a plan to change the system. The novel’s protagonist, Reseng, doesn’t believe the system can be changed, but Reseng is a fatalist.

Reseng is also an assassin. He works for Old Racoon, a librarian who is a long-time contractor. Reseng was adopted and raised by Old Racoon, along with Trainer, who taught him his skills, and Hanja, who is now in competition with Old Racoon.

Reseng taught himself to read in the library. He learned from Achilles the importance of protecting your weak spot. His friend Chu’s weak spot was a young prostitute he decided not to kill. To punish his failure, assassins were hired to kill Chu until he became proactive and decided to take out the assassins. Now someone is trying to kill Reseng. Learning who, and then why, is Reseng’s mission during the novel’s second half. A brewing war between Old Racoon and Hanja also contributes to Reseng’s grief.

Reseng doesn’t have compassion for his victims, but he has a detached curiosity when he interacts with them. Reseng feels a stronger attachment to his cats, Desk and Lampshade, than he feels to any person. He feels no guilt or remorse when he kills, but he comes home drained of energy and purpose. He has an interesting mix of character traits, making him the kind of philosophical protagonist who can carry a crime novel that focuses on the criminal’s point of view.

The story recounts some of Reseng’s backstory, including a former girlfriend and a factory job that could be the story of man anywhere in the world living an ordinary working-class life. Only by living as an ordinary person does Reseng discover his true nature. Ironically, one of his associates strives for ordinariness, to be a person who will go unremembered, because it is the safest way to live. The burning question as the novel progresses is whether Reseng will learn to be ordinary again. Whatever the answer to that question might be, the lesson is that “a life not spent asking yourself what you truly love is a cowardly life.”

The Plotters is interesting for its political perspective, particularly its explanation about how the overthrow of military dictatorships and the rise of democracy might open the door to an assassination industry. The novel is also notable for the complexity of its characters: the assassin-raising librarian who has more respect for the innate knowledge of dogs than he has for human scholarship; the friendless Reseng, whose childhood taught him nothing beyond apathy; deadly women who have humane agendas despite their reliance on murder to achieve their goals.

The mystery behind the apparent attempt to assassinate Reseng is a good one, reflecting Kim’s careful attention to the details of storytelling. Dialog is clever and covers unexpected ground. The ending is unexpected but fitting. The combination of plot, characterization, and philosophy makes The Plotters a good choice for fans of international crime fiction.

RECOMMENDED

The Plotters is a fast paced story that's sometimes wacky, sometimes meditative, and often brutally violent. But it's also a character study - Reseng is an assassin who has begun to question what he does, and throughout the book Reseng and the other characters debate whether it matters who is pulling the strings (that is, who the titular plotters really are). I really enjoyed the world of this book - the library/assassin hide out Reseng grew up in, the rival assassins, and the meat market where you can hire anyone to do anything are all fascinating. But the story really picked up for me once Reseng's life is threatened and three women who are interested in burning down the system are introduced. These women are fantastic and I would've liked more of them in the book. Overall this was a crazy read, but enjoyable. That being said, it really is violent, so if that's not your thing I would avoid this one.

I found the concept imaginative, the execution riveting, the translation served the story well. The whole thing was a bit much for my sensitive soul, though I can appreciate Kim's work. I'll enjoy putting this book in the hands of the right reader.

The Plotters by Un-su Kim (translated by Sora Kim-Russell) is a novel about a South Korean assassin determined to find out who are the “plotters” – those that give the orders to kill. This is the author’s first novel which has been translated to English.

Reseng, was rained by a man named Old Raccoon in The Library of Dogs to become an assassin. In the corrupt underworld of South Korea though, alliances shift rapidly and Reseng is seeing his peers become the ones being hunted.

Trying to figure out who gives the orders to Old Raccoon, who put hits on his peers and maybe him, turns out to be even more dangerous for Reseng. That is until he meets three young women, a convenience store worker, her wheelchair-bound sister, and a cross-eyed obsessive knitter who have plans of their own.

This book was right up my alley, dark humor, witty, ironic and a bit offbeat. The Plotters by Un-su Kim (translated by Sora Kim-Russell) is an engaging story which is sometimes brutal but often charming as well.

The book, goes in bizarre directions, exposing rivalries while keeping the reader interested in a plot which continues to evolve but never gets too convoluted. As with several works I read from that part of the world, this novel either cannot steer away from politics, which is perfectly legitimated and understandable.

With all its quirkiness and humor, the author does ask some good questions about politics and society, all wrapped up neatly in a great thriller. Are those that order the killing just as guilty as those pulling the trigger? As well as questions about what is evil itself.

For a novel with such a violent theme, it is extremely sensitive with a narrative which flows beautifully. I must say some words about the great translation, which captured the atmosphere and sense of dark noir, tied up nicely in a clever narrative.

I'm really glad that I decided on a random whim to request this book; it was great. The story takes you deep into the underground world of assassins and those who plot the assassins in Seoul, South Korea, and it is nuts. The narrative does a great job of getting you into the head of main character and master assassin Reseng and those he works with. There were tons of fascinating characters (some more multi-layered than others) as you kept going deeper and deeper.

I'd say this is kind of noir, kind of Tarantino-esque, but also beautiful and thoughtful. By the end, I think all kinds of readers will be able to see at least a bit of themselves in Reseng, assassin or no. I'd definitely read another book by the author, and kudos to the translator as well.

They say you shouldn't judge books by their covers, but seldom are we warned you shouldn't judge them by their blurbs. Logic indicates it's useless to grow too attached to blurbs, and yet they seem to color our perception of novels. Sometimes blurbs taunt us, sometimes they underwhelm us (how many "most exciting books of the year" can pop up before you begin rolling your eyes?) and sometimes they tantalize us.

What, then, of the blurb adorning the review copy of The Plotters by Un-Su Kim (translated by Sora Kim-Russell), claiming it's a mashup of Quentin Tarantino and Albert Camus? I was terribly interested to read this book based only on that single sentence.

The problem? First, I think they should have gone with a mash-up of John Wick and Camus, which seems more appropriate. (Tarantino does have long scenes of dialogue and graphic violence, but Wick has the shady assassin guilds and hitman with a history, plus it just seems a hipper pop culture reference.) Second, I'm sad to say there's a lot more Camus than John Wick in this novel.

The setup is thrilling enough: competing guilds of assassins in South Korea. Reseng is an assassin who has been raised by crotchety Old Raccoon, and who serves as middle man for the "plotters" of the title, hiring killers and handing them their assignments. But Old Raccoon's glory days are behind him and he is being pushed out of the market by the younger and hipper Hanja.
Much of the joy of the book comes from seeing Reseng meet a number of quirky characters, including a man who runs a crematorium, an old assassin who moonlights as a barber and a talkative tracker who can find out anything about anyone for a price.

Sadly, the women who populate The Plotters are less compelling than the men, though even then Reseng is not that interesting of a character to follow. You would think a killer who grew up in a library, taught himself to read and has an affinity for literature would hide a lot more under the surface than Reseng does, but he's a rather shallow creation. Similarly, what at first seems like a diabolical plot that will upend the assassins' worlds and plunge them into a vicious war ends up being a bit of a meh situation. And Hanja, who was Old Raccoon's protégé, invites us to imagine a big Shakespearean tragedy in the works (adopted assassin against adopted assassin!), but that plotline also stutters.

There are two novels here. The one that is promised at the beginning of The Plotters, when Reseng has a conversation with a target, a conversation which is thrilling and keeps you guessing about the conclusion, and then another novel that just peters out. Some nice noir moments, like Reseng discovering a bomb in his toilet, end up feeling like puzzle pieces that don't quite align.

Maybe it's the Camus elbowing away the Tarantino that produces such a result. Maybe I simply shouldn't have looked at the blurb.

The author of this surreal, expertly crafted tale has been called “the Korean Henning Mankell,” but I say he is the Korean Kurt Vonnegut. Enter a world in which the most ignorant and uncurious survive, one in which “Reading books will doom you to a life of fear and shame.” My thanks go to Doubleday and Net Galley for the advance review copy, which I received free in exchange for this honest review. This novel will be available in the U.S. February 12, 2019.

Our protagonist is Reseng. Orphaned at a young age, he grew up in Old Raccoon’s library. He is an assassin. Killing others for hire has grown into a huge industry, and the story begins with Reseng watching an old man through a scope. He has a job to do.

Readers are forewarned that this story is not for the squeamish, and I almost abandoned it, because although I like dark humor, this is triple-dark. I set it aside fairly early, unsure whether I was coming back or not, but despite its brutality, it drew me back, and I am glad I returned to it.

Bear is Reseng’s friend, and he runs the pet crematorium. That’s what it’s called, because the murder industry is still officially illegal; it wouldn’t do to announce his business as the place to dispose of a freshly assassinated human victim. Not yet anyway; the way things are going, this may change. Reseng is there on business, though, because the old man he just killed has to be processed. And as he and Bear converse on the state of the profession—so many immigrants are coming to South Korea and taking these jobs; Chinese, North Koreans that sneak over, Vietnamese. They’ll work cheap, and it makes it harder for guys like Reseng to get what the jobs are worth. And then there’s outsourcing. Assassins are hired by plotters, but Reseng reflects that “Plotters are just pawns like us. A request comes in, and they draw up the plans. There’s someone above them that tells them what to do. And above that person is another plotter…You know what’s there if you keep going all the way to the top? Nothing. Just an empty chair.”

Reseng’s greatest concern is Old Raccoon, Reseng’s aging mentor who is being edged out by unseen forces. Old Raccoon isn’t an assassin, but he has kept himself out of the crosshairs by permitting his library to be used as a meeting point between shady individuals looking to make deals. That’s worked for him pretty well, until recently. Old Raccoon is all the family Reseng has, and so out of concern, he begins asking questions. It’s a reckless thing to do, and he knows it.

Before long, Reseng’s life turns into a hall of mirrors, and it’s hard to know who to believe, because he can’t trust anyone. Where does Hanja, who was also mentored by Old Raccoon, fit in? What about the cross-eyed librarian? Is she on the up and up, and if so, where did she go? Is The Barber involved here? His queries take him to visit Hanja, who is now wealthy and influential, a giant among giants in the industry, and his offices take up three whole floors in a high-rise building:

“As if it wasn’t ironic enough that the country’s top assassination provider was brazenly running his business in a building owned by an international insurance company; the same assassination provider was also simultaneously managing a bodyguard firm and a security firm. But just as a vaccine company facing bankruptcy will ultimately survive not by making the world’s greatest vaccine but, rather, the world’s worst virus, so, too, did bodyguard and security firms need the world’s most evil terrorists to prosper, not the greatest security experts. That was capitalism. Hanja understood how the world could curl around and bite its own tail like the uroboros serpent…There was no better business model than owning both the virus and vaccine…A business like that would never go under.”

The struggle unfolds in ways that are impossible to predict, and what kind of fool would even attempt to make sense of it? When challenged, Hanja tries to warn Reseng that when an anaconda tries to swallow an alligator, it instead dies of a ruptured stomach, but Reseng will not be stopped. His journey builds to a riotous crescendo, and there’s a point past which it’s impossible not to read till the thing is done.

It’s a scathing tale of alienation told by a master storyteller, and the ending is brilliant as well. There’s nobody else writing anything like this today. Highly recommended.

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? And more important, what do they want?

The Plotters written by Un-su Kim tells the story of Reseng, an assassin in Korea, who was raised by Old Raccoon who teaches him to become an assassin. When Reseng doesn’t follow an assassination exactly the way his plotter told him too he finds himself in trouble and possibly on a hit list. When he meets up with three ladies, a convenience store clerk, her wheelchair bound sister, and a cross-eyed librarian things get really interesting.

This book was beautifully written. The descriptions felt poetic even the violent parts however, this really is not the type of book I would normally read so I had a hard time getting into it. It wasn’t until about halfway through when the ladies were introduced that I got into it. I did root for Reseng the entire time and felt for him even though he is an assassin. 3.5 out of 5 stars for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Doubleday Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Plotters by Un-su Kim (trans. from Korean by Sura Kim-Russell) is surprisingly lyrical and philosophical for a book about a group of assassins. With references to Roman and Greek mythology, Homer and the Bible, the book invites deeper reflection than most would expect from a modern thriller. From the age of four, Reseng has been surrounded by an underground group of assassins and hired guns and now is one of the best in the profession. He was adopted by a man he calls Old Raccoon, a librarian who also happens to coordinate the cabal out of his virtually abandoned library. Old Raccoon does not encourage Reseng’s love of reading, however and warns that it will “doom you to a life of fear and shame.” Regardless, Reseng devotes his childhood to teaching himself how to read and vicariously learns many life lessons in this way. The book opens with an assignment that demonstrates Reseng’s ethical code and respect for others combined with a resigned ruthlessness that allows him to complete his mission. The reader gains a greater understanding of Reseng as he recalls one time when he had a chance to adopt a normal life. He describes how his loyalty has been repeatedly tested in a world where trust is treacherous, and competition is a game of extreme elimination. When he himself becomes a target, Reseng needs to discover who has put him on the kill list and must use his connections to uncover the motives of those who plot against him. The Plotters is a rewarding book, fascinating for its glimpse into a political system that is mysterious and reflective of a country that is perpetually in a state of vigilance. Un-su Kim deftly creates characters that encourage respect and admiration despite their misdeeds and portrays how a the greatest human vulnerability can be caring about others.
Thanks to Doubleday and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Both dark and hilarious Korean thriller featuring a unique group of “Mafiosi”. Quirky, irresistible.

When I use the adjective quirky to describe a book, more often than not, the book is French. This time, it is Korean. I believe this is only the third book I have read translated from the Korean. The Vegetarian was definitely quirky. The Plotters, a thriller featuring some type of Korean Mafiosi, totally fits the bill.

I was totally hooked from the opening chapter:
Reseng, an experienced assassin, is sent to kill an old man in a secluded area. Through his binoculars, he observes his target. Possibly touched by the beauty and simplicity of the scene, as he watches the old man watering his flowers, and his dog, he feels the time has not come for him to kill. He decides to spend the night on the mountain and kill the old man on the following morning. But something unexpected happens to him during the night.

Something quite hilarious at first. And as the reader, you let yourself lulled by the beautiful prose and the quirky development, until you get actually progressively dragged into black humor, and darker and darker waters.
I really enjoyed how the author managed to trick me and play with my expectations.
The smooth translation certainly did a lot to manage that.

Because little by little, you get to know that Reseng obeys orders from higher up, a group called the Plotters. Who are they exactly? And what are they up to? And when he starts interpreting his orders in his own ways, all hell breaks loose.

Plotters hated it when lowly assassins took it upon themselves to change the plot…
Changing the assigned plot was not just a headache but a potential death sentence.

The book is rich with unforgettable characters, especially:

Reseng himself, born in unusual circumstances;
his cantankerous facilitator Old Racoon, whose crime headquarters are set in a mysterious Library (with a cross-eyed female librarian);
his friend Bear, who runs a pet (officially…) crematorium;
a strange convenience store clerk and her wheelchair-bound sister;
and a barber.
And of course, there are cats!
There are interesting passages on famous books and on what reading can do in your life. Funny, I’m actually reading Don Quixote right now, and realize this sentence can equally apply to both works.
There are also eye-opening scenes on industrial work in South Korea.

The official synopsis says this is set in an alternate Seoul. I don’t know for sure about Seoul, but there are unfortunately organized groups of paid assassins out there, some even official, as featured in Hear Our Defeats, that I reviewed recently. In The Plotters, this is actually a market with a lot of competition.

It is all here: The classic anti-hero; organized crime; assassins; mysterious characters; twists, turns; secrets. The setting in South Korea adds an exotic atmosphere to this tale of crime. Filled with interesting and colorful characters, each is independently developed as well as being intrinsic to the story.

I enjoyed The Plotters in the same way that I enjoy a moderately successful Hollywood movie that my husband rented from Redbox on a weeknight because he received a code for a free rental in his email, which is to say: I’m glad we didn’t turn it off halfway through like we normally do with these free DVD rentals.

The first half of the book seemed like mostly exposition. A lot of nothing happens except introductions to characters, places, backstories for characters and places… but then around the halfway mark, the real action starts. And after that, it’s nonstop action that leaves you a bit dizzy. I’d’ve much preferred a more balanced story, but for the sake of complete transparency, I don’t read many thrillers, so maybe this is normal and cool and fun for everyone else.

I’m unsure what makes this story “quirky,” as I’ve seen many other reviews describe it. Reseng’s cat’s names were kind of funny? The characters are basic and the plot is generic. If you come across a free Redbox rental, you can probably find this story in a half dozen movies they keep permanently stocked because it’s an action-filled revenge romp. Those’re popular for good reason—they’re fun, dark fantasies.

Despite my incessant criticisms, I enjoyed this book and sped through it. It’s been snowing heavily here, one of those bright fluffy snowfalls, and I did nothing today but read this book. It was a good call.

Un-Su Kim’s The Plotters focuses on contract killer Reseng, who grew up in the Doghouse, a library run by Old Raccoon, who functions more or less as a booking agent for contract killers. It Kim’s South Korea, contract killers seem to be prevalent and busy, caring out the orders of the wealthy and connected politicians and entrepreneurs. In fact, contract killers are so common they are driving down the price.

The first story opens with Reseng sighting in on his prey, an old man who is watering flowers and playing with his dog. He decides to wait until morning and is found by the old man who invites him in for supper. He spends a lovely evening with the old man which leads to a small decision, truly a small decision, but one that leads to the next story and the next and the next. Along the way, Reseng finds love, uncovers some plots, challenges a superior competitor, and resolves to save the world, in his way.


The Plotters is an unusual novel in that its eleven chapters can each function on their own as a short story. In fact, I think I like it better thinking of it as an anthology than a novel. While this is a book about a contract killer and several people die, I have to admit it does not feel gruesome or gratuitous, which is kind of strange if you think about it. The death is so much part of the character’s story and development and it’s never something enjoyed. Well, there may be an exception but that would be a spoiler.

I enjoyed the story, I liked Reseng. The women’s cabal to save the world is a madcap thread that provides a surreal twist to this otherwise noir story. They add comic relief, the ridiculousness of it all makes it a sharper satire. In the end, I really loved this new genre Kim creates, Manic Noir.

There is a moral to the story and that is where it gets a bit heavy-handed. There are a few sentences that would sit in perfect comfort on a gauzy soft-focus photo with lots of sunlight and flowers wearing a pretty, script font. The reader realizes without any aphorisms that Reseng has lived a life he never chose. We do want him to choose, perhaps sooner, perhaps more wisely. 

The Plotters will be published January 29th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.

The Plotters at Doubleday | Penguin Random House
Un-Su Kim bio at Barbara J. Zitwer Agency

This was wonderfully wild - an epic rollercoaster of a thriller! Plotters, hired assassins, a mysterious library... need I say more?! This read like a "Tarantino" film but with a much more compelling underlying plot... and book-ended by mind blowing opening and closing chapters. Highly recommend!

I thought this book was very interesting. Very different and darker than what I usually read, and I have never read about assassins/plotters before, but I definitely enjoyed! I enjoyed the style and how it jumped around a bit

A novel by Un-su Kim, translated by Sora Kim-Russell

It is an age-old story: Plotters plot, Trackers track, Assassins kill people, the Bear disposes of human remains and libraries are not what they seem, right? Well, maybe.

Reseng, an assassin, who has spent his life bound-up in the trade of dealing out death to others, is almost killed by a bomb set in his toilet. Poetic justice you say? Well, in this action-filled and oddly peopled novel of a blood-soaked Korea, such an event becomes a summons to change.

"The Plotters" is the first English translation of Mr. Kim's work and shows great promise. To the translator, Ms. Russell, I have this bit of advice; if you are going to write about guns you should know something about them. The "cartridge" you referred to is called a magazine. It is that metal device that goes into the weapon and holds the ammunition in a semi-automatic rifle, or pistol.

If you like a story with a quirk, or two, and an anti-hero with a smirky outlook on life search no further, Reseng and "friends" await. Highly recommended to those searching for a story that is out of the ordinary.

My thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday for the opportunity to review the uncorrected proof of this novel.

I just couldn't stay with this one... It started out interesting, then felt like it was flopping all over the place a bit and started losing me, then I get drawn back in, only to find the cycle repeating itself... Eventually it got to be too much: too quirky, too unusual, too freeform for me. Still, the writing was very good and it might just be a case of the wrong book at the wrong time. I'm intrigued enough by the concept to come back to it, but for now I just couldn't find my way into and through it.