In my opinion, this book is a blend of literary fiction and mystery/thriller. If you consider it from this latter genre, it is very unique in its vibe and story delivery as compared to its Western counterparts. The writing is beautiful and each perspective that is introduced keeps the reader interested. The author was great at creating tension from the get-go and I really wanted to see where things would go. However, the second half of the book lost its steam, and the ending, while not what I expected, wasn’t satisfactory for me. The one thing I appreciated, however, is that the author makes readers face ugly truths about human behaviour and society as a whole. This is not a story with a happy ending, with everything tied up nicely – and that’s a pretty good reflection of the messiness of life.

Interesting story and well executed. I enjoyed this slow-burning thriller with intertwining plots.

DNF

It has been a while since I got this book and unfortunately I don’t really have any interest in reading the book anymore. I am also now a lot more picky with the books I request and choose to read.

I loved the last two books by this author hence why I was extremely excited for this one but sadly it fell so short.
I could neither connect With the characters nor with the story itself.
The structure felt shopp-ey at best and the story muddled.

***Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley and Arcade!***

This book took a little while for me to buy in. The synopsis says this is a slow burn and that is entirely accurate. This is the kind of story that is all about the characters. If the author cannot make you care about their characters then the story is lost. I cared.

This is a story about grief. Both Se-oh and Ki-jeong have been struck with grief. For Soe-oh it is the death of her father. Her grief is enhanced by events from her past that may have contributed to her father’s death in ways she never anticipated. For Ki-jeong it is the death of her estranged sister. She isn’t willing to accept that her sister died and she ultimately knew nothing about her, or her life. This sets the two of them on a quest.

But this book is also about more than that. It’s about poverty and the cycle of poverty that is seen all around the world. Along with the devastation and desperation that comes with it. It affected everyone in this story but all of the characters were too far into their own cycles of grief and poverty to see it, let alone offer any compassion or empathy to anyone else.

I enjoyed this story very much. It was highly literary and an excellent character piece. I do think it is being marketing poorly as a mystery or a thriller. It is neither of those things. It’s a story about two women and the unpredictable ways that their lives intersect while searching for their respective answers.

If there is such a thing as an esoteric thriller this is it. It was a little too far out there for me to enjoy, but I am appreciating the introduction of Korean authors to my list of reading.

I found this on Netgalley under Literary Fiction & Mystery/Thrillers. I doubt I’ve read a book that falls under both, and my curiosity got the better of me.

The Law of Lines is about two young women whose lives are upended by sudden loss. When Se-oh, a recluse still living with her father, returns from an errand to find their house in flames, she is forced back into the world she had escaped. The detective informs her that her father caused a gas explosion to commit suicide due to overwhelming debt. Se-oh suspects foul play by an aggressive debt collector and begins her own investigation, seeking vengeance.

Ki-jeong, a beleaguered high-school teacher, receives a phone call from the police saying the body of her younger half-sister – whom she had grown distant from – has been found. Though her death is considered a suicide, it doesn't satisfy Ki-jeong. She goes to her sister's university to find out what happened. Her sister's cell phone reveals a thicket of lies and links to a company that preys on students, luring them into a virtual pyramid scheme. One of the contacts in the call log is Se-oh.

This book explores ordinary lives in the face of debt and abject grief and reveals the unseen forces that shape human behaviour.

It is unlike most mysteries I race through. It calls for perseverance, both for the quality of literary fiction and it being a slow burn thriller. The theme is often dark and portrays women with little confidence. You need to stick to the story and trudge along to watch it shape up.

I recommend it to those who have the patience to read slow books. It is not what I was expecting and would, perhaps, have enjoyed it more at a different time.

The Law of Lines by Hye-Young Pyun. Translated from the Korean by Sora Kim-Russell. Published in May 2020. This ARC courtesy of @netgalley and Arcade - an imprint of @skyhorsepub.

My favorite type of book. It's twisty and full of angsts. Well told and engaging. I absolutely enjoyed reading this awesome book and both characters will linger with you long after the last page. Happy reading!

While this was a slow read, it was also interesting to read about Korean culture and two different woman dealing with similar struggles. Two women trapped by circumstances and decisions they made but didn't fully own, other than through guilt and attempting to resolve loss by solving the mysteries of their losses, i expected their stories to intersect in a more dramatic way and was waiting for that but it didn't come. slow subtle story, different from what i usually read but worth the read

Lives, like lines, can cross but not really follow each other. Unless we are very careful, what we know about someone says more about ourselves than that other person. Such sad lives, unknown and unknowable. Not a fun read, it deals with the great chasms between people.

Debt and guilt are at the root of this intriguing novel of two women coping with loss. Se-oh's father commits suicide because his debt- debt incurred by Se-oh- is so overwhelming he does not see a way out. Ki-jeong's younger half sister got herself into a mess because of a scheme which targeted students. Ki-jeong is a teacher who doesn't like her job or her students and she's propelled to find out what happened and who Se-oh is. These two are on a track running against one another but the final collision was less violent than I expected. It's an interesting meditation on life on the margins and on modern Korea. None of the characters are especially likable but they are quite realistically written. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. For fans of literary fiction.

I really enjoyed this book overall. That being said, I wouldn't necessarily classify it as a thriller or a mystery. If you're in the mood for a slower-burn literary fiction book that deals with questions of morality, this is a good choice. The book takes a little bit of time to get into, and probably isn't a good pick if you're looking for something with a lot of action or tension.

The Law of Lines is centered around two young women in Korea immediately following the sudden deaths of their loved ones in mysterious circumstances, and follows the two women as they grapple with the deaths and adjust to life without their family members. The book deals with issues of class, grief, revenge, and even multi-level marketing.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

This book follows the parallel stories of two women whose lives are upended by sudden and devasting loss. The author delivers an enigmatic narration that edges up to morality and criminality. What you will have to discover for yourself if you pick up the book is whether or not that edge is breached.

You will find yourself consumed by how these characters grapple with their losses and the weight and gloom of their everyday lives.

As a side note, this author appeared on a list of books to read if you enjoyed this years Oscar winning film Parasite. So, you’ve been warned…you are in for something distinct and not entirely comfortable. But let’s face it, same same is boring!

⭐⭐⭐⭐(4/5 stars)
I like esoteric books, sad books, slightly weird books, and books with unsympathetic characters. The Law of Lines is all of these and I gave it four stars!
This is billed as a mystery on netgalley, and while the whole book has a mysterious feel to it, it's not a standard mystery in my opinion.
The book follows two main characters whose lives connect toward the end of the book. Both are young women struggling with loss.
Se-oh Yun comes home one day to find her house burned down and her father critically hurt, and he dies soon after. The doctors and police believe it was a suicide. She begins obsessing over the debt collector who came to their home regularly to harass her father. She has a mysterious background that causes her to be paranoid and afraid to leave the house, which you find out more about towards the end.
Ki-jeong Shin is a school teacher who doesn't like teaching and dislikes most if her students. She receives a phone call from the police about her sister's body, which had been recovered from a river in a small town. After first believing it was a suicide, she starts thinking more about how she didn't really know her sister, and starts investigating her movements in her recent past. Her investigation eventually leads her to Se-oh.
The main characters are really focused on their losses and the problems that the people they lost had. As the book continues, you learn that the main characters have their own, very serious, issues and it's actually quite disturbing.
This book made me think a lot about human nature, the ability of humans to do terrible things and survive terrible things. A major theme in this book is epic failure.
I loved the writing style of the author. Even though the book is bleak, the writing pulls you in immediately and you are there, in Korea, with the characters. You can feel their pain and confusion, and you can smell the food they're eating. This definitely called for the jump from 3 stars to 4.
I would read her other books!

★★★✰✰ 3 stars

“The future was a dark corridor. And though she would grope her way through it, the door at the end would be locked tight.”


After reading that Hye-Young Pyun's novel The Hole won the 'Shirley Jackson Award', I was intrigued to read her work. Thanks to NetGalley I was able to read The Law of Lines in exchange for a review.

Within its first few chapters The Law of Lines introduces us to two seemingly unconnected young women: there is Se-oh, a recluse whose indebted father attempts to take his own life by burning their house down, and Ki-jeong, an unenthusiastic teacher who receives a call informing her of the death of her younger half-sister. Confronted with such personal and sudden losses both women find their lives spiralling out of control.

“Those sounds and sentences were lost to her now. His unconditional love, his wordless yet tender gaze, his steely look of fatherly responsibility. All gone. They were each different, but to her they were all synonyms for a father.”


Se-oh begin to understand the depths of her father's desperation and holds the debt collector who hounded him responsible. Seeking retribution Se-oh begins to stalk the collector and entertains increasingly violent fantasies. However her past, the reason why she became a recluse, catches up to her and Se-oh has to confront whether she herself is accountable for her father's death.

“The whole time she had stayed locked up at home, she had imagined the outside world as a place that could swallow her whole at any moment. But in truth, it was a place that paid her no attention at all.”


Ki-jeong has led a rather restrained existence, ensuring that she always abided the rules of her society. Ki-jeong is aware of her faults. For example, she knows that she isn't a very inspired or driven teacher. However, when one of her most privileged pupils plays a cruel trick on her and threatens both her career and her reputation, as well as calling into question her moral integrity, Ki-jeong looses control.
Reeling from their losses, both of these women feel let down by their country's system of justice. Amidst a backdrop of violent and vengeful thoughts Se-oh and Ki-jeong embark on separate investigations, trying to uncover the causes that led to death of their relatives and it is by assigning blame to others they relieve their own guilt.

“Ki-jeong knew that, of all laws, this—the way one thing leads invariably to the next—was the only of life's laws that she could not find fault with.”


The beginning of Pyun's novel is incredibly absorbing. She immediately establishes an atmosphere of uneasiness and of moral degradation: the world she depicts is populated by spiteful, malevolent, or apathetic individuals. Those in authoritative positions abuse their powers. Greed, corruption, and cowardice seem to drive the majority of these characters. It is her characters' malice perhaps that Pyun turns to the most. Malice seems to creep its way into her character's thoughts, blurring the lines between right and wrong, good and evil.

“She'd felt the unfamiliar thrill that comes only when you amplify your malice.”


Se-oh and Ki-jeong narratives interrogate the difference between victim and perpetrator. Is entertaining a violent fantasy really better than actual violence? Does vengeance condone one's wrongdoings? Pyun traces the source and effects that malice and violence have on her characters' minds.

“When does evil intent become evil itself? Is it evil simply to imagine and harbor an idea? Does it begin when a thought is put into action? And if that action fails, then did evil never exist to begin with?”


Throughout the story an air of squalor lingers over most scenes. These unpleasant characters have filthy habits (such as spitting) and grimy morals. Debt collectors torment those who are indebted, waging psychological wars against them. Young individuals are trapped into pyramid schemes and find themselves into nightmarish scenarios (a bit a la Sorry to Bother You).
Pyun emphasises humanity's darkness by focusing on the seedy behaviour, physical appearances, or living conditions of her characters. She is almost unrelenting in the way in which she delves into the notion of evil.

“There'd been good, and there'd been bad. That was all. At the time, she'd thought that all of it was bad. Because happiness had flitted on by while bad things had a way of lingering.”

More than once I was reminded of Park Chan-wook's The Vengeance Trilogy. Pyun's novel is a bleak one. Yet, as gripping as the first half of The Law of Lines was, in the latter half the story looses its momentum. Ki-jeong sort of disappears and there we get a lengthy account of what drove Se-oh into hiding. When these characters paths finally cross, I found their interaction to be somewhat underwhelming. The ending too seemed rather ill-defined.
All in all, I am unsure whether I would recommend this book to other readers. There are some wickedly clever moments, plenty of interesting observations on Korean society as well as some fascinating discussions about justice. Once the storyline lost its initial edge however I didn't care much for what I was reading. Perhaps certain things were lost in translation but I do think that the story could have been more complete.

This well written, but starts slowly and it is literature, so it doesn't include action (or even much mystery) that most crime stories have. There are two timelines that mostly work together. It is a little light on the crime portion, but that's OK. It may be more a character study and a dark tale overall.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!

3.5 stars. I liked the writing but I wished the two main plot lines would have come together more. It felt like reading two well written stories about grief. Still good but I felt it could have been more.