I found this book an utterly fascinating insight into a part of the world that I know very little about - it was brought to life richly and smartly, and the thrilling plotline was woven together brilliantly. Truly gripping, and highly recommended - it's a book that stayed with me for a while afterwards!

There was much to enjoy here, but I found I couldn't connect with it. I'd read more from this author in the future though.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I started Star of the North, and if I’m honest I wasn’t sure if it was going to be my cup of tea. I’m not really sure why, but something kept putting me off starting it. I am glad I finally did though, and I soon found myself immersed in the story.
Based on true events this story starts with the disappearance of a young American woman from a beach on a Korean Island. She is presumed dead, but this young woman has a twin sister who is convinced she is still alive and refuses to give up hope of finding her. What she goes through, and what she learns, in her pursuit of finding her sister is nothing short of horrifying.
This book is quite difficult to read at times to be quite honest, but the spirit and determination of some of the characters is quite inspirational. It is a compelling read which I would recommend. The way some people have to live, if you can even call it living, in other parts of this world is shocking and heart-wrenching. I have learned a lot by reading this story and it’s one I doubt I will forget any time soon.
The author obviously did extensive research whilst writing this book and he really knows his stuff. This shows throughout this book.
He does provide an overview, at the end, of which parts of the story are actual fact and provides extra reading recommendations for those wishing to know more about some of the events explored throughout this book.
Many thanks to the author and publisher for my review copy via Netgalley.

A total eye opener of a book for me .Not a book I’d normally select but I was curious after reading the blurb. Well it was a difficult but brilliant read.

Star of the North is an exciting and enthralling political thriller set in North Korea. Brilliantly researched with compelling characters this is a rapid page Turner of a novel.

I knew little about Korea when I began reading this book only that this story had been written with a mix of both fact and fiction and to be honest until what the author said at the very end I didn't have a clue which was which.
At the beginning of the story a young American girl and her boyfriend disappear from a South Korean Island and twelve years later her twin sister has still not given up on finding her. Jenna is fluent in a number of languages and multi skilled in such more, so it was no surprise that she was approached by the CIA to take on an under cover mission that could finally solve what had happened to her sister so many others that had gone missing over time. As the story begins to unfold it is told by three different people. Jenna, Mrs. Moon and Cho. All of them with their own incredible stories that overlap.
I read the descriptions of Korea with admiration for a proud people but boy the brutality through the ranks of the military, police force and officials was horrendously cruel and unjust. No-one was safe as at times the story was like witch trials, the accused were damned if the confessed to trumped up charges after endless beatings and damned if they didn't. It isn't for the faint hearted but OMG it is one tremendous story.
Each of the stories get a fair amount of coverage as the characters have to adapt to new situations they find themselves in. I would be hard pressed to choose a favourite out of the three but for me Cho gets the edge. The whole story just over powered my mind and made me feel so very humble. An amazing book of courageous people. Just outstanding with endings that left me in tears. Perfection!

The disappearance in 1998 provides the spark for this novel but the action properly gets going twelve years later in 2010. John cleverly tells his story, while shedding light on this unfathomable regime and the mysterious country over which it presides, by focusing on three main characters: Jenna, a university professor and the missing woman’s sister; Cho, rising through the ranks in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang; and Mrs Moon, a resourceful farm worker scratching a living in Hyesan, in the northern province of Ryanggang.

I enjoyed the way in which Star of the North‘s narrative switches between these three. John leaves it just long enough between each changeover, that I never felt as if I was losing the thread of anyone’s story. This helped me come to know each character, care about them and their fate, to the point where I still wonder how they are and what they’re doing even after having finished the book.

John not only chose his characters well but he made them feel real to me. They’re all brave at times but they are also refreshingly human, despite of or perhaps in spite of their training or conditioning. It’s those moments where they are emotional or plain reckless that I felt the tension in their lives coming to the surface, threatening the fragile equilibrium of their lives and, more importantly, their safety and that of those around them.

With fascinating and often horrific detail, Star of the North places you firmly inside one of the world’s most secretive regimes in a fight for survival, often feeling as if it’s a race to rescue characters I didn’t want to see fall prey to the vagaries of this brutal state. It may veer a little off the rails close to the end but I was fully willing to go with it because it was irreverent fun.

Reading Star of the North feels like being on an adrenalin-fuelled covert op. Not that I’ve ever been on one, mind you. (Well, not that I could tell you anyway!) I can’t recommend this one enough. Star of the North is a terrific, topical, and truly terrifying thriller.

DNF at 16%.

There's nothing wrong with this book per-say, I just couldn't get into it at all. I really liked this idea of the plot and the location and it sounded incredibly, but I started it, and there was this massive disconnect. The characters felt really flat.

Well-researched and shocking - am now going to read up on the books the author recommends! It is astonishing how much of this novel is based on fact, as the author's note at the end makes clear.

An extremely moving, rather terrifying, insightful spy thriller which will have you engrossed throughout. Currently, very topical too. The story is told through three different characters which very cleverly link together. Utterly edge-of-the-seat action throughout.

Many thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this ARC for which I have given my voluntary and unbiased review.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Jenna’s twin sister was abducted from a South Korean beach and is still missing years later. Could the government and regime be involved? There is three stories all woven into one fabulous read. Not my usual type of read and I’m glad I stepped outside of my comfort zone to read it. Thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend.

A beach-read thriller - don't expect sophistication in either the politics or prose style, but the author has been to North Korea. The best part is the afterword on the realities that feed into the plot. Buzzy and topical.

An utterly entrancing thriller and so topical - who isn’t fascinated by the idea of North Korea? I was hooked from the astounding opening sequence and its hold on me didn’t let up until the end. The plot is intricate and well paced, provoking much speculation in my mind about the leadership’s motives and ambitions. I enjoyed the author’s afterword almost as much as the novel itself since it showed the depth of his research and how much of the action is based on fact. Really enjoyable (for the most part - the prison scenes are hard to read) and highly recommended.

I would like to believe this is all fiction but I’m afraid a lot of it is from factual research. I enjoyed the first half or so but then it became very complicated.

a beautiful flowing story of a strong South Korean African American women pursuing the disappearance of her twin sister.Set mainly within the confines of North Korea, the author utilises minor characters to depict the life and mindset of tboth he privileged few, and the poor majority. It is gripping while also opening awareness to the harsh realities of living in N Korea

I was intrigued to read a book about North Korea, and this gave me much food for thought.
Jenna is the daughter of a high-ranking American soldier and a Korean woman, whose twin sister disappeared from a South Korean beach in 1998.
Jenna is convinced that her sister is alive and in North Korea.
She is recruited by the CIA, and undergoes training so that she can put her Korean knowledge to good use in the diplomatic battle with North Korea.

Cho is a high-ranking North Korean diplomat, who can speak English, and is sent to America, to negotiate a deal, but may have a family secret.

Mrs Moon is a poor Korean woman, who is trying to make a living for herself and her husband, against a background of abject poverty.

As their stories unfold, the topsy-turvy and brutal realities of life in North Korea become very clear, and the way that all levels of society live in constant fear of the authorities.

The three stories come together, and the book ends with an action-packed, if slightly implausible, climax.
Excellent book.

Thanks to Netgalley and Vintage for the opportunity to read this book.

I had been eager to read this one, and I was hooked fairly early on. The writing is great, the plot and multiple strands are really interesting, but about the halfway point I began to struggle. I found myself completely lost, and I couldn’t regain ground on the book. Once I became disengaged, I couldn’t follow the story properly and then it just left me feeling flat. I can see how people love this one, but for me it just got too complicated!

I cried brokenly for the last 100 pages or so of Star of the North so I guess I loved it.

I have a fascination for North Korea. It seems a pretty screwed up place to me. I would so risk my life swimming across that river in the dark if I found myself there. I would find such a life intolerable. Maybe they would think the same of my life. Anyhoo….

I thought the characters were great, well-written, so completely believable I wanted to hug them all or crack skulls open for them when things got dark like a scary Momma Bear. The setting is realistic. I’ve read a few books set in North Korea and the details seemed pretty spot on to me. The author uses amazing details to create what life is like inside North Korea. I got shivers.

So much happens in Star of the North. I was really quite bowled over by the whole thing. I knew I was going to love the book from the shocking opening when two children are kidnapped from a beach. I was not disappointed. I loved every bit of this book. Even when things got all heart-breaky at the end.

The author includes an appendix detailing the things about North Korea that are factually correct and the stuff embellished for the book. I was horrified though not completely surprised to learn that some of the worst stuff actually happened. Flesh crawling moment.

Anyway, Star of the North is cracking, brilliant, scary at times and will stab you in the heart many times over. Read it and weep.

Firstly thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for and ARC in exchange for a fair review.

I started reading this book to fulfill a brief in a reading challenge (a book with twins), but soon forgot that was why I picked it up. This book isn't something I would usually choose to read but I'm so glad I did.
Star of the North is mainly set in North Korea, a place I knew very little about before reading this. It is very insightful, the authors notes at the end explaining where he got his information and which parts are based on fact, are especially interesting.
I would say the book started out one way and ended quite differently but this is not a bad thing.
It is well written, the characters are interesting and the setting so different and eye opening.

This is a gripping story that is based around Dr Jenna Williams who is a black Korean. I fell in love with the character Jenna who is described so clearly as a woman who is tenacious, outspoken,, determined and very impulsive. I found it fascinating to read the descriptions of life in North Korea and how the power base works. This book depicts the worst case scenario that North Korea represents as it is run by a megalomaniac ruler who survives by causing the population to accept destitute poverty and slave labour through the fear of reprisals . It is apposite that this book is being published when it is hoped that a truce between North and South, and eventually acceptance by the rest of the world and that the rocket trial are hopefully going to stop.
What was equally fascinated mating was the author’s note that so clearly described how the idea for the book began and then goes on to describe very clearly the elements that are factual. Reading this on Kindle I did not know there was a glossary of Korean words at the end! However Kindle never let me down by giving me the information I required each time.
A wonderful book, gripping story and the ending was not the expected one as both Soome and Cho as the two supporting characters do not ride off into the beautiful sunset. Highly recommended as a knowledge base for political studies as well as a great thriller written in an easy to read yet informative way.