Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Fast paced, gritty and fascinating. I loved this whirlwind thriller and the departure from the ordinary provided by the backdrop of Korea.

A fast-paced thriller that constantly kept me at the edge of my seat. Kim's stark prose, aided by Sora Kim-Russell's translation, fit this novel perfectly, since it gave it a realistic touch combined with a sense of dread for what is going to follow next - in the world of The Plotters there is no need for flowery language or any kind of attempt to pretty up the grim reality its characters experience. Despite his questionable occupation, Reseng was a great character to follow, mostly because he was so complex and weighed down by the cruel world he was born in.

A great introduction to Un-su Kim's writing and an excellent thriller overall that raises some important questions alongside its page-turning plot.

I LOVE Korean thriller fiction and this book was not a disappointment. I've heard so many good things and glad to have loved it too. its gripping and fully fleshed and carved out. would recommend

This one started so well for me - I was hooked by the opening scene. The language was poetic with an almost mythic quality and the set-up seemed interesting. Unfortunately the character that initially intrigued me was almost immediately killed off and it was all downhill from there. The book seems all set-up, little substance and very little pay-off. The blurbed action didn't really kick off till two thirds of the way through - yes, there was stuff going on but a lot of it was more than a little tedious. Plus I found I couldn't entirely fathom the motivations and actions of the main characters. I also found it a little gory/violent for my liking. Thematically there is a lot of interesting stuff represented here but I'd lost my interest in the plot. I didn't enjoy this book but feel I was never going to - it was the wrong book for the wrong reader.

What a book! I´ve been trying to decide whether I would want to give it 3 or 4 stars but I will be settling for 4.

I can´t say I have read anything like this before but I would happily read another book written by this author. The writing was beautiful. I am sure it is even better to read it in its original language but I think the translator did a great job.
I have to admit, I found the second half much better than the first, especially since Mito entered the story (officially that is, she was probably there all along). It was only then that I started to like Reseng because I could see some of his character. Besides his line of work, he deeply cared for his friends and his cats.

The second half of the book was fast paced and much more exciting. I did enjoy the beginning, even the part where Reseng visits the old man and his dog, despite it being sad, but then the story becomes a bit slow for my liking. A lot of it takes place in Reseng´s head and his past. Throughout it all, there is an atmosphere of desperation and resignation, and a feeling of insignificance of individual lives as death is such a big part of life for the characters in the book.

However, since I couldn't stop reading towards the end, I think the book deserves 4 stars.

Reseng is a hitman for hire. Abandoned in a bin outside a nunnery as a baby, he was taken in by Old Racoon, a cantankerous man who owns a library full of dusty tomes which nobody ever borrows. To those not in the know, Old Racoon’s place is just a library; to those that do, it’s a hub organised crime where assassinations can be arranged for the right price. Reseng has been raised to be a killer and he’s one of the best hired guns in the business.

Set in modern-day South Korea, the novel’s premise is that after the fall of the country’s dictatorship and embracing of democracy, the government could no longer just kill with impunity. Assassinations needed to be disguised as accidents, or the bodies disappear. And it’s not just the government. As the economy boomed, corporate entities also got in on the assassination game, taking out business rivals and others. The assassinations themselves are ordered and paid for by the “Plotters”, shadowy and powerful characters who act as brokers for those paying for an assassination and commissioning the assassins to carry it out.

If readers have seen a Korean thriller or crime movie, such as Oldboy, then they’ll know the country’s film industry has a tendency towards the surreal, the disturbing, and rather farfetched, albeit entertaining plots. The Plotters fits very much into this mold, but while entertaining in movie format, it becomes a little draining in narrative fiction. I found the plot of this novel just a little too inconsistent and stretching of credulity and towards the book was losing my interest.

To be fair, the characterisation in this novel is effective in that the reader warms to the main character, Reseng, despite the fact that he’s a hitman. To be sure the violence isn’t graphic, and he doesn’t kill gratuitously, but the author also fleshes him out as a person. So, I was invested in the character and wanting to know how his story panned out, which kept me turning the pages.

This was just as well as there were just too many plot holes and I have to admit having struggled to stick with it around the 50% mark. I nearly gave up on this book. Luckily the last third picked up the tension enough to see me through to the denouement, which was satisfying in its way, though the central questions raised in the narrative were never fully answered.

All in all, I found The Plotters to be a disappointing read with an interesting premise which never fully met its potential. This is a novel that might well make an entertaining popcorn movie in which the fast-paced action sequences can paper over the flaws in the plot, but as narrative fiction, it left a lot to be desired.

I've read all kinds of books from all corners of the globe but The Plotters is the first Korean book I've ever read. And what a book it is, the story of Renseng who is brought up by the reclusive figure known as Old Raccoon in a library that is a front for the assassins for hire business . Renseng and a handful of other young men are trained from a young age to do the contract killings that Old Raccoon plans.
Author Un-su Kim can certainly write and this is a superb piece of work. Rensing is a very complex character and the story is both gripping and quirky. As I read I was thinking from the start that the book reads very much like a Tarantino movie script,every character has the reader feeling that they also have a story to tell that would fill a book and even those that barely fill a couple of pages come to life and have the reader wanting to know more about them.
The ending was a bit out of kilter with the rest of the book in my opinion,others are available, but I finished it determined to read more by this author. One of my favourite books of 2019.
Mention also should be made of the superb translation by Sora Kim-Russell.
This is a great read with excellent characterisation and a great plot.

Thanks to author Un-su Kim, Harper Collins Uk and Netgalley for my copy in return for an honest review.

I'm a fan of Murakami and thought that I would check out a novel set in Korea rather than Japan - enjoyable read and definitely an author I would check out in the future. Korean noir for the win.

The Plotters is a difficult book to review, or at least to know where to start. Should I begin by praising the lyrical yet oddly bleak prose, almost poetic yet austere in essence? I imagine that some of that acclaim belongs with the translator who conveys the English version of this book with the deftest of touches. Even so, Un-su Kim is clearly a prodigiously gifted writer with a bright mind and talent for weaving many elements together.

On the surface this is a novel about an assassin and the trappings of such a career; swift deaths, organised crime, corruption, betrayal. But if you know this fact before you start reading then the graceful prose is almost jarring at first. Expecting a hard-boiled, fast-paced crime caper? Well, some of that is here too but it is played out gently - more like a symphony than a concerto. This piece has parts for well-drawn characters who consider their motives and the standards of the society they inhabit.

This story unfolds in what is said to be an Alternate Seoul, and the idea that this is not meant to be entirely based in the ‘real’ world makes sense to me. Some of the constituents (an orphan boy, a sprawling library, oddly named characters etc) put me in mind of fantasy novels like those by Scott Lynch or Patrick Rothfuss. There is a vague impression of world-building here even though so much of the setting seems modern and authentic.

I found The Plotters to be an enjoyable and surprising read. The style is light and bright, even though the subject matter is often dark and profound. I would read more works by this author, especially if they were in collaboration with the same translator.

Thank you NET GALLEY for my copy

Reseng is the main character and if you have spent time in South Korea this book will taker you back. It is a bit more complex than the average American novel but I good story I thought.

A thoroughly enjoyable read, one that I had been eagerly awaiting for several months but also one I couldn’t wait to get to, and it more than lived up to my expectations.

A very fun and enjoyable plot following assassins and an assassin questioning his reasons for killing and ending up the hunted in the process. A very fun cast of characters from the Old Man to Resing and Bear. Some of the dialogue had me chuckling and I would love read more from the author, as well as Korean literature in general. Always great to discover new countries and authors in translated fiction, there are some great writers and works waiting to be discovered by a new audience.

The ending was very bittersweet and turned out sort of how I expected but got there differently. I think the book had great pacing and whilst there was some violence there was nothing too over the top, not a gory or bloody book at all.

I would highly recommend this.

I read this as both a ARC from NetGalley and an Audible audiobook I picked up in a recent sale. My thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

A little note on the audiobook, the narrator is very slow and the book greatly benefits from being sped up to about 1.4 speed.

Just a bit too strange for me. A Korean Network of Plotters and assasins with their own rules and culture. The reasons for anything are not very clear and unless you are a fan of strange Asian underworld stories, then this one misses the mark. Not really sure what actually happened in the end as they had so many threads that were being interwoven that, apart from the obvious Action, the rest of it leaves you guessing.

Unusual literary thriller with a distinctive voice and an interesting setting in South Korea. I do feel that I admired rather than loved it but if you like novels in translation, or novels that contain elements of both crime and literary fiction, it's worth a look.

A stellar book, with wit, style and dark humour. You’ll be dragged into this story and be grateful for it.

Full review at MurderinCommon.com here: https://murderincommon.com/2019/03/10/un-su-kim-the-plotters/

Gripping thriller based on the underbelly of South Korea:
Those of us in the West are used to being presented with a dire picture of totalitarian North Korea, seldom giving a thought to the fact that South Korean society has its own ailments. "The Plotters" is set in South Korea: amidst a cauldron of murders, assassinations and plots. It paints a picture of a society where it is as easy to arrange a murder as buy a cup of coffee. The focal point of the book is The Doghouse Library which despite its name has headquartered a den of assassins for over ninety years. The Library boasts a collection of over two hundred thousand books but few have ever been read, the Library serving as the nerve centre for the criminal underclass. This underclass is far-reaching with many leading politicians, judges, armed forces and the police part of its tentacles. Another focal point of the novel is the pet crematorium which doubles as a victim disposal site, with Bear working overtime to cremate the remains of murder victims.
The story is narrated through the eyes of Reseng, himself an assassin for hire. Reseng has little to look forward to in life as he lives in a dog eats dog society where his own demise is likely just round the corner. The characterisation is superb: examples include Bear (who cremates the victims), Trainer (who used to train the assassins), The Barber (who cuts hair but also throats) and Old Racoon (Chief Librarian of a Library which never lends out any books and who boasts of never reading).
The novel is sprinkled with a generous amount of dark humour: adding to the reading pleasure. A side of South Korean seldom dealt with by the media is revealed to us: a "capitalist" society which is based on reversed moral values. One character observes that the Korean underworld boasts the finest capitalist business model: what can be better "than owning both the virus and the vaccine. With one hand you (parcel)... out fear and instability, and with the other (guarantee) ... safety and peace. A business like that would never go under."
The story-line is based around a power struggle between Old Racoon and Hanja whilst meanwhile a plot is afoot lead by the plotter, Mito, to bring an end to the depths of deception and violence prevalent in Korean society. To find out who will prevail you need to read the book.
For those looking for a thriller with a difference I would definitely recommend this wonderful novel.

Reseng is an assassin. Assassin's follow instructions made by plotters, who decide who will die, when and how, and who will kill them.

On the positive side I did like the characters, this is obviously a strong point for the author. There were definitely interesting personalities in the book, some craziness and individuality which I liked. There were a couple of scenes in the book I enjoyed, probably most of all the very beginning of the book where Reseng meets and old man and his dog. I loved the idea of the library, and the pet crematorium was also a glimmer of genius.

Sounds exciting and interesting, but actually I found the book to be quite slow and not very exciting at all. I feel like it was more of a conversational, thoughtful piece than anything else, but not one that was particularly immersive. I also think that something was lost in translation, because the writing seemed a bit stilted in places and not very flowing. Some of the language seemed a little clumsy.

Overall this was quite a disappointing piece and I found it quite difficult to push through to the end. Sadly I can't say I would recommend this to anyone. A shame because there were good things about it, but on the whole I didn't enjoy it much.

In South Korea if you need to get rid of someone there are plenty of hitman available. however a sophisticated assassination requires the work of a plotter - someone who plans it out so that nothing is left to chance. Reseng was rescued from an orphanage as a young child and brought up by Old Raccoon, the coordinator of the Doghouse Library, one of the kingpins of the trade. However when Reseng doesn't follow orders and kill the way he was ordered he finds himself and his world under threat. Caught up in power struggle between the old guard and the new, Reseng has to try to survive the only way he knows how.
It's really hard to describe this book and to categorise it. At it's heart it is a thriller about violence and organised crime in Korea but running parallel to this is the utter delight of the characterisation and the dark streak of humour that runs through. It is completely unlike any other book I have read and for that reason alone I loved it but it's such an enjoyable read, the characters get under the skin and the little vignettes are so clever. I heartily recommend this book to all!

A funny. quirky take on the crime thriller, set in South Korea. It;s dark, and gruesome at times, but the humour lightens it. Featuring a Gangnam-style Philip Marlowe-type assassin and his various bosses, antagonists, friends, enemies and girlfriends, it is well worth a read for any crime lovers. Gives an interesting insight into the culture of South Korea as well. Recommended.

Set in South Korea, in the world of assassination cartels, The Plotters by Un-su Kim, translated by Sora Kim-Russel, is a gritty crime thriller and another interesting addition to the emerging genre of Korean Noir. The book follows Reseng, a highly skilled contract killer working for one of the assassination guilds that operates from a place called The Library of Dogs that is run by a man called Old Racoon, who is also a father figure to Reseng, since he raised him and trained him to be an exceptional hitman.

The plot basically consists of a series of twists and turns as we watch the assassination guilds compete and try to outsmart each other. It’s a brutal world that has its own rules and the people who are involved in it are forced to live their lives constantly on alert. The book is very atmospheric and I thought that the descriptions of the settings were skilfully realised, and I could easily picture all the places and follow the many action scenes. In fact, I think this novel could be made into a great action-packed movie or TV series with clever, often funny, dialogue.

Reseng is undoubtedly an anti-hero, however, you as the plot develops, you can’t help but start to sympathise with him because he’s presented as not your typical ruthless hitman, but a smart and rather sensitive young man, who loves reading books and ruminating on the injustices in this world.

I’m not a big crime reader, so while this book didn’t make me fall in love with the crime genre, I would recommend it to people who are looking for something a bit more unconventional and less cliché in the crime genre.