Star of the North

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.

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.

This is one of those books you wish would never end, and when it does end, you can't possible start another because almost anything else will be an anticlimax. It is a fascinating, and at times horrifying, insight into life in North Korea, and so topical! I would recommend it whole heartedly.

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 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.

With amazing timing this book is published just as Kim Jong Un makes his visit to South Korea. A fascinating book that provides stunning insight into the hidden forbidden country that is North Korea.
Brilliantly written this book is complex but the entwining stories keep you hooked
#StarOfThe#North#NetGalley

A week after the unbelievable sight of the leaders of North and Korea coming to some sort of accord I read this book. As I watched this, I remarked that I never thought I would see the day and it reminded me of the day the Berlin Wall came down. So the book could not have been more timely as if afforded me an insight into life in North Korea.

The South Korean authorities declare the disappearance of a Korean American teenager and her boyfriend from a beach in South Korea to be accidental; ‘death by drowning’. Twenty two years later, her twin sister, Jenna is recruited into the CIA and due to her knowledge of the culture and language she is included as a delegate to a visit to North Korea. She hopes to be able to make enquiries into her sister’s disappearance. On this visit she meets with a highly placed North Korean official, Cho. Running parallel to this, is the story of Mrs Moon, one of the ‘people’ of North Korea.

What did I enjoy? Everything. The writing was superb; the characterisation solid and the plot and storyline, brilliant. What stands out the most? The descriptions of life in North Korea – the life of the ruling elite and the life of everyman: both strands of society living in fear from the Great Leader, and suffering from hunger and deprivation: a nation of nothing. Except perhaps of hope; hope that things will improve, that you will survive and for many, the belief that the Great Leader is doing the best for you – a kind of idolisation.

For me, this is a brilliant book. The plot was exciting, the background information informative, and fantastic writing.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.