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The Plotters
The Plotters | Un-su Kim
43 posts | 27 read | 59 to read
The important thing is not who pulls the trigger but whos behind the person who pulls the triggerthe plotters, the masterminds working in the shadows. Raised by Old Raccoon in The Library of Dogs, Reseng has always been surrounded by plots to killand by books that no one ever reads. In Seouls corrupt underworld, he was destined to be an assassin. Until he breaks the rules. Thats when he meets a trio of young womena convenience store worker, her wheelchair-bound sister, and a cross-eyed obsessive knitterwith an extraordinary plot of their own. Will the women save the day? Or will Reseng be next on the kill list? Who will look after his cats, Reading Lamp and Book Stand? Who planted the bomb in his toilet? How much beer can he drink before he forgets it all? The Plotters is a cracking noir thriller combined with the soul, wit and lyricism of a highly original literary voice. Un-su Kim is the rising star of Korean literature. With shades of Murakami, The Plotters is a complex, fascinating moral tale about the changing of the guard in a corrupt underworlda page-turner filled with black humour and compassion for a fallen world. Un-su Kim was born in 1972 in Busan and is the author of several highly praised novels. He has won the Munhakdongne Novel Prize, Koreas most prestigious literary prize, and was nominated for the 2016 Grand Prix de la Littraire Policire. He lives in Jinhae-gu, South Korea. Sora Kim-Russell is a Korean-American living in Seoul, where she teaches translation. She has translated works by Hwang Sok-yong, Jeon Sungtae, Pyun Hye-young and Shin Kyung-sook, among others. Demands to be read for its incredible cast of characters...a first-rate thriller. Le Monde A rich, funny, cynical Korean roman noir...A delicious surprise. La Croix Like a veteran killer...quickly, coolly, and without hesitation, Un-su Kim commands sentences and stories that stab the reader between the ribs. Weve been waiting for this storyteller and his story. Park Min-gyu, novelist Awe is my reaction to The Plotters. The novel thrills me like a wolf feels when it has smelled blood.' Kwon Yeo-seon Now this is a story with power and style. The one-two punches of humor are a nice bonus...Youll be laughing out loud every five minutes...youll find yourself contemplating the meaning of life, death, and desire for a long, long time. Make sure you leave your evening free, because you wont be able to put this book down once you start. You-jeong Jeong, author of the bestselling thriller The Good Son A book of revelations for murder both violent yet graceful, dark yet poetic. With sharp humour and sparkling prose, Un-su Kim stylishly spins the tale of the extraordinary life of an ordinary assassin. Jungmyung Lee [J.M. Lee], author of The Investigation More than a crime novel, more than violence and mystery, The Plotters promises both temptation and beauty. Eka Kurniawan
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batsy
The Plotters | Un-su Kim
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Also, thank you Jessie for the "just because" gift! The picture doesn't capture the black sprayed edges and it's very cool ❤️?

You're too good ? Happy Holidays to you and your family and I hope you have a lovely time ? @erzascarletbookgasm

erzascarletbookgasm Enjoy! And have a lovely, peaceful Christmas Day. 💕 4y
BarbaraBB Wonderful pic and the book sounds great. Happy holidays Suba ❤️ 4y
See All 6 Comments
batsy @BarbaraBB Happy holidays to you, Barbara! I hope it's a relaxing time with lots of good food and reading ❤️ 4y
LeahBergen Scandi-Noir! This looks great. 👍🏻 4y
Cathythoughts Sounds great ! Stacking 4y
68 likes6 comments
review
readingjedi
The Plotters | Un-su Kim
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Panpan

I really enjoyed the opening section of this novel. The language was poetic with an intriguing almost mythic quality. But then ... I really didn't enjoy the rest of it. It seemed all set-up and little pay-off. The blurbed action didn't really kick off till the 60% mark by which time my attention had waned. The motivations of the main characters were unclear & it was just a little gory/violent for my liking. The ending did nothing for me. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Ruthiella I liked it but didn‘t love it. 5y
68 likes1 stack add1 comment
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MidnightBookGirl
The Plotters | Un-su Kim
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Pickpick

I really liked this book about assassins in South Korea and the plotters- the people who assign who takes out whom. I feel like this would make an excellent movie! I also loved that main character, Reseng, grew up in and self taught himself inside of a bookstore/library, and that he had 2 cats named Desk and Lampshade. Cats are the obvious pet choice for assassins. 😻

64 likes4 stack adds
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MidnightBookGirl
The Plotters | Un-su Kim
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My dog is very grumpy over how close the cat's butt is to her face, and she's over National Puppy Day. #dogsoflitsy

diovival 😂 5y
Crazeedi 🤣🤣🤣 5y
54 likes2 comments
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MidnightBookGirl
The Plotters | Un-su Kim
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Just starting this one! #audiobook #bookclub

53 likes1 stack add
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readingjedi
The Plotters | Un-su Kim
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Feeling kinda slumpy right now. This is my next up to read - with thanks to #netgalley for this book - but I'm considering having a little break to recharge my enthusiasm.

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CaroPi
The Plotters | Un-su Kim
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So there was a book sale in the American Bookstore.... Each book for $2.5 dollars. Except the outsider. That was 5. I think that I bought a bit too many books... I am a bookaholic!

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inmegslibrary
Plotters | Un-su Kim
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“Any life spent not asking yourself what you truly loved was a cowardly one.”

mcipher Oof that is a heavy one, but so good to remember. All that YOLO stuff is silly but also valid. 5y
75 likes1 comment
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Lindy
Plotters | Un-su Kim
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This world isn‘t a mess because people are evil. It‘s because everyone has their own stories and excuses for doing bad things.

(Photo: My cat doing something bad.)

Dragon 😻 5y
LeahBergen Ha! 😆😆 5y
Tanisha_A 😁 5y
Erofan 😻🌳 5y
44 likes4 comments
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Expandingbookshelf
The Plotters | Un-su Kim
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“The most dangerous adversary was a pazzo, a madman. A person who thought they had nothing to lose, who wanted nothing from others and asked nothing of him- or herself, who behaved in ways that defied common sense, who quietly followed her or his own strange principles and stubborn convictions, which were both inconceivable and unbelievable.”

review
rmaclean4
The Plotters | Un-su Kim
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Pickpick

Loved this thriller translated from Korean. I was very investeded in the main character, Reseng. Beautiful writing. Highly recommend!!

17 likes1 stack add
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Lindy
Plotters | Un-su Kim
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Seeing the covers all laid out is a nice way of looking back on my reading. It‘s too bad they are so tiny & blurry. (It‘s a screenshot from Goodreads.) Let me know if you spot any of your own favourites!

DivineDiana 👏🏻📚👏🏻 6y
35 likes1 comment
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Lindy
Plotters | Un-su Kim
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Any life not spent asking yourself what you truly loved was a cowardly one.

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Lindy
Plotters | Un-su Kim
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They all believed their injuries justified their actions. But did they? What a load of crap, Reseng thought, then said to himself, And you‘re as big a prick as the rest of them.

review
Lindy
Plotters | Un-su Kim
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Pickpick

From the tale-within-a-tale of whale hunting, to a welcome deus ex machina, to a crosseyed knitting librarian, all elements in this surreal crime novel are carefully plotted. I loved the turns of phrase, #translated from Korean by Sora Kim-Russell, and was charmed by the MC, an assassin with a conscience. Reseng—his name means Next Life— is just one of many memorable characters in this violent, hopeful, and surprising existential masterpiece.

42 likes1 stack add
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Lindy
Plotters | Un-su Kim
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When their time came, Old Racoon placed a black strip of paper around the discards. It was his own special form of sentencing, a funeral procedure for books that had reached the end of their life.

DivineDiana So respectful! 6y
Lindy @DivineDiana Yes, probably the nicest thing he ever did. (edited) 6y
Bibliogeekery ❤️ 6y
33 likes3 comments
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Lindy
Plotters | Un-su Kim
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Old Racoon was hardly the type to raise dogs in a library. He‘d named his library “The Doghouse” to make fun of people who made a big show of frequenting libraries but never opened any actual books, or possibly made fun of himself for having spent a good sixty years of his life looking after a library that sat empty of people most of the time.

(Internet photo)

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Lindy
Plotters | Un-su Kim
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Reseng pictured his darkened apartment, the two Siamese yowling in hunger. Desk and Lampshade. Crazily enough, they were starting to take after their names. Desk liked to hunch over into a square, like a slice of bread, and stare quietly at a scrap of paper on the floor, while Lampshade liked to crane her neck and stare out of the window.

Dragon 😻 6y
Lindy @Dragon That is Bianca in Yokohama. 😊 6y
37 likes2 comments
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Lindy
Plotters | Un-su Kim
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It was April. Cherry trees were in bloom all down the street. He hadn‘t realized until that moment that they were cherry trees. Not that it mattered. ‘Sakura, the flower that wilts the moment it blooms.‘ For some reason, that line of poetry he‘d read somewhere was stuck in his head.

(Internet photo)

42 likes1 stack add
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Lindy
Plotters | Un-su Kim
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You might not think of beer as a breakfast drink, but in fact it‘s perfect. If knocking back a can of beer after a hard day‘s work makes you feel refreshed, rewarded and relaxed, then a can of beer in the morning is about feeling melancholic, fuzzy-headed, improper, and refusing to act like a responsible adult just because the sun‘s come up.

(Internet photo. Oatmeal is a breakfast food, right?)

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Lindy
Plotters | Un-su Kim
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Old Racoon had long ago stopped stocking his personal shelves with anything that wasn‘t a dictionary or an encyclopedia. As far as Reseng could remember, he‘d refused to read anything else for the last ten years. “Dictionaries are great,” he‘d explained. “No mushiness, no bitching, no preachiness, and, best of all, none of the high-and-mighty crap that writers try to pull.”

Fridameetslucy @Lindy you will love the taxidermy raccoon Rory in the book Furiously Happy !! He is on the cover :) 6y
Lindy @Fridameetslucy Yes, that cover makes me smile every time I see it. 😁 6y
34 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Lindy
Plotters | Un-su Kim
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Had Reseng continued to grow up in the orphanage, where divine blessings showered down like spring sunshine and kindly nuns devoted themselves to the careful raising of orphans, his life might have turned out very differently. Instead, he grew up in a library crawling with assassins, hired guns and bounty hunters. Just as a plant grows wherever it sets down roots, so all your life‘s tragedies spring from wherever you first set your feet.

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Lindy
Plotters | Un-su Kim
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“Black tea is steeped in imperialism. That‘s what gives it its flavour. Anything this flavourful has to be hiding an incredible amount of carnage.”

Riveted_Reader_Melissa That‘s a great quote! 6y
38 likes1 stack add2 comments
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rmaclean4
The Plotters | Un-su Kim
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Got a couple of bonus days in NYC due to travel delays. Went book shopping and started The Plotters this morning. I am hopeful that we will sleep in our own bed tonight!!

12 likes1 stack add
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RealLifeReading
Plotters | Un-su Kim
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Today‘s lunch is brought to you by all things Orange. Did you know that before the English-speaking world was introduced to the fruit, the colour was known as “red-yellow” or “yellow-red”? The earliest recorded use was in the 13th century and referred to the fruit.
Hope you enjoyed this random fact like I‘m enjoying my yellow-red meal of lobster bisque, carrots and The Plotters
🍊

LibrarianJen Thanks for the mini history lesson! I love random info like this 😊 6y
Pricel101 Love this!! 🧡🥕😀 heehee I‘m with you @LibrarianJen 6y
RealLifeReading @LibrarianJen you‘re welcome ❤️🍊 6y
114 likes2 stack adds4 comments
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inmegslibrary
Plotters | Un-su Kim
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Fireside reading 🔥

Zelma Looks wonderful! My favorite trip in years was last winer‘s ski trip and reading by the giant fireplace. (edited) 6y
126 likes2 comments
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RealLifeReading
Plotters | Un-su Kim
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I had this book along with me to my dentist appointment this morning and was asked about it by my dentist and her assistant and really it‘s kinda hard to describe. I said it‘s weird, a bit dark and funny, and its main character is an assassin who may be having a change of heart. Would that interest you in the book?

Grrlbrarian Yep! Sure would! 6y
Redwritinghood Absolutely! I‘m regretting not picking this up when I saw it at the library earlier this week. 6y
Expandingbookshelf Aaah I just finished this! 6y
tammysue Of course! 6y
100 likes4 stack adds4 comments
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RealLifeReading
Plotters | Un-su Kim
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Who‘d chosen this place from which to orchestrate such abominable acts? It was madness. It would have made more sense to set up camp in the office of the National Dry Cleaners Union, or the office of the Organizing Committee to Revitalize Poultry Farming. Why pick a library? Libraries were quiet, book-filled places. What had they ever done to hurt anyone?

116 likes4 stack adds
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catherine2
Plotters | Un-su Kim
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review
Bookalong
The Plotters | Un-su Kim
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Pickpick

4/5🌟 A Entertaining and Gripping Read!
I dont read books like this very often. Honestly I dont know if I have ever read one quite like this before. And I hardly ever read translated books but I felt this one was excellently done! With alluring prose this book flowed nicely and was a quick read for me. I enjoyed the story line and characters quite a bit. It could have almost been a bit longer so we get to see more of the characters.
#bookreview

23 likes1 stack add
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mdemanatee
The Plotters | Un-su Kim
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Picked this up from the library but haven‘t gotten to it yet. But one of my bffs saw it on my shelf last weekend and ended up buying it today, and we might nominate it for our next book club read tomorrow.

11 likes1 stack add
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Godpants
The Plotters | Un-su Kim
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Very excited to start this Korean noir today.

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The.Intentional.Reader
The Plotters | Un-su Kim
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New book day for me. Assassins and free will...what could go wrong??

18 likes1 stack add
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DGRachel
The Plotters | Un-su Kim
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Picked up my library hold today. Now I have to decide whether to finish the book I‘ve already started or dive right into this one. Based on the blurb, it‘s either going to be awful or awesome. 😂

BarbaraBB Hmmm, this book sounds weird 😳 6y
rather_be_reading hate making that choice!! 6y
merelybookish I posted about this book yesterday. Haven't read it but intrigued by the meta plot. 6y
Godmotherx5 The book sounds so cool. I hope it doesn‘t disappoint. 6y
95 likes1 stack add4 comments
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merelybookish
The Plotters | Un-su Kim
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I don't read a lot of thrillers or whodunits because I get distracted by how the writer is #buildingamystery. Which is why I stacked this meta Korean noir novel. It sounds a bit like the Truman Show where an assassin realizes his hits have been 'plotted.'
#timbittunes @cinfhen @TheKidUpstairs
Sarah McLaughlin is from Halifax, NS and her career was taking off when I got there for undergrad. Needless to say, we listened to her a lot. ♥️

TheKidUpstairs Oooh, sounds interesting! Did you go to Dal? I've heard nothing but great things from people who went there! 6y
merelybookish @TheKidUpstairs I went to Kings which is on the Dal campus. It was great! Small liberal arts college with access to a big school! 6y
Cinfhen Book sounds good!! Where do u live now?? My friend Kendell is originally from Nova Scotia 6y
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merelybookish @Cinfhen I live in Colorado. 😣 Far from NS! But we are talking about moving back. 🤞🤞 6y
Cinfhen Colorado is gorgeous! I‘ve only been to Vail but I‘ve heard NS is beautiful too!! 6y
merelybookish @Cinfhen Yes, both are very beautiful! But prefer ocean to mountains. 😛 Mostly I'm tired of moving around. We've been doing it 20 years and I'm just ready to be settled and closer to family. 6y
Cinfhen I can absolutely understand both the want of family near by and the appeal of ocean ❤️ 6y
merelybookish @Cinfhen I thought you might. 🙂💕 6y
readordierachel Sounds interesting! I like the cover too. 6y
merelybookish @readordierachel I agree. The cover is very cool! 6y
78 likes5 stack adds10 comments
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Well-ReadNeck
The Plotters | Un-su Kim
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#BookHaul #LibraryHaul

Just in from the library!!! 📚

diovival These sound great! 6y
121 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Lizpixie
The Plotters | Un-su Kim
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#BookMail Pt3 Last up is the Goldsboro BOTM for January. This is a South Korean author with the story set in Seoul, it‘s been described as Kill Bill meets Murikami. Reseng has been raised by The Godfather Of Korean crime, in the Library Of Dogs which is a front for Seoul‘s underworld. Destined to be a master assassin, until he breaks the rules & ends up on the run with a convenience store worker, her wheelchair bound sister & a cross eyed knitter.

batsy This is on my list! What a cover 🔪 6y
Lizpixie @batsy it‘s a signed, numbered limited edition. It also has black sprayed edges!🖤❤️ 6y
48 likes2 comments
review
BethFishReads
The Plotters | Un-su Kim
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Bailedbailed

I was curious about this award-winning crime story translated from Korean. I bailed on about page 80. It was weird in a good way, but I just haven‘t felt compelled to pick it up again. I‘m officially abandoning it.

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Liberty
The Plotters | Un-su Kim
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Now that Christmas is over, I have no reason to leave the house, or any work to do, until January 2nd. I‘m going to read books so fast, it will affect the tides and change the weather. 🤘🏻📚🏆

CocoReads Read for me! I‘m back to work tomorrow and my job really cuts into my reading time. 😬😬 6y
BookishMarginalia You go, girl! I‘m envious! 6y
Tamra Anxious for Greenglass House! 6y
See All 9 Comments
Lmstraubie The bookishfly effect 🦋📚 6y
Victoriahoperose Merry Christmas! 6y
RebL Awesome goal! 👏🏼 6y
JenReadsAlot Happy reading!! 6y
valeriegeary Get 'er done! 👏👏💪💪 6y
TNbookworm Swan Song❤ 6y
191 likes1 stack add9 comments
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wintercherry
The Plotters | Un-su Kim
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This is a first for me, a South Korean literary crime thriller.

23 likes1 stack add