Sowon's father is awaiting execution for mass murder. Seven years previously, when he was a security guard at a massive dam, he opened the sluices and flooded the village below, killing many. Sowon was a young boy at the time, and his father's actions have haunted him since, resulting in his being ostracized wherever he went. Now, on the verge of adulthood, he wants to understand why his father took the actions he did.

This is the second novel I have read by this South Korean writer, and once again this was an enthralling read. While it is essentially a crime novel, it is also an excellent novel about a dysfunctional family and some of the societal ills besetting contemporary South Korea. The book is beautifully plotted, moving seamlessly between the events leading up to the crime, and the present day as Sowon tries to make sense of the crime, as well as relating the events of his life between the time of the crime and the present day.

Recommended.
3 1/2 stars ( )

I came across this writer’s name in an article in The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jun/19/the-best-recent-and-thrillers-review-roundup). I had not heard of her, but she is apparently South Korea’s leading writer of psychological crime and thriller fiction.

The novel is set in 2011, but much of it deals with events seven years earlier. Hyonsu Choi, the new head of security at Seryong Dam, is convicted of several murders (including those of an 11-year-old girl and his wife). He also opened the dam’s floodgates and destroyed an entire village. His 11-year-old son Sowon survives. Sowon tries to carry on with his life but as the son of an infamous “crazed murderer,” he and his guardian, Sunghwan Ahn, find little peace. When Sowon is 18, Mr. Ahn disappears but a manuscript written by him is delivered to Sowon. That manuscript seems to be a fictionalized account of events surrounding the murders, but as he reads it, Sowon discovers it may contain the truth and that his assumptions about his father’s actions may not have been correct.

The embedded narrative certainly clarifies what actually happened in 2004. It also introduces all the people involved and gives backstories for most of them. The problem is that there is little focus on Sowon’s struggles to understand his father’s actions. What Sowon learns forces him to drastically change the image of his father that he has carried for seven years, but the reader does not see him having any real difficulty changing his views.

What I appreciated is that the author manages to arouse sympathy for virtually all the characters. Because information is given about their backgrounds, the reader comes to understand why they behave as they do. Their dominant traits are often a reaction to something that happened in childhood. Many of the characters are trapped by family expectations and circumstances. Hyonsu, for example, feels that “everything in his life was so small and constricting.”

Only one character, the real evildoer, is not given a backstory. He also has no redeeming qualities. He is controlling, calculating, and cold-hearted and doesn’t even seem to be capable of positive emotions like love. As a consequence, he is a stereotypical villain. When he is first introduced, the reader knows immediately that he is somehow involved in what occurred.

I was fascinated by the village that was submerged when the dam was built. Mr. Ahn goes diving and we are given a description of what he sees. I live near the lost villages of the St. Lawrence River, villages that were inundated to accommodate the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway. (In some locations, a few remnants of sidewalks and building foundations can still be seen under the water, and some high points of land in the flooded area remain above water as islands.) I wondered whether finding the name of Yongje Oh on the nameplate of a submerged home was significant.

There are some pacing issues. The middle is slow and then the ending seems rushed. Actually, the ending seems written for a film adaptation.

Though not flawless, the book is an interesting read. I’m interested in writers from around the world and this South Korean one deserves attention.

Note: Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski). ( )

Seven Years of Darkness by You-Jeong Jeong is more of a whydunit than a whodunit, which may not suit every reader but does allow for a lot more depth in trying to understand the characters and, by extension, our own psyches. Don't read this just to go from event to event, read this to think and consider what we do and why.

I was caught up in the story from the beginning. By that, I mean that almost immediately I found myself wondering what pieces were missing from both what happened that fateful night and what these characters were thinking. I am the type of reader that will get as much, or more, enjoyment from a book where I am considering the psychology of why the characters do what they do as from one where I am simply trying to figure out how or why someone physically committed an act. One why can simply be because they stepped on my toe and didn't apologize, the other why is because all my life I have been invisible to people who have walked all over me and when that privileged person stepped on my toe, I snapped.

I would recommend this to readers who enjoy reading stories with a dark, ominous feel to them but don't just stay on the surface of that feeling. What mystery there is here is almost secondary to the immersion we experience in a claustrophobic and seemingly bare existence. Though I would recommend coming up for air periodically.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via Goodreads First Reads. ( )

'Tomorrow i could go collect my father's body. The day after that was his birthday. I put down the letter and picked up the manuscript. I didn't want to read it, but it was time I learned the truth.'

Seven years ago, Choi Sowon's life was turned upside down. His father was accused of killing his mother and opening the sluices of the Seryong Dam, where he worked as a security guard, drowning an entire village and its inhabitants. Since then, passed on through various unwilling members of his family, Choi has been haunted and bullied because of his past. Now he has returned to Seryong and, in doing so, sets off a chain of events that will reveal the truth of past events, and place the lives of many others at risk.

Having read and enjoyed You-Jeong Jeong's previous novel available in English ('The Good Son') I was thoroughly looking forward to this. I enjoyed it, yes, but perhaps not as much. For me, this lacked the psychological tension of the previous book, reverting to a more thrillery-type rush of events.

When Choi discovers a novel written by his father's friend based on the events of that fateful night he discovers the truth, and the book does work well with the switching back from the present to the past. As we read on, we know that the consequences of that night have yet to be finished. And this is where the book becomes, well, formulaic. I would say cinematic, because it reads at times like it was written with a film adaptation in mind (indeed, a 2018 film was made in Korea). The village, the dam, the fog, the hidden menace, the thrilling dénouement when our hero's life is in danger..... Yep, tick tick tick.

Definitely a page-turner, but not as character-driven and intense as The Good Son. Nonetheless, well worth a read, though. 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. ( )