To read Adam Johnson’s new novel The Orphan Master’s Son is to plunge headlong into the terrifying and creepy world of North Korea. Really, who sets a book in North Korea? An obsessive researcher, Johnson (who took six years to write the book) reveals a setting that is hauntingly realistic—so real, in fact, this reader couldn’t shake the lingering images of mind-stripping torture, dark-of-night kidnappings, and punishing interrogations. To craft this novel, Johnson actually traveled to North Korea, gathering the kinds of details that give his book heft and authenticity. Mind you, political intrigue is not my reading style. So imagine my surprise as I realized one chapter in, that I was utterly hooked and sinking down the rabbit hold of this thriller full of corruption and cruelty.

Pak Jun Do’s father is the director of an orphan work camp. His singer-mother, who he barely remembers, is abducted and taken to Pyongyang. Recognized for his strength and endurance, Jun Do becomes an agent of the communist state led by the notorious Kim Jong Il. Jun Do rapidly rises from soldier to underground kidnapper to surveillance officer all along committing unthinkably violent acts. Yet he retains a sense of himself, of hope. Johnson’s triumph is in the creation of his hero, Jun Do. Despite his haunting acts of violence, Jun Do is an endearing character.

Eventually Jun Do takes on the identity of another man. He boldly presents himself as the husband to this missing man’s wife, lives in his home, and assumes his life. As preposterous as this appears, Johnson convincingly creates a world where even this seems plausible. Ultimately, Jun Do must take on Kim Jong Il in an act of bravery and defiance of breath-taking scope.

This novel is a tricky read. The story repeatedly switches voices from a narrator who tells the framework of the action, to the blaring loudspeakers (present in every home and controlled by the state) which provide the Citizen’s Propaganda and finally to an interrogator figure. This is a complex and sometimes perplexing narrative. Ultimately, it all hangs together in a truly satisfying reading adventure. I haven’t enjoyed a book this much in a long time.

I have a feeling we’ll be hearing about this book for months to come. Kim Jong Il’s recent death serves to put North Korea in the limelight anew. For anyone interested in what life is really like in this little-understood country, I recommend Adam Johnson’s compelling novel. A true tour de force. ~Wendee