The Orphan Master's Son

Adam Johnson just kills it in the Orphan Master's Son. To pull the veil on the Hermit Kingdom and render such a complex, multilevelled story is just an Herculean task. The book starts with our protagonist groping in the dark with only a vague sense of his surroundings, catching snippets of words from the outside world. Jun Do is the blank slate this world necessitates, a tool to be used. His name is a neat reminder of John Doe and an American later notes “I don't think a John Doe is a missing person, I think it's when you have the person, just not his identity”

“They lived in a land where people had been trained to accept any reality presented to them‚ and there was only one penalty, the ultimate one, for questioning reality, how a citizen could fall into great jeopardy for simply noticing that realities had changed.” And there Jun Do finds his answer and creates a new identity in the second half. Jun Do disappears.

It's peppered with enough gallows humour to keep it from getting mired in grim despair. Even the People's loudspeaker admonishing the North Koreans is a fully realized character. It's hard to know how much license the author takes, some have taken umbrage over the overly comical take on Kim Jong-il but then this was someone revered as both leader and religious figure who claimed to be able to change the weather based on his mood and regarded himself as a worldwide fashion trendsetter. If anything I worry that the author kept some of the more savage elements from the reader.

Do yourself a favor and forgo reading too many reviews if you're the type that hates spoilers. Everyone - mine included, give something away and it's one of those audacious books that has you guessing all the way through and surprises you at every turn. Fantastic read!