Star of the North

June 25, 2018
Park’s well-paced narration hits all the emotional beats of John’s timely thriller, but her characterizations of the main players are uneven. The novel, set mainly in 2010 North Korea, shifts perspectives among three very different protagonists. Park’s voice is a perfect match for Jenna Williams, a young CIA agent who’s determined to prove her twin sister did not drown in South Korea in 1998, which was the official verdict, but rather was the victim of North Korea’s covert abduction program. Less effective is her unaccented approach to Cho Sang-ho, a North Korean diplomat who winds up in prison after the discovery that his father may have been a traitor, and the third major character, Mrs. Moon, a 60-year-old peasant whose life near the Chinese border changes when she finds an international aid package and begins selling its contents on the black market. Park does add a helpful, subtle shift in tone and accent for several of the minor characters, including Kim Jong Un’s ruthless father, Kim Jong Il. Park effectively conveys the feeling of helplessness of North Koreans and delivers a series of strong performances as John draws his disparate trio toward an action-filled climax that includes the death of Kim Jong Il. Park’s performance is good enough to carry listeners to the end, but the audio edition would be better served with multiple readers. A Crown hardcover.

John's geopolitical thriller, set in 2010, weaves converging narratives on the 1998 disappearance of a biracial Korean-American teenager in South Korea. Narrator Linda Park's nuanced portrayals of Georgetown University professor Jenna, Pyeongyang party member Colonel Cho, and North Korean work camp laborer Mrs. Moon, along with her clear pronunciation of Korean words, send listeners into the heart of this complex drama. Their characters' paths intertwine when Jenna is recruited for a CIA mission involving North Korea. Park intensifies her pace and tone as the trio plunge deeper into high-stakes intrigue, which alternates between action sequences and suspense. Park reveals the characters' emotional depths as the plot moves to an exciting conclusion. In an afterword, the author discusses the inspiration for this novel. J.R.T. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine