Thảo

★Full-length novel by Sehwa Kim, winner of the 16th Golden Pen Award of the 2022 Korean Mystery Literature Award★
★A series following Chief Detective Ji-young Oh’s level-headed investigation and her monotonous life in which her work is her only source of drive★
★A mystery full of social critique told through the sharp gaze of former Daegu MBC Press Secretary★

This novel exposes the reality of Korean society through the plight of foreign immigrants, one of South Korea’s most vulnerable populations. In a society swayed by irrationally divisive rhetoric and hateful incitement, with no solutions to social structure issues in sight, the true nature of these problems often goes unexamined. What violence do disadvantaged individuals face in such a world? The novel is a classic socially-oriented mystery that reveals the chain reaction of deep-rooted issues in Korean society through the death of Thảo, a female Vietnamese student studying in Korea. It follows detective Ji-young Oh as she persistently tracks a serial killer who strikes on days with heavy rainfall. The story provides a sharp critique of cultural clashes between Christianity and Islam, the issue of immigrant workers, and the resulting deep-rooted pessimism and helplessness that grows into violence. It also examines repressed anger among social classes, and the media malpractice of sensationalist reporting that don’t get to the core of the incident. It is a work of art that dives into the societal ills of South Korea while holding on to the entertainment factor of the mystery genre.

[Plot]
Upright posture, emotionless tone, and expressionless face. Chief Detective Ji-young Oh is a stoic woman in her mid-40s who cares for nothing but solving the case. Despite facing discomfort and rudeness from detectives and journalists who are unsettled by having such a young female commander, Ji-young remains detached, uninterested in responding emotionally and showing them who’s boss. If someone wants to enter the scene first, she will oblige, but she never opens up emotionally or gets close to anyone. Yet, beneath her impassive exterior lies a deep empathy for the victims’ pain and an unrelenting drive to solve each case.
At the end of August, on a night of heavy rain, a violent assault occurs in an alley next to a newly built mosque. The victim, a female sociologist, had been a vocal supporter of the mosque, despite opposition from existing churches and residents at the time of its construction. The case, which seemed straight-forward at first, starts to go cold until a month later, when a similar crime occurs on the morning after heavy rain. As the media pounce on Ji-young Oh like sharks circling the water, body is found whenever heavy rain falls. Ji-young digs into the truth of the incident in solitude, battling internal discord within the police organization, the glass ceiling, the sensationalist media, and her own painful past. Finally, the mystery is revealed with the identity of a woman named “Thảo”, meaning “green forest”, at the center of the crimes.