3.5, rounded up. This book reminds me of Age of Vice with its take on corruption, greed, and the dark political underbelly and its reflection on trauma, but it also throws in some insights about motherhood that, as a new mom, I appreciated. I also enjoyed learning about some of the real-life historical events and politics of South Korea. The writing is awkward in places, and a couple of the twists are predictable (one or two genuinely surprised me, though), but the plot moves quickly and keeps the reader engaged as a result.

Excavations started out with a bang…literally the collapse of a skyscraper in South Korea. A young mother, Sae, waits for her husband who worked there to return. The novel covers news of the collapse some from the husband’s perspective but mostly from Sae’s. The fact that she was a reporter prior to becoming a mother is pivotal in the story’s plot.
Although I found the story interesting, at times it seemed to slow down in pacing throughout the story I found myself unable to connect to the characters, particularly Sae. I found myself urging her to be more of a mother to her boys, to put them first. My heart definitely was captured as She distanced herself from them. Depression rears it’s ugly head in the story, definitely with a good reason, but I found it so sad.
Loved the inclusion of the behind the scenes political aspects of the building industry around the world today…so sad and also so scary. The tentative connections in families is so often affected by jealousy and Hannah Michell used it so convincingly.
All in all an interesting read. Many thanks to Hannah Michell, One World, and NetGalley for providing me with an arc of this just published book. Three and a half stars.

Sae was at home with her toddlers when she heard of the collapse of a massive skyscraper where her husband Jae was an engineer. Conflicting reports of the event made Sae nervous; she and Jae used to be anti-government protesters, and somehow the government was involved, with missing contractors. Leaving the children with her estranged mother, Sae sets out to discover the truth. It's more complicated and confusing than she thought, and perhaps there was more to Jae than she knew.

Taking care of toddler boys is exhausting, and Sae covered for her missing husband by saying he had a work trip after Aspiration Tower fell. Too much was unknown in the immediate aftermath, but one of his coworkers had been there, and his wife took off almost immediately after the collapse. Suspicious, but not quite enough to get Sae moving until the company he was working for gets blamed for using substandard materials and more bodies are found. Her former reporter senses go off, and she begins asking around and looking into the company her husband worked for. She does an amazing job following the threads and figuring out what happened, but it's always the rich and powerful that make things happen. They buy the silence of those who could give evidence, encourage someone else to take the fall, and then threaten to get their way. Nothing means more than money, and the lives of innocent bystanders mean absolutely nothing.

My heart went out to Sae as the novel progressed. The more she found out, the more she was rebuffed and getting boxed in by powerful men. Her reaction in the final quarter of the book was understandable and sad, but the final part of the novel gives me hope for her future. She and her sons had gone through a lot because of this, but she again has her strength at the very end.

I do not remember why I picked up this book. If it was purely because of the cover of the description, but I fell in love with the writing style and story immediately. If I hadn’t had to go to work and do general life stuff, I would have read this book in one setting.

The fact that this is Michell’s debut book is truly amazing. The world building, suspense, and intrigue had me staying up late to read “just one more chapter”. I will definitely be telling friends about this book and purchasing a physical title from my local bookstore.

Reminds me of The Bandit Queens in it’s writing and is a contender for “best book of the year” for me.

A dark, creeping novel about corruption in South Korea, based off of real events, with a web of connections which weren’t overly surprising but incredibly well-crafted. Sae is a young stay-at-home mother in Seoul, waiting for her husband Jae to return from work one night; he promised to be early. And then he doesn’t show up, just as the building he was working in collapses. Desperate to know what happened to him, Sae’s quest for information leads her through a maze: returning to old contacts, a paper company, a high-end brothel, and her own memories.

The style of the book is somewhat distant, which I think works very well. It frames the story more as an action-thriller you’re watching, and ups the tension a fair bit. This explores the difficulty of motherhood, politics, and truth, trying to dig through each of them. The title works here on multiple levels! In between Sae’s quest and Myong-hee’s connection to Taehan Group, there are the drafts of the Chairman of Taehan Group’s biography, as told to an unnamed journalist, which reveal more about the corruption in the upper echelons of Korean society - and what Sae is up against. This is a great, tightly-wound mystery.

The book is set in Seoul. A young woman, mother of two little boys, is waiting for her husband to come from work at the usual time. But he's not coming back. The catastrophic collapse of a massive skyscraper is all over the news. The skyscraper is called Aspiration Tower and it is the building in which Sae's husband works. When she desperately starts searching for her husband, Sae doesn't suspect that the collapse of the tower is just the tip of the iceberg. She will unveil a corruption network motivated by greed and jealousy. The way the plot unravels is as fascinating as the premise of the novel, which is written in such a clever way. It is structured in different timelines and points of view, and each character's motivation to act the way they do, ends up being clear.
An absolute delight.

This book follows a mother of two clingy toddlers as she waits for her husband to come home after a skyscraper he was working on as an engineer crumbled to the ground. She does some deep digging for the truth in this mystery/thriller.

It wasn't my cup of tea, but that doesn't mean it won't be someone else's. I find it difficult to identify with books that center around motherhood because I am childless by choice, but I have read reviews by readers who are mothers and enjoyed it a lot. The writing was excellent and the pacing was good up until around the midpoint when it started to slow down for me and I began to lose interest after a HUGE reveal.

All in all, not one for me, but I think plenty of other readers will enjoy it.

Hannah Michell has written a very solid debut about what it means when you don't know the one closest to you.

Sae is at home with her two sons waiting for her husband Jae to return from work. A stay at home mom, Sae is ready for a respite from her boys. But as the hours pass, Jae is nowhere to be found and hasn't called, which is unlike him. When the news of the Aspiration Tower collapse finally reaches her, Sae begins the search for her missing husband who works at the building as an engineer. Sae's search reveals secrets about her husband that ask the question: how well do you know your partner?

This book was a really good read and kept my attention the entire time. The author was able to convey how much motherhood can be a joy and a stressful ball of irritation at the same time. Sae had to balance searching for her husband while also being a mother to two young, clingy boys who miss their Appa. This balance is constantly on a knife's edge because on one hand, Sae goes back into her former journalism mode, leaving her sons for long periods of time. On the other, she adores her boys and wants to bring their Appa home.

What really kept my attention and had me almost missing my stop on the subway is figuring out what happened to Jae. It was very hard for me to put the book down because I NEEDED to know if Jae was alive or dead. Sae's search became my search. The author's decision to move back and forth between Sae's search for her husband and how their relationship came to be is a good one. That background information is important for reasons I will not reveal here.

The ending was a little bit of a let down because I feel like there were some questions I needed answers to. But for the most part, this is a great debut from an author with a strong voice and I look forward to reading more of her work to come.

This was a great read and kept me questioning all the characters right until the very end!

I did find the jumping from scene to scene within chapters to be a bit confusing at times - perhaps this was a formatting issue on the ARC.

Sae is stuck at home with her increasingly needy twin sons, waiting for her husband Jae to arrive home for the evening. When she flicks on the TV for a distraction, a surreal news story breaks across her screen: the building Jae's current engineering project was in suffered a massive collapse. But he's fine. He's got to be fine. Right?

We've all lived through tragedy, and though it's an extremely US-centric knee jerk thought, the echo of what it felt like trying to wrap my mind around what was happening on 9/11 reverberated in my head, immediately pulling me into Sae's story. The only thing she could think to do was to head down to what was left of the tower and find her husband--regardless of what exactly that meant. Though she thought her journalism career was behind her, Sae's quest to find out what happened to Jae turns up one odd anomaly after another, leaving her with more questions than answers. Sae doesn't like unanswered questions.

Michell winds through Sae and Jae's story, slowly piecing together their love story built on their shared passion of protests and the underground movement fighting for a revolution while Sae stretches to find out what happened to her husband. In the process, she uncovers shocking and confusing information that's not only not much help in locating Jae, but leads her to start questioning if she ever really knew who he was at all. While she forges ahead despite roadblocks and signs of danger ahead, she unintentionally withdraws further and further from her sons, who begin to attach themselves to her estranged mother in their own mother's absence.

I will say it took me a few chapters of switching narratives to fully latch on to the cast of characters outside of Sae's nuclear family, but each plays a part worth exploring. The build is paced well, but I found the twist somewhat predictable due to foreshadowing that felt a bit heavy-handed. Additional twists paid off much better for me, and i was eager to reach the end and make sure I had put all the pieces together. Excavations may be full of characters, full of story, and full of pain, but it also brims with hope. There's a lovely and nuanced story here of family, motherhood, and weighing the consequences of your place on the frontlines of a passionate fight versus the fight to be the person you were meant to be. If you don't decide for yourself, you may be trapped into someone else's choice.

Excavations is about the lengths we would go to to protect our families and, wow, Sae went to some LENGTHS here. This gripped me from page 1 and never let me go. My heart was literally racing during this and I dare anyone to try and not finish this in a day.

How far are you willing to go to uncover the truth? Seoul 1992, Sae, a former journalist turned stay-at-home mother, waits anxiously with her crying toddlers for her husband, Jae, to return home from work. When he doesn't return, the collapse of a skyscraper where Jae worked raises suspicions about the true cause. Sae, troubled and suspicious, embarks on a quest to find her husband and for the truth, unearthing government cover-ups and secret dealings, forcing her to question her trust in her husband and those in power.
This book kept me on edge the whole time while I was reading and Hannah Michell's slow-burning writing style was able to still maintain a sense of urgency and tension throughout the novel. I wish we had more time with some characters and maybe saw their POV, however I understand we mostly see the novel through the eyes of Sae. This story will definitely stay with me for a long time and excited to read more from Hannah Michell. Thank you NetGalley, One World Books and Penguin Random House for the digital e-arc. "Excavations" comes out July 11th!

I liked how this book takes you deeper and deeper into both personal and political drama. through Sae's point of view. Myonghee’s storyline was also fascinating and I enjoyed by how her and Sae’s stories connected. The ending lost a bit of steam for me in terms of pacing of and how it zoomed out from the main plot at hand but I also can see why it did that. I would recommend this to fans of Pachinko, Korean history, and conspiracies.

As Sae awaits her husband Jae’s arrival home from work, she receives news of the collapse of a skyscraper in Seoul where her husband was working. Leaving her two children with a neighbor, she rushes to the scene to find total destruction. Prior to motherhood, Sae was an activist in college and a reporter. She takes on an investigation of the collapse, hoping that her husband somehow survived. What she finds is corporate cover-ups and corruption. Following Jae’s boss leads her to a club run by Myonghee, who gathers information from the drunken businessmen she serves. With her help Sae finds the proof that she needs, but Monghee is afraid of losing her business and Sae’s family is threatened if they go public.

Hannah Michell’s story allows the reader to feel Sae’s desperation as she search’s for her husband. She also alternates Sae’s story with the biography of the corporation’s chairman. Coming from poverty, he is ruthless in his dealings. He mourns the loss of his youngest son, yet lacks respect for his eldest son and heir, who is equally ruthless. In an unexpected twist, Michell’s characters all have a surprising connection and Sae discovers the strength to stand up to impossible odds. From the building’s fall to the final pages, this book was difficult to put down. I would like to thank NetGalley for providing this book for my review.

Hannah Mitchell has written a horrifying tale that I wonder isn't based on fact. In 1995, the Sampoong Department Store made international news when it collapsed in Seoul, South Korea. It was due to structural damage and all the people involved were found guilty and sent to prison. This could have been the story....
Mitchell weaves the lives of three strong and incredible women in this book to bring down the government official who was in charge and found guilty. Beautifully written, it is an incredible story. Thank you to NetGalley and to PenguinRandonHouse Publishing for the ARC in exchange for this honest review. I loved the book, as horrifying a story as it is.

Excavations by Hannah Michell examines the cost of greed and how well you really know someone.

In Seoul, Korea, Sae waits with her two toddlers for her husband Jae to return from work. He’s never usually this late, so she starts to worry. She turns on the news and sees the rubble of a tragic accident: the skyscraper where Jae works has collapsed.

The rest of the story follows Sae in the days and weeks after the accident as she investigates what went wrong. Jae told Sae he was installing a pool on the tower’s roof. So why do reports indicate he was in the basement working on a different project?

This book follows two seemingly unrelated POVs that eventually intersect with each other. It tells a tale of political and economic greed and corruption.

It also looks at motherhood in a way that is probably not often discussed.

While this story unfolds in an intriguing way with a shocker reveal, it is a slow burn, and the writing style keeps the reader at a distance. The writing style slightly dampened the emotional impact, although it was probably a deliberate choice.

Still, I’d say this is worth a read.

3.5.

CW: SA.

Thank you to Random House for providing an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

https://booksandwheels.com

Excavations is about a woman named Sae who needed to return to her journalist roots and venture to Seoul, Korea, to find her missing husband after a building collapsed. She also needed to protect her two children as she unfolded secrets from the past.

This story was such an intriguing read. The story started as a mystery as we learned about the missing husband and whether he survived the devastating collapse. The story goes between the past, where Sae was a student and a member of an anti-government activist group, and the present day, where Sae needs to take action to start chasing leads. When Sae starts digging for answers, she learns that she might not know her husband as much as she thought she did.

I like the mystery feel of the book as Sae dug for the truth about her husband in the world of corrupted greed. The story included a world I never learned much about, which fascinated me. It was hard to keep up with some of the stories because so much was happening, and it was sometimes a little overwhelming. Also, the writing was a little dry and stiff in spots. Overall, this was a great family generational story that intrigues you until the end.

Thank you to NetGallery and to Random House Publishing for giving me a copy of the book.

This novel starts interesting. Instantly readers are thus into the mystery of what happened to Jae, an engineer who goes missing after a building he is working on collapses. Sae, his wife, refuses to believe Jae died, holding out hope that her husband is still alive somewhere. But as days pass on, Sae begins to find out she didn't exactly know her husband like she thought she did. Her road to uncover the truth leads her down a rabbit hole of secrets and dark truths.

I liked this book but at times the multiple perspectives and timelines became a little overwhelming. The connections all make sense, but in the beginning, I found the shifts to be a bit interrupting to the story. I liked Sae, she's a strong character who is determined. I also liked the descriptions Michell employed. I could feel the air when it was described and felt like I was sitting with Sae and Jae on their balcony at times.

If you like historical fiction and mysteries, you will like this,

This story is loosely based on the Sampoong Department Store collapse in Seoul, but it became so much more than Sae trying to find her husband after the collapse. I didn't expect this book to turn into a mystery with so many surprises and twists that came with the different POVs and timelines.

I couldn't put it down, because I was so invested in the story. I ended up really enjoying this one of a kind story filled with unique characters. Fans of literary fiction, mysteries, and multi-generational family stories set in a different country will enjoy this book!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy.
This book was atmospheric and filled with tense moments that really put a focus on the mystery surrounding a Sae's husband disappearance. I thought the story was interesting with all the aspects of a k-movie or drama. It was a overall good suspenseful novel that was thrilling and enjoyable to read.