An interesting thriller and mystery that kept me guessing. I especially enjoyed the setting and the mood and atmosphere of the book. I would read another book by this author.

Seven Years of Darkness is a stunning work of crime fiction that evokes classic noir. From the pen of You-Jeong Jeong, and translated by Chi-Young Kim, this novel represents a disturbing look at love. Crime, cruelty, family, and the many ways that a single mistake can devastate. The levels of hatred one man can have, how long one man can wait for something. An excellent crime novel brought over from South Korea, and a reminder of how important it is to cast a wide net when looking for such narratives.

The overall story is framed by a young man named Sowin, reflecting upon the discovery that his father had been arrested, and the way that the man's conviction of a series of crimes might manage to completely and utterly destroy the boy's life in the process. He considers his own actions, upon societal bullying, and on how his extended family had stripmined all that his mother had left him and dumped him off before even a ful my ear had passed between the lot of them. His only salvation comes in the form of a man he knew briefly while his father was working security in that town where the horrific events finally transpired. This man, Mr. Ahn takes him in and acts more like family than any of his own that has been sometime, managing to fight through legal difficulties to become his guardian and moving with him repeatedly in an effort to keep Sowon getting an education and through it the future he thinks the boy deserves. 

Yet everywhere they travel, Sowon is recognized. Occasionally this is by chance, but most of the time it is because someone sends a package with an issue of the magazine focusing on the events involving his father. The question of who is doing this, and why, playing the young man even as he grows and how to become more comfortable in his situation. While living in one particular stop, Mr Ahn fails to return home, and a package with a number of his personal effects,and papers arrives. As Sowon attempts to read through them and piece together what actually happened that night,  he finds himself drawn into thevery complicated events surrounding a young girl, an abusive husband, and a dam his father allowed to flood a whole town.

Sowon is the primary viewpoint character, being the focus of the initial framing device as well as contributing his own set of memories in relation to the events, questioning how many of them were still reliable, how it relates to Mr. Ahn's manuscript, and what to do in the event that the man does not turn up soon, or if whoever has been sending out magazines should decide to take a more direct hand in harming him, as another suspicious package seems to indicate. He is thoughtful, a little depressed, and overall beaten down by the world over a long period of time. These are elements which mark him as an excellent protagonist in Noir, and the fact he has gotten himself into additional trouble due to building resentments over his situation and other people abusing that very thing.

Mr. Ahn is well-educated, having served in both is expected military time and also received a university education. His parents and family found his desire to be an author unacceptable, causing him to leave them behind. He has fun memories of them, and his experience diving with his father as a child to his specialization in marine salvage during military service. The same skill at diving serves him in good stead throughout his life, save for contributing to the complicated turn of events in the book. While many of his actions her carefully explained, at no point does the story feel the need to explain away his decision to take in the young Sowon.

Found family is a small theme in the book, and that presence something greatly appreciated. While Sowon and Mr. Ahn are the most obvious examples in the book, they are not the only ones. A battered wife finds some level of stability with an old friend, two former co workers becoming confidants after a tragedy, there are many little examples. Yet Mr. Ahn represents the most clear of these. A man who took an unwanted child in and raised him, oftentimes sacrificing his own comfort and stability in order to give the boy the best possible home. Towards the end of the novel Sow on outright acknowledges him as a second father, in what is one of the most touching moments of the book. Themes of found family are not always common, particularly in the books about family tragedy. This volume manages to illustrate the love of both found family and that which one is born with, balancing to concepts that are sometimes treated as mutually exclusive.

The theme of revenge, and of hatred for transgressions past and present is an extremely strong one in the book, and the text largely comes down against it. Even when retribution seems just it also seems rather pointless.  An evil man is finally destroyed, but this doesn't truly undo any damage. A young man is still notorious for things his father was convicted of, many people are still dead, and those who live on still carry the scars even as they rebuild.

Any work in translation runs the risk of losing, more than its original identity,  any sort of readability. The english translation for Seven Years of Darkness is excellent, managing to read without the awkward moments one occasionally finds in lesser translations. The struggles are related in obvious terms, and the fact the book takes place in South Korea is a major element without drifting into the over-explaining or use of cultural jargon that could have easily been migrated into accurate equivalents. Chi-Young Kim has produced excellent results, and is to be commended.

Seven Years of Darkness is an outright brilliant example of it's genre. A gripping read with deep characters, an intricate twizted plot, and a stellar translation, this is one absolutely any interested party should pick up and enjoy. For fans of the classic noir style of storytelling often,thought to in film, this little volume is a must read. You-Jeong Jeong's work is excellent and readers should eagerly await his next piece.




(Penguin 2020)

Sowon is the son of a convicted murderer, the man responsible for “The Seryong Lake Disaster.” He was 11-years-old when his father was arrested. Mr. Ahn, his father’s roommate when he was a guard at the Seryong Lake dam, protected Sowon after his father’s incarceration and before Sowon’s relatives took him in. Sowon’s life spiraled downward under his relatives’ mistreatment. They ultimately abandoned him, moving away without telling Sowon their new address and changing their phone numbers lest he attempt to find them.

Snow swirled into the phone booth through the gaps around the door. My jacket was too thin and my jeans were too small—my ankles were bare. I had grown out of my sneakers, so I was wearing them with the heels folded down—like slippers. I hadn’t eaten anything all day. I only had a hundred-won coin left.



There was only one number I hadn’t tried—Mr. Ahn’s cell phone number. There was probably no point, since he’d given me his phone and Uncle Jongu had broken it, but I dialed, cautiously hopeful. Maybe he’d bought a new cell phone after giving me his, and was still using the same number …



It rang for a long time. Finally, a slow, clear voice said, “Hello?”



It was Mr. Ahn. I had never forgotten his voice. My throat closed up and I couldn’t speak.



Mr. Ahn persisted. “Hello? Hello? Who is it?”

Finally, Sowon catches a break when Mr. Ahn takes him in. Sowon enrolls in school and devotes himself to his studies, desperate not to be cast off. He’s an exemplary student and starts to dream of reuniting with his father “when the true criminal [is] apprehended.” But since Sowon avoids all media, he doesn’t know the full story.

Sure, I’d heard rumors about the number of people killed, how they’d died, and my father’s sentence. But that was about all I knew.



The following afternoon, I received a manila envelope that shattered my last vestiges of hope. The return address was a PO box. Inside was that week’s issue of the popular Sunday Magazine. A single photograph was splashed across an entire page—a boy looking back at the camera, his mouth closed firmly. Me. Eleven-year-old me, standing in the sea of light at the Sunchon police station.

Sowon reads the tragic story of a young girl murdered. Three men were listed as suspects: the girl’s father, Yongje; and “two security guards at the nearby dam.” One of the guards was Sowon’s father. When Sowon attends school on Monday, he sees “a copy of the magazine on every desk, opened to the article.” Mr. Ahn and Sowon move on, and a pattern emerges of the two re-establishing themselves in a new community only for Sowon to be eventually outed. Ancient Greek poet and playwright Euripides said, “The gods visit the sins of the fathers upon the children,” which sadly rings true for Sowon.

We became drifters, usually staying in port cities. Mr. Ahn was an avid diver; he taught me how to dive, and the sea gave me a sense of freedom. In the underwater darkness, the world vanished, and nothing could reach me. I was safe from people’s prying eyes and their malicious whispers.

Mr. Ahn and Sowon eventually move to Lighthouse Village, a tiny community so remote that it isn’t on GPS. Yet they are still somehow outed by strangers. Before Mr. Ahn disappears, Sowon has a premonition.

They say a cat can sense thunder right before it rumbles. Perhaps the human brain has a similar sensory ability—the clock of anxiety that beings ticking when catastrophe looms. Later that night, in the room I shared with Mr. Ahn, I lay in bed but couldn’t fall asleep. I drifted back into my memories, back to that day seven years ago when the police had separated me from Mr. Ahn.

In the aftermath, Sowon obtains Mr. Ahn’s copious notes written at the time of the disaster. What Sowon reads is confusing, like learning that the murdered girl was named for the lake. There are troublesome facts, like “Seryong had been beaten by her father. He had seen the violence in Dr. Oh’s eyes and the fear in Seryong’s.” As Sowon learns about his father, the players and the minute-by-minute events of the past start to add up. Mr. Ahn once told Sowon that he read in Sunday Magazine that the details given weren’t the whole story. So what is?

I biked to the lighthouse and sat at the edge of the cliff, looking out at the sea. Friday, August 27, 2004. The girl was still alive that afternoon. I couldn’t stop my mind from going back to that summer seven years ago.

Sowon’s father’s execution is imminent. His son is told what day he should come to the prison to receive his father’s ashes. Everything comes to a heart-stopping denouement.

Seven Years of Darkness is both a description of a teenager’s past and a bookend to a brighter future. You-Jeong Jeong’s writing is lyrical, almost poetic, particularly when she describes Sowon’s seven years in the wilderness and his desperate attempts to erase himself from notice. A verse from John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost reflects Sowon’s experience, “Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light.” It’s a statement that mirrors the book’s tagline, “The truth always rises to the surface.” Seven Years of Darkness is an unforgettable book that defies description.

I featured this title in a june roundup and will provide the details directly to the publisher in the next round of this review process.

This is definitely not a fluffy murder mystery, bringing to mind the darker scenes of Parasite and taking it further into the depths. Early in the book it goes through the point of view of an abuser; it felt so well-thought out that it made me uncomfortable. While it was obvious to me who the real killer was, the truth does not always set you free. Shuffling the story between different narrators fleshed out both the characters and the story. It's an intense dark read, but it's a clever read that got me out of my shelter in place anxiety. The storytelling also reminded me to stretch the difficulty levels of my reading materials more often. (Thanks to the publisher for providing an ARC via Netgalley.)

Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC. From the preview, the story here sounded fascinating - a young girl is murdered and the murderer's son is left with finding out the details. Unfortunately, the story loses itself, not sure if it is translation or a need of editing..