Jae-Young is over it. She’s over her crappy apartment. She’s over her crappy job. She’s REALLY over her abusive boyfriend constantly beating her up. One evening, after a particularly bad fight, she hit him in self-defense, and when he smashed his head on the way down, she panicked and ran straight to the train station. She’s going to Seoul, to hide out in a large city. After that, she has no idea what she’ll do next…

She’s on the train when a young mother carrying an infant sits by her and immediately turns into one of those annoyingly chatty strangers. Hyojin’s husband has moved in with his mistress, so she has also escaped and is going to visit the in-laws she still hasn’t met. Trying to avoid this oversharing woman, Jae-Young excuses herself to go to the bathroom. When she comes back, Hyojin is gone, and there’s a note left on the baby, begging her to take Seung-Joon to his family’s house.

Not knowing what else to do, she indeed takes the baby to the house of Chairman Jung. When she arrives at the address in the note, she’s surprised that the house is more like a resort. These are billionaires, and the father of the baby, Hyun-Wook, hasn’t been seen in years. The chairman lives there with his younger son, Soohyun, and a bevy of caretakers and maids. The elderly man is ailing, but it’s clear he’s excited to see his grandson…and everyone automatically assumes that Jae-Young is the wife they’ve never met. When they insist that she move in, she gladly takes the offer and starts enjoying the life of luxury she’s never had.

Soon after moving in, Jae-Young finds out a lot about the past, the history of the house, and why it’s run the way it is. These things do give her pause, but she feels comfortable with Soohyun, and the gifts and shopping trips help her look the other way…until she gets to a point where there is no denying what is happening. She’s in danger, she’s terrified they’ll find out she’s not Seung-Joon’s mother, and her mental health is starting to fail her.

This book is super twisty, with a ton of shocks built in. I was surprised over and over, all the way to the end. This family has a lot of skeletons in the closet, and figuring things out along with Jae-Young made this quite entertaining and suspenseful. I thought this would be a “Strangers on a Train” situation, but I was totally wrong about that! This was quite original, and a fun read. Four stars!

(Thank you to Random House Bantam, Se-ah Jane and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on July 29, 2025.)

Two women meet on a train. Each is running from a deadly secret. When one disappears, the other decides to take her place, for better, or for worse! Great book! I thought this book was going to be a bit different than it was! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one! It had shocking suspense, murder, mystery, gaslighting, intrigue, and some wild twists! The story was very interesting! I highly recommend reading this book! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

“A Twist of Fate” is by Se-Ah Hang, translated from the Korean by S.L. Park. I’ve been told by a Korean acquaintance, that translating Korean books into English can be difficult because the Korean language can be rather subtle, meaning words often have multiple meanings. While I believe that S.L. Park did the best job possible, at times it was obvious to me that the translation wasn’t as smooth as it could’ve been. In some places, the writing just felt, for lack of a better word, clunky where I needed to re-read a few paragraphs to understand what I thought I read. However, if an interesting story is your jam - this one is full of surprises and it held my attention. There’s a host of characters - some main, some secondary - but they’re rather easy to keep apart. There’s also the fact that this story doesn’t really have any characters I could trust - the mother’s actions seemed too convenient, the main female at times too innocent yet very quick to judge, and the boyfriend’s brother seemed way too good to be true at times. I’d recommend this book, but with caution - great idea, but I wish that the translation was a lot smoother.

3.75 stars

Everyone is so impressed by Jae-young's magical boyfriend, except for her, because she knows the truth; he's an abusive nightmare. That's why it's such a thrill when she hops on a train to escape him. But like most things in Jae-young's life, apparently, this won't be just an ordinary train ride to go off the radar. It'll result in her shepherding a baby to its alleged relatives and herself into an unexpected set of new opportunities.

I love the setup of two characters crossing paths and potentially impacting each other's outcomes in shocking and irrepairable ways. That all manifests in such a fascinating manner in this book. From the train to the conclusion, readers go on an absolutely wild, chaotic ride through twists, surprises, and horrors, and there is truly no rest for the characters or readers. We definitely win out of that pairing.

While this is a little too wild at times, as most representations of this genre are, I enjoyed the pacing and the oddity of this quite a bit. I had never heard of this writer previously, and now I'll be on the lookout for Jang's work.

This was a twisty excellent thriller. Jae-Young is running from an abusive boyfriend. On the train another young woman with a baby talks to her . Then she disappears leaving her baby behind. She left a note begging Jae-Young to go the baby’s father family. She does this reluctantly and discovers the family is extremely wealthy. She is not sure if she is going to stay but the wealth appeals to her and she thinks she can stay for a while. Then everything gets messed up and she doesn’t know what is true and what is not. There were plenty of twists and psychotic people.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This could be due to the translation, but something about the writing just didn't click with me. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.

This is one of those great books that hooks you from the beginning and doesn't let go until the end! Jae-Young is running from an abusive boyfriend when she meets a young mother on a train who then hurriedly gives her an infant and disappears! So now Jae-Young must navigate life with a young baby and still fears what will happen when she's discovered as she fears her boyfriend is dead. Now in a huge mansion with the baby's family, she doesn't know who to believe or what to do as she must solve several mysteries at once!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Thank you for the opportunity to preview A Twist of Fate.
Two women meet on a train, they both are fleeing from their lives, both need to make a big change. So what happens when the tables are turned and a switch is made.
Very similar to Strangers on a Train which I loved
The tale of two women who are in trouble and need a change desperately. What can happen ? Well nothing good can come of it.
Good book. Some translation issues but all in Al very good.
3.5 stars

A young woman escaping an abusive relationship meets a young mother on the train she is taking to escape her home. After the overly chatty mother tells her all about the baby and his M.I.A. father, she abandons the baby and disappears. The young woman can't just leave a 3 month old baby alone on the train and so finds herself reading a note slipped into his diaper which gives the address of the young mother's in-laws whom she has never met. Arriving at the in-laws mansion, Jae-Young is mistaken for the wife of the estranged eldest son and despite her attempts at rectifying the situation, she is accepted as the mother of their infant grandson. Going from a life of poverty to one of riches is at first shocking but as the months slip by, Jae-Young finds herself settling in nicely in her new lifestyle. When the text threats begin and the rumors of untimely deaths occurring at the mansion start to surface, Jae-Young must decide who she can trust and who is out to kill her in order to claim the inheritance that she and "her" baby stand to receive.

At first I thought, "this is just a Korean soap-opera" but as the twists and turns of the family's story started to unfold into a dark suspense-filled plot, I was hooked.

A suspenseful read that does a decent job keeping the audience on edge. The latter half dragged a bit, then ended with a wild twist. Some of the prose was difficult to trudge through due to some translation issues and some plot explanation that seemed to be left out. I could see fans of psychological thrillers enjoying this, notwithstanding some of its faults.

When Jae-young leaves her house one morning–abandoning her life and her dead boyfriend on the kitchen floor–she meets a young mother on the train, looking for refuge with in-laws she has never met for her and her new baby. They talk for a bit when Jae-young excuses herself to the restroom, on her return she finds the mother gone and in her place she’s left her crying baby with a note saying to take him to the house of her mysterious in-laws. Out of obligation, Jae-young decides to take the baby and is welcomed into the luxurious mansion of the in-laws. Where she realizes there’s no better way to hide, than to have a new identity. But the two women and the house have dark secrets and Jae-young will stop at nothing to keep her new life.

Darkly atmospheric in a secluded mansion, A Twist of Fate is a thrilling book filled with complex characters all harboring their own secrets. Some are just more dangerous than others.

I read this book in its entirety in one day. Though it was a little predictable at times, it was so addicting I couldn’t put it down to see what happens next. I would love to see this adapted into a drama! It’s fast-paced and keeps you wanting more. Full of scheming, lies, and cunning games that leaves you devouring each chapter. I definitely recommend this for a a fast, intriguing, psychological suspense!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine/Bantam for sending me this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book was so intriguing from the very beginning! Two women meet on a train, both running from something…When one disappears, the other takes her place and the twist start coming from there!

This book will definitely have you on the edge of your seat anticipating what’s coming next. There were some pretty shocking twists that left my jaw dropped. The author did a great job of not giving too much away upfront. I kept wondering what the heck was going on! lol

I found the setup of A Twist of Fate to be very intriguing- a woman on the run assumes a new identity and steps into a life of wealth and secrets. The premise had potential and initially pulled me in with its eerie atmosphere and steady tension. The sprawling estate, the mysterious family members, and the staff who may or may not know more than they let on all worked well to build suspense.
The first half of the book was fairly engaging. The writing sometimes felt a bit awkward, likely due to translation issues. There were times I had to reread sections to fully understand what was happening, which pulled me out of the story. Some of the cultural details and emotional shifts didn’t always land for me either, which may be more of a reflection of my own unfamiliarity with Korean literature than a flaw in the book itself.
Unfortunately, the ending lost me. While the twist technically made sense, it relied too heavily on one character's sudden and confusing change in behavior. Their motivations felt more like a convenient plot device than an organic progression. It seemed like the pieces fit, but the larger picture didn’t sit quite right. The ending felt rushed and overly tidy, and much of the emotional payoff was pushed into the epilogue rather than earned through the story itself.
The main character was also hard to connect with. Her constant mood swings and inconsistent motivations made her feel more reactionary than complex, and I struggled to understand her choices or root for her by the end.
Overall, the book had a compelling concept and a few strong moments, but the execution didn’t fully deliver. If you enjoy high drama, family secrets, and morally gray characters, you might enjoy this more than I did, but for me, it ended up being more frustrating than satisfying.

This is the first Korean thriller I’ve ever read, and I hope it won’t be my last. Was it different from my usual thrillers that are not translated from Korean to English definitely yes, but that did not take away from the story line. In fact it added to it. I feel like I learned a lot from this book, especially about Korean culture and customs. Like many thrillers this book had so many twists (hence the name) honestly it keeps you guessing from beginning to end. I think the slight loss in translation even helps with that. I really liked this book, the characters were interesting and well written. I would definitely read more from this author.

I was invited by the publisher to request an ARC of this book so when I was approved for it I jumped at the chance to read it right away. I was expecting more of a thriller but I think this one was more of a psychological drama with more suspense than mystery thriller. The biggest issue I had with this book was the translation. Unfortunately I didn’t know going into this that it would be a translated copy but it took me a while to read through this. I had to go back and reread passages to understand what was going on. The writing at times didn’t feel complete and maybe it was the translation but it read awkward and confusing. I also lacked the knowledge of Korean literature and pop culture references. I think with a better translation and more editing this could be a great and intriguing book but for me it just didn’t work.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review and feedback.

A Twist of Fate is the first book I've read by Se-Ah-Jang, and I enjoyed the mysterious characters in it.
Though it is 77 chapters long, it kept my interest throughout.
Set in Korea on the poor side of Seoul to a mansion in Juyoung-si where luxury awaits.
It's a dramatic family drama about haves and have-nots. You don't know who's lying to you, and it makes your head spin.
Se-Ah-Jang is a masterful storyteller.
#ATwistOfFate
#BantamBooks
#NetGalley

The twists and turns were nonstop in A Twist of Fate, a clever novel about two women who encounter each other with life changing results. Jae-Young, alone and on-edge, finds herself in a train compartment with a single mother traveling with her infant son and they have a brief conversation. When Jae-Young comes back from a trip to the bathroom and finds the baby abandoned she decides to take him to his father's house in Seoul.

When she arrives, she finds a mansion before her and the family that lives there assumes she is the baby's mother. She goes along and acts the part, but how long does she have before her new life unravels?

I found the first half of this book to be quite intriguing and thought it would slow, but it never did. The ending was absolutely action packed and went where I never would have guessed.

Much of the plot is tense, waiting for the other shoe to drop, to uncover Jae-Young's deceit. There is darkness that exists in the heart of the mansion and in the family itself. 4 stars for this inventive, compelling story.

I received this advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Thank you NetGalley, Bantam, and Balistine for the ARC


2.5/3 stars

I really wanted to love A Twist of Fate by Se-Ah Jang. The premise had serious Strangers on a Train vibes—strangers crossing paths, dark secrets, and moral ambiguity—but it never quite delivered the punch I was hoping for.

One of the biggest issues for me was the translation. The writing felt awkward and clunky in places, making it hard to stay engaged. There were moments where I had to reread paragraphs just to make sense of what was going on. It also didn’t help that I’m not super familiar with Korean literature or culture, so some references and emotional beats didn’t fully land for me.

That said, the core idea was intriguing, and I could see what the author was going for. With a smoother translation and a bit more context for international readers, this could have been a much stronger read. As it stands, it’s an interesting concept that just didn’t quite come together for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and 2025
Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Bantam
for this women’s fiction ARC of A Twist of Fate by Se-Ah Jang.

The synopsis beginning, “Two women meet on a train. Each is running from a deadly secret. When one disappears, the other decides to take her place” had me reflex-clicking “Request” for this title. Identity-swap books are my favorites! Add in extravagant wealth and I am 👏🏼.

Set on the outskirts of Seoul, this Korean thriller was geographically new to me but I had no trouble connecting to the story.

A strange young mother abandons her 3-month-old baby to MFC Jae-young on a train ride on which Jae-young is fleeing her abusive husband, whom she murdered.

She is taken in by the generational-wealthy family of the mysterious young mother on the train when they mistake her for the mother of their grandbaby. Jae-young does not disabuse them of their belief in her identity. She has found a friendly and elegant place to hide - a castle. It’s her Cinderella opportunity and she takes it.

And a fairy-tale it seems: luxury everything all at her sudden disposal, especially thanks to her lonely brother-in-law acting as Prince.

But is it instead a trap? Was she being set up for her crime? Is she being punished or is she a mere pawn?
With a 130-billion fortune at stake for baby Seung-Joon, can Jae-young trust any of these family members?

Whoa, the plot curveballs in this story gave me whiplash! Delicious! I gasped out loud so many times. Highly entertaining and increasingly suspenseful. Hyojin, the train mother, returns as caretaker to the Captain, but why? She has video proof of Jae-young’s crime. And where is the boyfriend’s body? What game are they all playing?

Five jaw-drop stars. The happy discovery of this Korean thriller has made me search for more in this sub-genre.

This book is marketed as General Fiction and Women's Fiction, but it is a Psychological Suspense Drama. I like suspense and thrillers, so once I reset my original expectations, I was fine about the genre.

A woman on the run gets stranded with a baby, and decides to turn luck to her side by assuming the false identity of the baby 's mother, and live a life of luxurious wealth, atleast for the time being.

I would say the first three quarters of the novel worked well for me. The atmosphere of the house, the invalid father-in-law, the very friendly brother-in-law, the house staff who may know more than meets the eye but won't reveal anything to the new comer and the small incidents here and there that create unrest in the mind of the protagonist and the plot, are nothing new to this genre, but done well and builds for a page turner. As befits this genre, the writing is fast paced and easy, well-written. Some of the characters are drawn well, and the backstory too is well developed.

Not because of any logical deduction on my part or plot loopholes, but because of sheer experience in this genre, I had figured out the negative element in this novel almost at their first appearance. But this is not what makes the last quarter a disappointing read; what contributes to this disappointment is the poor work done on the motivation, scope of action and execution of a character who plays a pivotal role, especially in the last quarter. That character felt too confused in their final actions, and driven more by the author's whim than the sense of the plot. Things add up when the suspense ends, and unlike many poorly done thrillers and suspense dramas, here things are not too forced or dependent on coincidence, but still, though the pieces fit, the picture doesn't sit very pretty. The good person wins, but mostly because the author desired so, and ended up twisting the motivation of a key character to achieve such ends. Now, this reminds me of the title.

But humour apart too, the title fits the plot, let me not create any misgivings here.

My thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Groups - Ballantine for an ecopy of this book in exchange for a honest review.