Pages: 365
Published: 20th April 2021
Genre: Historical Mystery
Content warnings: Missing person storyline/abduction
1426, Joseon (Korea). Hwani’s family has never been the same since she and her younger sister went missing and were later found unconscious in the forest near a gruesome crime scene.
Years later, Detective Min – Hwani’s father – learns that 13 girls have recently disappeared from the same forest that nearly stole his daughters. He travels to their hometown on the island of Jeju to investigate… only to vanish as well.
Determined to find her father and solve the case that tore their family apart, Hwani returns home to pick up the trail. As she digs into the secrets of the small village―and collides with her now estranged sister, Maewol-Hwani comes to realize that the answer could lie within her own buried memories of what happened in the forest all those years ago.
This might be a thoughtfully crafted historical mystery with an array of potential suspects, but it is primarily a character-driven story which moves and compels in equal measure. Despite a relatively slow pace to the action, it burns with a constant intensity through an engaging protagonist and offers a powerful, multi-dimensional approach to the exploration of family dynamics.
It is ideal for anyone who favours the opportunity for a story to be given time to breathe, with the plot unfolding gradually alongside character development. That style works well on this occasion as a premise with a number of complex parts is knitted together with real precision and care, ensuring a wonderful payoff at the end. In the meantime, it never stands still and not a single word is wasted.
The plot revolves around the ongoing disappearances of young women and Hwani following in the footsteps of her missing police inspector father to uncover what is happening and who is responsible, while she also looks to repair her relationship with her sister Maewol. That on its own is intriguing enough, but there is an exciting additional degree of curiosity added by the narrow escape the two sisters had in the past and Hwani’s lack of recollection.
Although the pace is far from breathless, the book is never short of suspense. The secluded location where the women are going missing, the elusiveness of the perpetrator and how it could be anyone, and the fact that Hwani and Maewol are frequently putting themselves in harm’s way, are each contributing factors to this and that sense of jeopardy really feels palpable on the page.
Just about all the members of the village come under suspicion at one stage or another, with the question of what really happened to Hwani’s father never far from our thoughts either. The author does an expert job of making everyone seem conceivably guilty that when the true villain is revealed the moment has an air of gravitas, with not a single obvious plot hole in sight. It then leads to a harrowing but wonderfully written final act that has a memorably uplifting conclusion.
However, this mystery would not be the same without the book’s two most important strands – the relationship between Hwani and her father, and the relationship between Hwani and Maewol. Both are so critical to how the story plays out and in many ways define Hwani as a character, in addition to her likeable determination and never-say-die attitude, as well as a tendency to be a little impulsive.
It is clear from the beginning that Hwani idolises her father and the methodical way she goes about investigating the disappearances by leaving no stone unturned and considering all the evidence is inspired by him and his mentorship. To see her unflinching faith in her father play out alongside lingering fears of abandonment is quite poignant, as is Maewol’s own sense of loss having grown apart from her family.
There is so much to love about the development of Hwani and Maewol’s sisterly dynamic. There is a bit of a wedge between them at the start, but even when they have their differences it is extremely heartening to see them look out for each other. Maewol in particular is always there for Hwani when she happens to walk into a dangerous situation, and despite ongoing disagreements on the facts of the case they manage to find an uneasy truce that helps them build the broken bridges.
The forest where the girls go missing is suitably eerie, but the village as a whole makes for an interesting setting. A lot of the residents live in fear or keep secrets that if told could put them in danger, with Hwani arriving as something of an outsider after absconding from her aunt. The historical aspect is realised well too, with the customs of centuries ago in South Korea treated with respect.
Indeed, a lot of the way in which the book is written feels very genuine. It is storytelling with an immense amount of heart, yet the author does not need to use too much emotive language to convey this, instead using the strength of the mystery and the actions of the characters to do the talking for itself. Absolutely nothing is done purely for effect, and that takes considerable skill.
Overall, this is a sophisticated story that fully excels in the character department and delivers a historical mystery that crackles with underlying menace. The writing is engaging and rarely does the patient pacing pose a problem, with plenty of reasons to keep those pages turning throughout. When you measure it against every possible metric, there is barely a category where it can come below an eight out of 10, such is the book’s quality in just about every area.
I loved June Hur’s debut novel The Silence Of Bones when I read it back in 2021, and after finally picking up her next book I was reminded of why. This is a sublimely crafted story with a great ending, and I loved the characters.
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
