THE OLD WOMAN WITH THE KNIFE

What happens when a chance encounter causes a 65-year-old Korean assassin to question what she’s always had to do to survive?

Hornclaw is an aging “disease control specialist” who's built a 45-year-long career on eliminating targets her agency's clientele deem “vermin” without asking any questions—usually with a poisoned knife. Now her increasingly fragile health and the emotional ripples from an unexpected connection she makes with a doctor and his family threaten her plans for a leisurely retirement. Despite the peculiar objective of her work, Hornclaw must also navigate the mundane annoyances of corporate life, including bureaucracy, dismissive younger colleagues, and petty disagreements with management. The realistic detail with which Gu describes the agency’s day-to-day operations prevents the novel from veering into a melodramatic blood bath, as do the novel’s incisive observations about the harsh economic and social realities of modern Korean society, including economic recession, poverty among senior citizens, and the effects of the lingering American military presence. Behind the skillfully rendered (if occasionally drawn-out) fight scenes, Gu poignantly animates the desperate circumstances that motivate these characters to turn to contract killing in the first place. Despite Gu’s skill in dramatizing details, though, the novel's larger narrative arc and epiphanies can feel rushed and mechanical. At times it seems that the characters could use a few more chapters for their complex lives to unfold in a way that does their transformations justice.

A thriller with heart that would benefit from more time to beat just a bit longer.