The Plotters by Un-su Kim

February 21, 2019

Plotters are just pawns like us. A request comes in and they draw up the plans. There’s someone above them who tells them what to do. And above that person is another plotter telling them what to do. You think that if you go up there with a knife and stab the person at the very top, that’ll fix everything. But no-one’s there. It’s just an empty chair.

Reseng was raised by cantankerous Old Raccoon in the Library of Dogs. To anyone asking, it’s just an ordinary library. To anyone in the know, it’s a hub for Seoul’s organised crime, and a place where contract killings are plotted and planned. So it’s no surprise that Reseng has grown up to become one of the best hitmen in Seoul. He takes orders from the plotters, carries out his grim duties, and comforts himself afterwards with copious quantities of beer and his two cats, Desk and Lampshade.

But after he takes pity on a target and lets her die how she chooses, he finds his every move is being watched. Is he finally about to fall victim to his own game? And why does that new female librarian at the library act so strangely? Is he looking for his enemies in all the wrong places? Could he be at the centre of a plot bigger than anything he’s ever known?

Something a bit different this week. A semi-comic crime thriller translated from Korean to English. My gut reaction is that The Plotters by Un-su Kim is not something that can be easily categorised. I should stress I mean that as the highest of compliments. When it comes to fiction, something this unique should most definitely be lauded.

Reseng is a complex young man. He has been raised in environment where death is common place. He knows nothing else and so accepts killing as the norm. Becoming a professional killer is the only path available to him, so growing up Reseng embraces it. It’s when Reseng starts to question his career path that things start to get interesting. There is a point in the story where Reseng tries to walk away from his chosen profession and those chapters are particularly telling. Can a man raised in violence and death really walk away from that life, or will it inevitably follow him? Reseng has a colleague (friend?) called Bear who works in a crematorium that specialises in disposing of assassin’s victims. Their conversations are so matter of fact, almost mundane, that you quickly realised just how desensitized to death Reseng has become.

The relationship between Reseng and his adoptive father, Old Raccoon, is a fascinating one. Old Raccoon has made stoicism an art form. We learn very little of this enigmatic old man. His history is a blank page. I love how Raccoon’s actions and reactions are depicted. He is a master of understatement and subtlety. A barely perceptible nod of the head here, a withering glance there. These displays of micro-emotion make him that much more mysterious. I guess that is exactly what you want from a person who manages assassins. Discretion is key. There is a sense of real depth existing between these two men. The discussions they have can often be interpreted in multiple ways. It feels like Reseng is at the point in his life where he is seeking answers, Old Raccoon may not be the best person to ask. The equilibrium that has existed between the two for many years is suddenly thrown off kilter. The older man appreciates the inevitability of change but Reseng remains conflicted.

Conversations between characters have a tendency to spiral off on unexpected tangents that often lead to darkly comic humour. Initially I was a little unsure about this, but the more and more of the novel I read the more I got into the quirky rhythm of events. How can you not love a book that ends a chapter with one character wiggling their bottom at another?*

The novel ends on a bittersweet note that acts as a perfect full stop to the entire narrative. I expect it might divide some readers, but I rather like that. The Plotters is an introspective piece of writing. The main protagonist spends a lot of his time pondering the nature of his existence. It seems only fitting that the novel’s climax will elicit exactly the same contemplative feelings.

If I’m being brutally honest, I don’t think The Plotters will not be for everyone; it’s literary Marmite. Personally, I loved it. The Plotters is just the right level of weird to capture my attention. I’m a big fan of Asian cinema, but I don’t think I’ve ever read any South Korean fiction, so this was untested waters for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

When it came to my music recommendation to accompany The Plotters, I found myself exploring Korean soundtracks. After much pondering I decided The Prison by Bang Jun-Seok fit nicely with the overall tone of the novel.

The Plotters is published by Fourth Estate and is available now. Highly recommended.

*I may not be doing this particular moment justice. The bum wiggling totally works within the context of the book.

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