At once a captivating mystery and an epic lament for freedom and humanity in the darkest of times, The Investigation – inspired by a true story – is a sweeping, gripping tale perfect for fans of The Shadow of the Wind.
Lee Jung-myung has sold hundreds of thousands of copies of his
books in his native Korea. One, Deep Rooted Tree, was made into a
popular TV series.
Chi-Young Kim is the celebrated translator of the Man Asian Booker
Prize-winning international bestseller Please Look After Mother.
Jung-Myung Lee's extraordinary THE INVESTIGATION, translated by
Chi-Young Kim, is set in a period of Korean history that isn't
widely known in the West. In 1944, with the region still under
Japanese rule, Korean inmates of Fukuoka prison are not allowed to
use their own language. A young guard is ordered to find the killer
of another guard and stumbles on a sinister conspiracy - and the
work of a Korean poet who writes clandestine verses of rare beauty.
Inspired by the work of Yun Dong-ju, the dissident Korean writer
who died in Fukuoka in 1945, this is a heart-wrenching novel with
many unexpected twists.
*Sunday Times*
In Jung-Myung Lee's The Investigation, the equally merciless
Japanese occupation of Korea drives a Second World War mystery set
in Fukuoka prison. A forbidden passion for poetry binds the three
protagonists: the jailed Korean bard Yun Dong-ju, whose life
inspired the novel; the outwardly tough guard Sugiyama, and Yuichi,
the bookish Japanese narrator. Lee's story celebrates the power of
poetry, of books and of reading, to lend us a "sixth sense" that
can heal and transform even in the harshest times. In this hellish
jail, poetry both subverts and redeems, and "Only the purest
language could testify about the most brutal era". Now, Britain's
penal authorities become the "executioners of literature" as they
ban the gift of books. So this Korean bestseller deserves to fly
across our own prison walls.
*Independent*
Not just a whodunnit that provides the relief of a clear
resolution. The book also tells the story of Japan's wartime
history and is inspired by the real-life jailed Korean poet and
dissident Yun Dong-ju, whose work is quoted throughout . . . a
gripping book.
*Financial Times*
I was gripped by The Investigation. It came at me from nowhere and
consumed me. It's a thriller, and a war story, and so much more
besides. I tore through the last 100 pages, my heart literally
racing at times. An intense, captivating achievement, inspired by
reality
*Matt Haig, author of The Humans and The Radleys*
This novel mesmerizes the readers with its prison setting, complex
characters, solid structure, and foreshadowing through a wide range
of literary devices. Readers who have enjoyed Marcus Zusak's The
Book Thief or Stephen King's Shawshank Redemption will also like
The Investigation.
*The List*
'I adored this one with a fiery passion . . . Absolutely addictive
reading, with some beautiful prose I was fully immersed from start
to finish . . . Novels like this do not come along that often. I
loved every minute of it'
*lizlovesbooks.com*
This spellbinding novel from Korean author Jung-Myung Lee,
translated by Chi-Young Kim, has been inspired by the life of
dissident Korean poet Yun Dong-ju and his posthumously published
body of work, with several of his poems featured here.
*Northern Echo*
Extraordinary . . . There are already comparisons with the like a
Carlos Ruiz Zafón's The Shadow of the Wind (the literary elements)
and Stephen King's Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (for more
obvious reasons). The book also has more tangential similarities to
the likes of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose and Ken Kesey's One
Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Yet, it retains a sense of freshness
and Lee manages to surprise and delight as he weaves a tale based
on the life of one of Korea's best-known poets. Like Shawshank ("I
hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope."),
The Investigation is a story about hope in the least likely of
situations . . . Based on a true story, The Investigation is a
beautiful, and often heart-breaking novel of despair and the hope
that ideas and imagination can bring. A literary masterpiece
masquerading as a mystery novel (something else is shares with
Eco's The Name of the Rose), it gives us a brief glimpse of hell
before showing us the beauty in the everyday . . . Jung-Myung Lee
is, by all accounts, a bestseller in his native Korea. The
Investigation shows that his work has international appeal. If
you've enjoyed any of the novels that have been mentioned in this
review - or indeed, the excellent films that have been produced
from them - then this is a book not to be missed.
*ReaderDad blog*
There's been a move on of late to introduce Western readers to
Korea's literary traditions. However, up until now we've not come
across many Korean crime pieces. The Investigation fits the bill,
and more... it is absorbing, and easily one of the most moving
books I have read this year. It is the story of a personal
transformation - of starting to question the things you have always
taken for granted, standing up to authority and to your own
culture. But it is also more far-reaching than that. It is a brave
quest for freedom and humanity in a world torn apart by conflict
and brutality. It is a book about man's eternal quest for meaning,
beauty and the need to be understood. An unconventional crime
novel, a thrilling literary novel, and a book which will stay with
you forever.
*Crime Fiction Lover blog*
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