“Reading books will doom you to a life of fear and shame.”

Breaking the waves. Bellerive Beach, Hobart. March 2021.

The Plotters by Un-su Kim (translated by Sora Kim-Russell)

This is the silliest book that I have read in a long while. I did enjoy it as the pacing was fine and plenty was happening. Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that it read like a far better version of that dreadful creative writing exercise by the Virginia Tech shooter that found itself on the Internet back in the day.

The biggest flaw is a common one found in the genre. It is like the author has not really met or spoken with any women, so he's not quite sure how they work. However, he obviously means well and sees women as more pure and worthy in a debased world, which I guess is better than the way that it usually goes in these things.

It's an action movie in book-form. I found the pretensions to something more meaningful hamfisted and a bit childish, but nothing worse than anything you'll find in the Matrix or John Wick. I can't quite figure what he was trying to so about reading, but it doesn't strike me as if the author has read many of the books that he cites in the novel.

All told though, it is impossible to take it at all seriously, so didn't really distract from the main piece (shooting, stabbing, running, jumping and lots of bleeding).

⭐ ⭐ 1/2

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