As temperatures and travel prices soar, it’s time to skip the vacation and dive into an international crime novel instead! This month’s fiction in translation features a South Korean psychological thriller, two metaphysical mysteries from Japan, and an epic noir from Croatia (plus one work set in America but still translated so I included it). Enjoy!
Se-Ah Jang, A Twist of Fate
Translated by S.L. Park
(Bantam)
Two women meet on a train and swap lives (and in the process make me deeply jealous of a nation with fast enough trains to bother using—by the time AmTrak reaches its destination, everyone would have given up on ever changing their fates). This South Korean thriller is twisted, playful, and will keep the pages turning faster than a bullet train. I really wish we had one of those…
Yasuhiko Nishizawa, The Man Who Died Seven Times
Translated by Jesse Kirkwood
(Pushkin Vertigo)
In a murder mystery take on Groundhog Day, a high schooler has seven chances to save his grandfather’s life. Nishizawa’s young hero has always possessed a strange talent: some days are repeated, up to nine times, and whatever happens on the last iteration of the repeating day becomes the new reality. The Man Who Died Seven Times is a metaphysical masterpiece that never hesitates to show both humor and heart.
Kotaro Isaka, Seesaw Monster
Translated by Sam Malissa
(Overlook)
Kotaro Isaka’s previous novels are distinguished by their breakneck pacing and highly stylized choreography, as well as an off-beat sense of humor that transforms violent assassins into relatable charmers and menacing enforcers into hapless stumblers. Seesaw Monster is quite different—and far more ambitious. Isaka’s latest to be translated into English pits a mother-in-law against her husband’s new spouse. As the conflict heats up, we begin to learn of its ancient, mystical origins: the battle between people of the sea and people of the mountains, eternally set against each other in ways that become ever stranger as the book shifts to a near-future timeline where disaster looms and portents abound. Also, there are spies. I swear, this all makes sense once you start reading it.
Tehila Hakimi, Hunting in America
Translated by Joanna Chen
(Viking)
Tehila Hakimi delivers a concise, haunting novel about a woman who relocates from Israel to America for her corporate job, and amidst the mundanity and drudgery of her life, takes up an obsession with hunting. Addicted to the rush of her newfound hobby, lines begin to blur: what it means to be predator and what it means to be prey becomes nebulous and hazy, her day to day life loses its importance, and all the while her fixations narrow, focus, and take aim. Slim, serious, and searching, Hunting in America revolves around some major topics right now: the experience of our inter-country relations, gun usage in our country, and the vacuous void at the center of one’s quest for power and meaning in America. –Julia Hass, BookMarks Associate Editor
And….here’s one from June as a bonus:
Jurica Pavičic, Red Water
Translated by Matt Robinson
(Bitter Lemon Press)
In this epic tale, a family’s thirty-year quest to discover the fate of their missing daughter intertwines with the saga of Yugoslavia’s violent dissolution and the following rapacious rush to fill Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast with luxury resorts. When 17-year-old Silva first vanishes in 1989, the investigation is soon stymied by the vast upheavals of the 1990s, and it will take decades of searching before we learn the final, heart-breaking answer. The novel’s strengths lie in its relentless drive, clear-eyed judgement, and focus on empathy: every action is understandable, yet none are forgivable.
