A review by thehardcoverhabit
The Plotters by Un-su Kim

3.0

The Plotters was... slow. The first half of the book consists primarily of flashbacks, with some present-day scenes interspersed in between; it wasn't until I was almost 65% of the way through that I could finally say "The Plot's begun." The story is marketed as a thriller, but it's really more of a character study of the main character-an assassin, to be sure, but a contemplative one-as well as of the power structure of society as a whole. There's really no tension in the book; after all, in what book would the main character die 2/3 of the way through, even if he's about to do something extremely stupid? The plot that does come in the second half of the book seems more like a means for the author to further explore those points than an attempt to infuse the book with compelling action, and the "why" of it all (at least, of his connection to the main plot) is never really explained.