‘The queen of crime . . . You-Jeong Jeong is shaking up the world of suspense’ Glamour
‘You-Jeong Jeong is a certified international phenomenon . . . one among the best at writing psychological suspense’ Los Angeles Times
A young girl is found dead in Seryong Lake, a reservoir in a remote South Korean village. The police immediately begin their investigation.
At the same time, three men – Yongje, the girl’s father, and two security guards at the nearby dam, each of whom has something to hide about the night of her death – find themselves in an elaborate game of cat and mouse as they race to uncover what happened to her, without revealing their own closely guarded secrets.
When a final showdown at the dam results in a mass tragedy, one of the guards is convicted of murder and sent to prison.
For seven years, his son, Sowon, lives in the shadow of his father’s shocking and inexplicable crime. When Sowon receives a package that promises to reveal at last what really happened at Seryong Lake, he must confront a present danger he never knew existed.
Dark, disturbing, and full of twists and turns, Seven Years of Darkness is the riveting new novel from the internationally celebrated author of The Good Son.
‘South Korea’s preeminent author of psychological thrillers’ Entertainment Weekly
‘Rightly compared to Stephen King’ Die Zeit (Germany)
‘You-Jeong Jeong is a certified international phenomenon . . . one among the best at writing psychological suspense’ Los Angeles Times
A young girl is found dead in Seryong Lake, a reservoir in a remote South Korean village. The police immediately begin their investigation.
At the same time, three men – Yongje, the girl’s father, and two security guards at the nearby dam, each of whom has something to hide about the night of her death – find themselves in an elaborate game of cat and mouse as they race to uncover what happened to her, without revealing their own closely guarded secrets.
When a final showdown at the dam results in a mass tragedy, one of the guards is convicted of murder and sent to prison.
For seven years, his son, Sowon, lives in the shadow of his father’s shocking and inexplicable crime. When Sowon receives a package that promises to reveal at last what really happened at Seryong Lake, he must confront a present danger he never knew existed.
Dark, disturbing, and full of twists and turns, Seven Years of Darkness is the riveting new novel from the internationally celebrated author of The Good Son.
‘South Korea’s preeminent author of psychological thrillers’ Entertainment Weekly
‘Rightly compared to Stephen King’ Die Zeit (Germany)
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Reviews
You-Jeong Jeong is a certified international phenomenon . . . That Jeong has actually been at the top of her game for a long time is abundantly evident from Seven Years of Darkness . . . As in The Good Son, Jeong excels at getting inside the heads of her characters . . . The novel's power is enhanced by the translation of Chi-Young Kim, whose careful choices allow Jeong's prose to shine . . . Seven Years of Darkness is an admirable achievement, bolstering the case for Jeong as one among the best at writing psychological suspense
Where The Good Son built a chilling portrait of matricide, Seven Years of Darkness follows the forlorn fate of Sowon, a young boy cast into acute social exile after his father commits a seemingly unhinged double murder . . . [Seven Years of Darkness is] an admirably tough fable about the fragile search for the truth
[Jeong] insists that it's possible to find strength, and even solidarity, inside the darkness. This is an extraordinarily powerful psychological thriller, upsetting at times, uplifting at others, but always very hard to put aside
Jeong is huge in South Korea and it's obvious why - the pacing is meticulous, the flashbacks non-intrusive and she also makes time for the characters' inner lives even as she drives them through the satisfyingly serpentine plot
Haunting, atmospheric - think a modern gothic version of the Lake District - and refreshingly free of the formulas that tend to drive western crime fiction
Seven Years in Darkness is wonderfully atmospheric; the description of a night dive through an underwater village is a tour de force. The handling of the core themes of domestic violence, alcoholism and broken dreams, meanwhile, is both sensitive and hard-hitting
[Seven Years of Darkness] hits all the right buttons . . . Strongly atmospheric . . . this powerful tale of family violence, the abuse of drink and the sins of the fathers proves fascinating as it explores a way of life so different from our own and makes powerful statements about South Korean society and mores