A tightly woven blend of myth, magic, and the ties of a found family.

Ghosts that speak in smoke. Spirits with teeth like glass. A parasitic, soul-eating spirit worm has gone into a feeding frenzy, but all the Jong-ro Police Department’s violent crimes unit sees is a string of suicides. Except for Kim Han-gil, Seoul’s only spirit detective. He’s seen this before. He’ll do anything to stop another tragedy from happening, even if that means teaming up with Shin Yoonhae, the man Han-gil believes is responsible for the horrifying aftermath of his mother’s last exorcism.

In their debut novella, Sam Kyung Yoo weaves a tale of mystical proportions that’s part crime-thriller, part urban fantasy.

I won’t lie, I was initially interested in this one because it was centered in Korea and then was even more drawn in when I read the synopsis and learned that it followed a detective who also deals in the supernatural and is on the hunt for a specific type of spirit that they have been following for years. There is a lot of talk about Spiritualism in both Kora and Japan, especially when Han-Gil internally reflects on his memories of his mother and goes searching for those who might have information regarding the person he suspects is the current victim of the spirit.

I was immediately sucked in and found a lot of the descriptions very well fleshed out. There were some passages, especially when Han-Gil or other characters were being introspective. I did not expect the emotional depth and introspection that happens later in the book and found it really wonderful as Han-Gil especially finally processed some of the events of his past. All in all, I really enjoyed the adventure of this read and would definitely pick up any future books by this author.

Happy reading!