{"product_id":"star-of-the-north-isbn-9780525573852","title":"Star of the North","description":"\u003cb\u003e“A thrilling tale of abduction and escape in North Korea....highly entertaining.\" \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—The Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA propulsive and ambitious thriller about a woman trying to rescue her twin sister from captivity in North Korea, and the North Korean citizens with whom she forms an unlikely alliance\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eStar of the North \u003c\/i\u003eopens in 1998, when a Korean American teenager is kidnapped from a South Korean beach by North Korean operatives. Twelve years later, her brilliant twin sister, Jenna, is still searching for her, and ends up on the radar of the CIA. When evidence that her sister may still be alive in North Korea comes to light, Jenna will do anything possible to rescue her--including undertaking a daring mission into the heart of the regime. Her story is masterfully braided together with two other narrative threads. In one, a North Korean peasant woman finds a forbidden international aid balloon and uses the valuables inside to launch a dangerously lucrative black-market business. In the other, a high-ranking North Korean official discovers, to his horror, that he may be descended from a traitor, a fact that could mean his death if it is revealed. As the novel progresses, these narrative strands converge and connect in surprising ways, ultimately building to an explosive and unforgettable climax.“A thrilling tale of abduction and escape in North Korea....highly entertaining.\" \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—The Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[A] multistranded espionage thriller…told with drama and flair.” \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e— Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A vivid, convincing thriller\" \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e The Sunday Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A cool summer thriller...engrossing.\" \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eParade Magazine\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Extraordinary ... smart, sophisticated, suspenseful - and important.  If you try one new thing this year, make it \u003ci\u003eStar of the North\u003c\/i\u003e.\" — \u003cb\u003eLee Child  \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The best thrillers offer something more ambitious than simply raising the pulse rate of the reader. In \u003ci\u003eStar of the North\u003c\/i\u003e it is geopolitical complexity...This is a masterly evocation of life under the Kim Jong-un regime\" \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e— The Guardian\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“An outstanding thriller….those seeking a realistic, highly readable look at North Korea will be rewarded.” —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e(starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Well-researched, fast-paced, and pertinent…a fantastic read.”—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e(starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “A remarkable story about the most opaque country on Earth…\u003ci\u003eStar of the North\u003c\/i\u003e would be a superior thriller even if it was pure fiction.” —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e(starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This is a smart, sophisticated, topical spy story hard to put down…I highly recommend this book for anyone longing to know more about this shadowy nation and its secretive regime.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Missourian\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“From the very first page of this riveting thriller, I knew that D.B. John was a talented writer, and that \u003ci\u003eStar of the North\u003c\/i\u003e wasn’t like any other book I’ve read before. It’s not only brilliantly plotted, with espionage, secrecy, and obsession, it’s a story about survivors, told by three complex and fully realized characters, each battling their own personal demons. John portrays the hardships of North Korea and its people with painful accuracy while never losing sight of their humanity. This one is definitely a star.\" – \u003cb\u003eChevy Stevens, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eNever Let You Go\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eStill Missing\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A superior thriller, deftly plotted and richly human, steeped in the intrigue, culture and family of a closed regime, both terrifying and upliftingly emotional. It delivers on all fronts.\" – \u003cb\u003eAndrew Gross, New York Times bestselling author of The One Man\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “This one brims with marvelous characters and delivers heart-in-your throat action.  Every page brims with reality, intensity, and passion, all unraveling at a perfect pace.  Enjoy.”  - \u003cb\u003eSteve Berry, New York Times Bestselling author of The Lost Order\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“An informed look at the oppression, corruption, and widespread suffering under Kim Jong-il.”\u003cb\u003e —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“As gripping as it is shocking, this is an adrenalin-rush of a thriller that is also a devastating portrayal of a brutal regime. I couldn’t pull myself away.” – \u003cb\u003eSabine Durant, author of \u003ci\u003eUnder Your Skin\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \"D.B. John delivers the timeliest thriller of 2018. An intricately constructed puzzle box of spies and tradecraft that plunges the reader on a cyanide-laced sprint through North Korea. The real star though is D.B. John’s crackling prose, which breathes humanity and dignity into the most repressive nation on earth. The last hundred pages read like ten, I had to fight the urge to flip to the end.\" -\u003cb\u003e Matthew Fitzsimmons, author of The Short Drop\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Tense and compelling\" - \u003cb\u003eJames Swallow, author of Nomad and Exile\u003c\/b\u003eD. B. JOHN was born in Wales. He began training as a lawyer but switched to a career in publishing, editing popular children's books on history and science. In 2009 he moved to Berlin, Germany, to write his first novel, \u003ci\u003eFlight from Berlin\u003c\/i\u003e. A visit to North Korea in 2012 inspired \u003ci\u003eStar of the North\u003c\/i\u003e. He lives in Angel, London.BAENGNYEONG ISLAND\u003cbr\u003e SOUTH KOREA\u003cbr\u003e JUNE 1998\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The sea was calm the day Soo-Min disappeared.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e She was watching the boy make a fire out of driftwood. The tide was rumbling in, bringing towering clouds that were turning an ashy pink. She hadn’t seen a single boat all day and the beach was deserted. They had the world to themselves.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e She pointed her camera and waited for him to turn his head. “Jae-hoon . . . ?” Later, the photograph she took would show a strong-limbed youth of nineteen with a shy smile. He was dark for a Korean and had a dusting of salt on his shoulders, like a pearl fisher. She handed him the camera and he took one of her. “I wasn’t ready,” she said, laughing. In this photograph she would be in the act of sweeping her long hair from her face. Her eyes were closed, her expression one of pure contentment. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The fire was catching now, wood groaning and splitting. Jae-hoon placed a battered pan onto the heat, balancing it on three stones, and poured in oil. Then he lay beside her where the sand was soft and warm, just above the high-tide mark, resting on his elbow and looking at her. Her necklace, later the object of such sorrow and remembrance, caught his eye. It was a thin silver chain with a tiny silver pendant in the shape of a tiger, representing the Korean tiger. He touched it with the tip of his finger. Soo-min pressed his hand to her breast and they began to kiss, foreheads pressed together, lips and tongues caressing. He smelled of the ocean, and spearmint, and cuttlefish, and Marlboros. His wispy beard scratched her chin. All these details, everything, she was already telling her sister in the airmail letter she was unconsciously composing in her head.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The oil began to spit in the pan. Jae-hoon fried a cuttlefish and they ate it with chili paste and rice balls, watching the sun sink to the horizon. The clouds had turned to flame and smoke, and the sea was an expanse of purple glass. When they finished eating he took out his guitar and began singing “Rocky Island” in his quiet, clear voice, looking at her with the firelight in his eyes. The song found the rhythm of the surf, and she felt a blissful certainty that she would remember this all her life.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e His singing stopped midnote.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e He was staring in the direction of the sea, his body as sprung as a cat’s. Then he threw aside the guitar and leapt to his feet.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Soo-min followed the line of his gaze. The sand was cratered and lunar in the firelight. She could see nothing. Just the breakers thundering in a dim white spume that fanned out flat on the sand.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e And then she saw it.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e In a small area beyond the breaking surf, about a hundred yards from the shoreline, the sea was beginning to churn and boil, stirring the water to pale foam. A fountain was rising, just visible in the dying light. Then a great jet of spray shot upward with a hiss, like breath from a whale’s blowhole.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e She stood up and reached for his hand.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Before their eyes the roiling waters were beginning to part, as if the sea were splitting open, revealing a black, glistening object.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Soo-min felt her insides coiling. She was not superstitious, but she had a visceral feeling that something malefic was making itself evident. Every instinct, every fiber in her body, was telling her to run.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Suddenly a light blinded them. A beam surrounded by an orange halo was coming from the sea and was focused on them, dazzling them. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Soo-min turned and pulled Jae-hoon with her. They stumbled in soft, deep sand, abandoning their possessions. But they had taken no more than a few steps when another sight stopped them dead in their tracks.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Figures in black masks were emerging from the shadows of the dunes and running toward them, holding ropes.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Date: June 22, 1998, Case ref: 734988\/220598 \u003cbr\u003e BY FACSIMILE TRANSMISSION\u003cbr\u003e REPORT by the Incheon Metropolitan Police at the request of the National Police Agency, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Orders were to determine whether the two missing persons last sighted at 14:30 on June 17 had departed Baengnyeong Island prior to their disappearance. Respectfully submitted by Inspector Ko Eun-tek:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   1. Security video images procured from the Baengnyeong Island Ferry Terminal establish to a high degree of certainty that no one      resembling the missing persons boarded the      ferry during any      of its departures within the relevant time. Conclusion: the missing persons did not      leave the island via the ferry. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   2. The coast guard reported no      other shipping in      the area at      the time of      the missing persons’ last sighting. Due      to the island’s proximity to North Korea, marine traffic is highly restricted. Conclusion: the missing persons did not      depart the island by any other boat. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   3. A local resident discovered yesterday, next to the      remains of a      campfire on Condol Beach, a guitar, footwear, items of      clothing, a camera, and wallets containing cash, return ferry tickets, IDs, and      library cards belonging to the missing persons. IDs for      both persons match the personal details supplied by Sangmyung University. They belonged to: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Park Jae-hoon, male, 19, permanent      resident of the Doksan District of Seoul, whose mother lives  on      Baengnyeong Island. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Williams Soo-min, female, 18, United States citizen,      who arrived in the country in March to enroll  as an undergraduate. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   4. At 07:00 today the coast guard commenced an air-sea      helicopter search operation over a range of 5 nautical miles. No trace of      the missing persons was found. Conclusion: both persons drowned by      misadventure while swimming. The sea was calm but currents have been      unusually strong, according to the coast guard. The bodies may by now have      been carried some considerable distance. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith your agreement, we will now suspend the helicopter search, and humbly recommend that the missing persons’ families be informed.","brand":"Crown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303395381477,"sku":"NP9780525573852","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780525573852.jpg?v=1767737178","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/star-of-the-north-isbn-9780525573852","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}