{"product_id":"9781429936552","title":"A Corpse in the Koryo (Inspector O Series #1)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAgainst the backdrop of a totalitarian \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eNorth Korea\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e, one man unwillingly uncovers the truth behind series of murders, and wagers his life in the process.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSit on a quiet hillside at dawn among the wildflowers; take a picture of a car coming up a deserted highway from the south\u003c\/i\u003e. Simple orders for Inspector O, until he realizes they have led him far, far off his department's turf and into a maelstrom of betrayal and death. North Korea's leaders are desperate to hunt down and eliminate anyone who knows too much about a series of decades-old kidnappings and murders---and Inspector O discovers too late he has been sent into the chaos.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is a world where nothing works as it should, where the crimes of the past haunt the present, and where even the shadows are real. A corpse in Pyongyang's main hotel---the Koryo---pulls Inspector O into a confrontation of bad choices between the devils he knows and those he doesn't want to meet. A blue button on the floor of a hotel closet, an ice blue Finnish lake, and desperate efforts by the North Korean leadership set Inspector O on a journey to the edge of a reality he almost can't survive. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLike Philip Kerr's Berlin Noir trilogy and the Inspector Arkady Renko novels, \u003ci\u003eA Corpse in the Koryo\u003c\/i\u003e introduces another unfamiliar world, a perplexing universe seemingly so alien that the rules are an enigma to the reader and even, sometimes, to Inspector O. Author James Church weaves a story with beautifully spare prose and layered descriptions of a country and a people he knows by heart after decades as an intelligence officer. This is a chilling portrayal that, in the end, leaves us wondering if what at first seemed unknowable may simply be too familiar for comfort.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"St. Martin's Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47141700468976,"sku":"9781429936552","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781429936552_p0.jpg?v=1769902267","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781429936552","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}