Mrs. Shim has always worked hard. She cooks and cleans for her family. She labored in her husband’s butcher shop while he gambled away the proceeds. When yet another job vanishes, Mrs. Shim answers an ad for a job that would make good use of her knife skills: contract killing for the Smile Detective Agency. As one does. This initial chapter of Mrs. Shim is a Killer, by Kang Jiyoung and translated by Paige Morris, sets the tone for this wild blend of thriller and farce.
Eun-ok Shim turns out to be one of the best employees Mr. Park has ever taken on at Smile. Not only is she very good with a knife, Mrs. Shim is just on the other side of middle-aged and is so-ordinary looking that most people don’t really see her until she introduces herself. She is so non-descript, in fact, that she can get away with pretending to be an old school friend that people can’t quite remember. Mrs. Shim isn’t troubled by conscience, either. She’s just doing a job that finally pays well enough to pay for her children to go to college.
Mrs. Shim is a Killer is narrated by a variety of characters in addition to Mrs. Shim. These chapters—narrated by other employees at Smile, Mr. Park’s rival, Mrs. Shim’s children, and others—offer a collage of back stories that lead up to the big showdown between Mr. Park and the owner of Happy Detective Agency, Mr. Na. Mr. Na has hated Mr. Park for years. The fact that both “detective agencies” are competing for clients hasn’t helped. While a lot of the operators in this book are professionals, there is enough chaos and bad luck at play that a lot of plans get wildly out of control. People pop up in the wrong place at the wrong time all the time. (I was somewhat reminded of Bullet Train by Kōtarō Isaka.) I wondered more than once what they were doing with all the bodies.
Kang’s novel is a marvel, structurally, even if it strains credulity more than once. This is a fun read for those looking for stories about how ordinary people can get trapped on the wrong side of the law.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.