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WORK TITLE: Star of the North
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 10/11/1944
WEBSITE:
CITY: London
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: Welsh
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born October 11, 1944, in Wales.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Publisher and author.
WRITINGS
Also author of Flight From Berlin.
SIDELIGHTS
Prior to making his authorial debut, D.B. John worked in publishing. He has served as an editor for numerous science and history books for children. He entered the world of writing through the release of Flight to Berlin.
Star of the North marks John’s second published work, which is the result of John’s travels to the country of North Korea. The book is set predominantly within the country that inspired it. The book starts with a young woman named Soo-min, who has decided to spend some time on a beach in the country of South Korea, accompanied by her significant other. Yet the two are snatched from the shore swiftly and suddenly, never to be seen again. When the search for the two fails, they are officially pronounced dead.
The rest of the book centers on a woman by the name of Jenna Williams, also known as Jee-min. Jenna is of biracial descent, with a black father and Korean mother. While she has obtained relative success in her adult life, having landed a position as a professor with Georgetown University, she cannot escape her personal demons. Jenna is the sister of Soo-min, and dealing with Soo-min’s death has left her with PTSD.
Things begin to shift for Jenna when she is contacted by the CIA. The organization is planning a special mission within the country of North Korea, and they specifically want Jenna’s help due to her expert language skills. Jenna is initially hesitant. It isn’t until she encounters a woman from Japan, who tells her the story of her son’s disappearance, which she believes came about at the hands of North Korea and its government. This conversation pushes Jenna to accept the CIA’s mission for her, and so she begins her travels. Prior to leaving the United States, Jenna is armed with more information from the CIA. They believe that North Korea is deliberately kidnapping people in order to train them for nefarious purposes. While Jenna’s main job is to learn more about North Korea’s kidnappings, she also becomes determined to gather more information regarding her sister’s whereabouts.
Upon arriving in North Korea, Jenna encounters a man by the name of Cho Sang-ho at a party venue. Sang-ho supplies Jenna with further information regarding her sister and where she could be, and eventually offers Jenna further help in searching for Soo-min. It also turns out that Sang-ho has secrets of his own. Sang-ho has long worked with the government as a diplomat, communicating with politicians in the United States. Yet witnessing his home country’s government wipe out the other diplomats before him sends him fearing for his own future. He suspects he may be of mixed race, and if this information were to be discovered, it could cost him his very life.
Yet Sang-ho and Jenna also gain another ally in the form of Ms. Moon, a woman who has made her fortune through the sale of Choco Pies, moon pie-like desserts from South Korea. In the process, she has also set up further business for herself within North Korea’s underground market. This has allowed her to gain further skills in the realm of stealth. All three of these characters eventually come to work together against the North Korean government and its horrific plans. Booklist contributor Thomas Gaughan remarked: “Star of the North would be a superior thriller even if it was pure fiction.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer wrote: “Those seeking a realistic, highly readable look at North Korea will be richly rewarded.” On the Nudge-Book website, Paul Burke stated: “This is a top notch thriller.” He also called the book “a cracking read that you won’t want to put down.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, May 1, 2018, Thomas Gaughan, review of Star of the North, p. 36.
Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2018, review of Star of the North.
Publishers Weekly, March 26, 2018, review of Star of the North, p. 97.
ONLINE
Nudge-Book, https://nudge-book.com/ (February 2, 2018), Paul Burke, review of Star of the North.
Shots, http://wwwshotsmagcouk.blogspot.com/ (May 5, 2018), D.B. John, “DB John on writing Star of the North.”
D. 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, Flight from Berlin. A visit to North Korea in 2012 inspired Star of the North. He lives in Angel, London.
Star of the North
Thomas Gaughan
Booklist. 114.17 (May 1, 2018): p36.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
* Star of the North.
By D. B. John.
May 2018. 416p. Crown, $27 (9780525573296); e book, $13.99 (9780525573302).
Welsh author John uses three memorable primary characters to tell a remarkable story about the most opaque country on Earth: North Korea. Set largely in the final years of Kim Jong Il's reign as the country's Dear Leader, circa 2010-11, this tale will resonate with any reader unnerved by the threat of nuclear war or by President Trump's intemperate threats and name-calling. Jenna Williams--half African American, half South Korean--is a Georgetown professor. She is haunted by her twin sister's disappearance years before from a South Korean beach; when the CIA recruits her, she accepts the assignment. Colonel Cho, a North Korean diplomat whose successful negotiations with the Americans have made him a rising star in the government, is worried about undergoing a deep background check by the feared state security agency; Cho, who never knew his birth parents, fears that he might be found to have "bad blood." Mrs. Moon is an aged, arthritic peasant in far North Korea who finds a balloon containing South Korean Choco Pies; she sells the pies and becomes an entrepreneur. The lives of these people collide in a harrowing thriller that exposes an amazingly corrupt regime that embraces savage brutality and nearly every kind of lucrative criminal enterprise. John concludes with a fascinating 10-page bibliographic essay supporting his claims, but Star of the North would be a superior thriller even if it was pure fiction.--Thomas Gaughan
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Gaughan, Thomas. "Star of the North." Booklist, 1 May 2018, p. 36. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A539647255/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e554d043. Accessed 5 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A539647255
* Star of the North
Publishers Weekly. 265.13 (Mar. 26, 2018): p97.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* Star of the North
D.B. John. Crown, $27 (416p) ISBN 978-0-525-57329-6
This outstanding thriller from John (Flight from Berlin) brings to life the seldom-seen underbelly of North Korea, which the author visited in 2012. In 2010, Jenna (born Jee-min), an academic at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., joins the CIA in part to find her twin sister, Soo-min, whom North Korean commandos abducted off a South Korean island in 1998. Meanwhile, Cho Sang-ho, a lieutenant colonel in North Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs who knows about Pyongyang's kidnapping program (and many of the country's other dark episodes), travels on a diplomatic mission to New York. There, at a reception at the 21 Club, he meets Jenna, who tells him about Soo-min. Cho is initially unhelpful, but in the end he agrees to assist Jenna in her quest to locate her sister. As an undercover CIA agent, Jenna goes to North Korea, where she poses as a translator for a U.N. peace mission while engaging in a dangerous search for her sister. John excels at drawing the everyday details of life in a closed society--the drug use of the lower classes, the paranoia and fear of those who have gained access to the upper ranks, the omnipotence of the Bowibu, the state security force. Those seeking a realistic, highly readable look at North Korea will be richly rewarded. Agent: Daniel Lazar, Writers House. (May)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"* Star of the North." Publishers Weekly, 26 Mar. 2018, p. 97. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A532997147/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=9e3348c1. Accessed 5 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A532997147
John, D.B.: STAR OF THE NORTH
Kirkus Reviews. (Mar. 15, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
John, D.B. STAR OF THE NORTH Crown (Adult Fiction) $27.00 5, 22 ISBN: 978-0-525-57329-6
A dozen years after her 18-year-old identical twin sister disappeared from a beach on South Korea's Baengnyeong Island, just west of North Korea, Georgetown geopolitics professor Jenna Williams risks her life to find her.
The year is 2010. Jenna, whose mother is Korean and father African-American, has been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after the apparent drowning of her sibling, who had been preparing to spend a gap year studying music in Seoul. Jenna's efforts to lose herself in her work are upended by a Japanese woman in the news who claims her long-missing teenage son was one of many young foreign nationals abducted from beaches and taken to North Korea by submarine. Recruited by the CIA, Jenna undergoes intensive training and enters North Korea on a supposed peace mission. Danger awaits. Meanwhile, newly promoted North Korean Col. Cho is sent to the United States to negotiate with the evil West after the state eliminates his predecessor--a fate Cho gravely fears awaits him if his blood ties to a traitor are revealed. And a woman from a farm collective, Mrs. Moon, sets herself up as a black marketeer after selling goods from a South Korean aid balloon and learning such tricks of the trade as bribery. Welsh novelist John (Flight from Berlin, 2009), who visited North Korea in 2012, offers an informed look at the oppression, corruption, and widespread suffering under Kim Jong-il, father of Kim Jong-un. But as entertaining as the converging plots can be, the book is too lightweight to be taken as seriously as it wants. And the author is a bit too understanding of the murderous Kim and his need to launch rockets.
A sometimes-suspenseful but never gripping novel about North Korea circa 2010.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"John, D.B.: STAR OF THE NORTH." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Mar. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A530650899/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=9eef60a9. Accessed 5 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A530650899
Star of the North by D.B. John
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Review published on February 2, 2018.
Star of the North is one to look out for when it’s published in early May. The publisher uses the strap line “the most explosive thriller of the year” – that remains to be seen, but boy is this good. Original, cleverly plotted and easy to read (even with the challenging character/place names). After a brilliant set up it’s action all the way to the finish. As the strands of the story come together the plot reaches a nail biting and powerful conclusion. You will find it hard to believe a lot of what you read but apart from one obvious fictional leap it is all based on real events (a useful afterword gives details of North Korean activities that feature in the plot).
You can’t really get much more topical than a thriller set in North Korea, even though this is mainly set a few years ago in 2010/11. D.B. John is one of the few American journalists to have been inside the country and seen first hand the experience of local people under the Communist regime; fear, mass brainwashing and the cult of Kim. North Korea is the most secretive and cut-off country in the world. The regime is determined to be reckoned with as a nuclear power with the capacity to threaten the coastal United States with its long range missiles.
Star of the North begins in 1998, 18-year-old Soo-min and her boyfriend Jae-hoon go missing from a beach on South Korean Island Baengnyeong. The Incheon police conclude that the couple didn’t leave the island by ferry for the mainland. Their possessions, including a last photograph, were found on the beach and so it is assumed the couple must have drowned. Soo-min’s twin sister, Jee-min, is forced to accept this.
2010, Washington. Jenna (Jee-min) is teaching but still suffering from the loss of her sister. The North Koreans have recently launched the latest Unha 3 missile, threatening to destabilise the region. Jenna is approached by the mysterious Charles Fisk, he claims to be a friend of her father but she knows he is CIA. They want her skills as a linguist and her passion for answers about the disappearance of her sister. What sways it for Jenna is a meeting with a Japanese mother who also lost her son several years ago and blames the North Korean regime. New evidence has emerged from a captured commando about a kidnapping programme. Individuals have systematically been abducted, some from remote locations by submarine. The CIA assume it’s a training programme for their spies, to be sent on missions in South Korea and the West.
At the top of North Korea’s government, Kim Jung-il trusts no one and as officials jostle for power Yong-ho and brother Cho are rising stars. Cho boss, General Kang is removed (executed), and he inherits the leadership of a diplomatic mission to New York to negotiate with the “devil” – America (they desperately need food and foreign currency). The golden rule is no fraternising.
Mrs Moon, a grandmother, can no longer work effectively at the communal farm, she leaves the collective and sets up an illegal stall at Hyesan station. Starting with the proceeds from selling a South Korean food drop (aid parcel), she soon learns to make money, pay the bribes and survive.
D.B. John provides a really fascinating insight into the lives of the people of one of the world’s poorest countries. The corruption, bribing the local police, dealing in Chinese currency, the utter brutality if the camps and the secret programmes that are a chilling reminder of Nazi brutality. The resilience and resourcefulness of the ordinary families of North Korea are admirable.
Star of the North gets behind the relationship between the US and North Korea, the mistrust, bad faith and misunderstandings. You get a feel for the politics of the region and an understanding of both sides. The desperate attempts of the CIA to infiltrate and get to know more about the secretive regime. You won’t sympathise with the North Korean position but you will understand it a bit better. Star of the North helps to explain how we have come to the current impasse.
Jenna is a resourceful and intelligent character, driven by events in the past but Cho, the North Korean Colonel, is equally interesting. Star of the North comes into its own when the action transfers to Pyongyang and Korea. The sense of daily life beyond the facade is eye opening.
All that aside, this is a top notch thriller. A cracking read that you won’t want to put down. Spies, covert missile production, drug trafficking, the human misery of camp 22 and the euphemistically named ‘Maram Secret Guest House’ all ramp up the tension. There is more than one desperate chase leading to a satisfying conclusion. This could be a one off but if we see more of Jenna (Jee-min) CIA operative that would be welcome. A great read.
Paul Burke 5/4
Star of the North by D.B. John
Harvill Secker 9781787300477 hbk May 2018
dir96?
Saturday, 5 May 2018
D B John on writing Star of the North
Most foreign visitors to North Korea are obliged to make the pilgrimage to Mangyongdae. It was in this village, just outside Pyongyang, that Kim Il-sung, the Great Leader, was born in 1912. On a wooded hill nearby our guide led us to a view of the Taedong River. A starry look came into his eyes as he recounted yet another legend from Kim’s life. ‘It was in this spot,’ he said, gazing into the distance, ‘that our Great Leader, as a young boy, would sit thinking so deeply upon the suffering of his people that the ox he was minding would find its own way home…’
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That did it. After a week in the country I had contracted propaganda sickness. It was 2012, the centenary of Kim Il-sung’s birth, and the regime had been pulling out all the stops. I could listen to no more. I may have groaned.
North Koreans grow up with these stories in the way that we in the West grow up with the Nativity and Easter – with one crucial difference. In North Korea the stories may never be doubted, by anyone. The cult of Kim is central to the regime’s power structures. It tolerates no heresy.
For a writer setting a thriller in North Korea, this was not without irony.
Such a rogue state has, over the years, behaved in ways that many people would find hard to understand, let alone believe. So just as we tourists were expected to accept cooked-up myths as historical truth, I would be drawing from genuine facts that were so much stranger than fiction that they risked straining all credulity.
Would anyone accept at face value the regime’s secret program of sending attractive female
agents abroad to have sex with men of other races? It happened. The aim was to breed children who looked foreign but who would be trained as North Korean spies. Or that the country’s diplomats overseas have doubled as crime bosses, raising funds by selling state-produced crystal meth? Some of the North’s criminal enterprises have never been fully explained. Why did it abduct random people from beaches across Asia and hold them in secluded compounds for decades? Weaving these elements into a cogent narrative without rendering the plot far fetched certainly had its challenges.
North Korea, sealed shut from the world, maintains its own reality. The rules of human behaviour are different there. Finding a path into that dark place and allowing the reader to see it and believe it was my goal in Star of the North.
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STAR OF THE NORTH by D.B. John is published by Harvill Secker on 10 May.
North Korea and the USA are on the brink of war A young American woman disappears without trace from a South Korean island. The CIA recruits her twin sister to uncover the truth. Now, she must go undercover in the world's most deadly state. Only by infiltrating the dark heart of the terrifying regime will she be able to save her sister...and herself.