Spanning a single day, this tense spy novel from Kim (I Have the Right to Destroy Myself), marred only by some stilted prose, is also a deeply compelling study of the self and varying themes of trust. Kim Ki-yong, a North Korean spy who's lived undercover for 21 years, has fully adapted to life in Seoul, South Korea, where he runs a successful foreign-film importing business, owns a home, and has a wife and teenage daughter, neither of whom is aware of his past or actual identity. As Ki-yong ponders returning to the austere and sterile militaristic regime of the North after receiving a coded message from his handler ("Liquidate everything and return immediately"), his wife, Ma-ri, struggles with infidelity and his daughter, Hyon-mi, maneuvers the tumultuous and tricky landscape of adolescence. Kim offers a riveting tale of espionage along with keen observations of human behavior.

金英夏（1968-），1995年在季刊《批评》发表《关于镜子的冥想》，开始文学活动。著有长篇小说《黑花》《光之帝国》《猜谜秀》《我有破坏自己的权利》《阿娘为什么？》等，小说集有《传呼》《夹进电梯里的那个男人怎么样了》《哥哥回来了》，译著有司各特·菲茨杰拉德的《了不起的盖茨比》。曾获东仁文学奖、黄顺元文学奖、万海文学奖、现代文学奖等。多部作品在美国、法国、日本、德国、意大利、荷兰、土耳其等十余个国家翻译出版。