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《批評》發錶《關於鏡子的冥想》，開始文學活動。著有長篇小說《黑花》《光之帝國》《猜謎秀》《我有破壞自己的權利》《阿娘為什麼？》等，小說集有《傳呼》《夾進電梯裏的那個男人怎麼樣瞭》《哥哥迴來瞭》，譯著有司各特·菲茨傑拉德的《瞭不起的蓋茨比》。曾獲東仁文學奬、黃順元文學奬、萬海文學奬、現代文學奬等。多部作品在美國、法國、日本、德國、意大利、荷蘭、土耳其等十餘個國傢翻譯齣版。