The Old Woman with the Knife

Gu, Byeong-Mo. The Old Woman with the Knife. Toronto: Hanover Square Press. 2013. Print.

First Sentences:

So this is what it's like on the subway on Friday nights. You feel grateful to discover space just wide enough to slide a sheet of paper between bodies stuck together like mollusks. You're bathed in the stench of meat and garlic and alcohol anytime anyone opens their mouth, but you're relieved because those scents signify the end of your workweek.

Description:

I cannot recommend Gu Byeong-Mo's assassination novel, The Old Woman with the Knife, to just everyone. Some readers may be put off by the idea of the elderly woman narrator who is actively-employed as a professional assassin. 

 

But for those who are intrigued by this concept of a 65-year-old "disease control specialist" (as the company terms its contracted killers), this is a calm, not-very-violent story that will keep you alert right up to the last sentences. It might help to know she has an equally old dog named "Deadweight." Well, maybe not.

 

Hornclaw, the elderly female assassin, is the founder along with her lover Ryu, of this "disease control" elimination business forty years ago. She was the first person Ryu trained to effectively knock off evil people. The motto on their business cards is: "Extermination of vermin and pests." Corporate enemies, double crossers, cheating spouses all fall into these categories, so are contracted by outsiders to have them eliminated. 

 

Hornclaw often uses a variety of razor sharp knives, hence her nickname. The book opens with her completion of an assignment in a crowded subway. Naturally, no one notices, much less suspects an elderly woman of utilizing a quick, poisoned jab into an unknown passenger, or pays attention to a man who seemingly faints in the crush to exit the subway.

She is anonymous and prefers to know little about her victims. But an accident causes her to seek medical attention and contact an outsider doctor, potentially risking her anonymous life and profession. Throw in an upcoming, brash fellow assassin from her organization who brags of his own prowess and boldly hints that Hornclaw should retire due to her age, diminishing speed and skills, and you have the barest bones of this gripping story.

 

Don't worry, there's less blood and graphic violence than in any Jack Reacher novels or Jo Nesbo's detective tales. The Old Woman with the Knife is subtle, quiet, almost soothing read in its precision and spare style.

Despite the many possible roads she could have taken to relax and sink into an armchair, she has insisted on hands-on disease control work all this time....What gets in the way of safe retirement is the unique nature of disease control....Trying to picture someone who has been killing people for forty-five years frying chicken or dry-cleaning clothes is like trying to imagine an old wolf incubating an egg.

If it sounds interesting, it definitely is. If it sounds intriguing, mesmerizing, subtle, unpredictable, and captivating, it is all of these and much more. A rare gem of a story, with plenty of action and complex characters to fully engulf you.

Happy reading. 

 

Fred

About The First Sentence Reader blog

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Swanson, Peter. The Kind Worth Killing.   

A thrilling, suspenseful yarn of pride, disrespect, and revenge involving a woman plotting to kill the men who wronged her. (previously reviewed here)