BLOODY SEOUL

Sixteen-year-old Rocky is the son of one of Seoul’s most powerful crime bosses.

Not yet old enough to join his father’s organization, he runs his own high school gang, terrorizing and bullying the kids at school, until he begins to see the truth of who his father really is. Rocky initially longs to join his father in the Three Star Pa gang’s glamorous world of power, danger, and luxury, but when he starts to recognize his father’s moral bankruptcy, he begins to question all his assumptions. As his eyes open to his father’s alcoholism and dark moods, Rocky unearths memories of his loving mother, who disappeared 10 years earlier. He discovers ugly truths about his parents’ relationship and his mother’s disappearance and starts digging deeper. Patel’s (Jaya and Rasa, 2017, etc.) staccato first-person prose, liberally interspersed with flashback scenes and gratuitous similes, creates an emotional distance for readers. Rocky’s personal transformation from brutal bully to lovesick teen may also feel a bit too pat to be entirely realistic, exemplified by his 180-degree change of heart toward the Indian-Korean girl he had been tormenting at school. Rocky’s friendships with his gang members, who turn out to be the steadying foundation for his new life, are the strongest element of his journey.

Readers who are drawn to the darker side of Korean pop culture will enjoy this archetypal, yet solid, redemption story.