The Boy Who Escaped Paradise

"There's magic in this world. And miracles." In his second translated work to hit stateside (after The Investigation), best-selling Korean author Lee will make you believe. His silent protagonist sits in a New York City cell, accused of murder and terrorism, his more notable possessions including four fake passports and 19 pages of mathematical formulas written in an unidentifiable language. The nurse in charge interrupts the aggressive FBI interrogation to care for his gunshot wound. Under her ministrations over the next seven days, the suspect will prove how "[n]umbers reveal our secrets," divulging a quest that originates in North Korea and lands in North America, with stopovers in China, Macau, South Korea, and Mexico, as the protagonist moves through a prison camp, casinos, hotel rooms, action flicks, and international markets—all to fulfill a childhood promise of everlasting care (and love). The narrative is again linguistically enabled by gifted translator Kim.