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Author: Kim, Ewhan

Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

Published on 1 August 2024 by Profile Books Ltd (Serpent’s Tail) in the United Kingdom.

Paperback | 368 pages
136 x 215 x 31 | 376g

‘Captivates you until the last page. Fast-paced, gripping, brilliant – a book with an accurate insight into this time filled with confusion’ J. M. Lee, international bestselling author of The Investigation and Broken SummerOne evening in downtown Seoul, Jeong-su is smoking a cigarette outside when he sees something impossible: a huge black orb appears out of nowhere and sucks his neighbour inside.

The orb soon begins consuming other people and no one knows how to stop it. Impervious to bullets and tanks, the orb splits and multiplies, chasing the hapless residents of Seoul out into the country and sparking a global crisis with widespread violence and looting. Jeong-su must rely upon his wits as he makes the arduous journey in search of his elderly parents. But the strangest phases of this ever-expanding disaster are yet to come and Jeong-su will be forced to question everything he has taken for granted.

Dryly funny, propulsive and absurd, The Black Orb is terrifyingly prescient about the fragility of human civilisation.