Bamboo and Blood: An Inspector O Novel: 3 (Inspector O Novels 3)

The critically acclaimed A Corpse in the Koryo brought readers into the enigmatic workings of North Korean intelligence with the introduction of a new kind of detective---the mysterious Inspector O. In the follow-up Hidden Moon O threaded his way through the minefield of North Korean ministries into a larger conspiracy he was never supposed to touch.. Now the inspector returns . . .. In the winter of 1997 trying to stay alive during a famine that has devastated much of North Korea Inspector O is ordered to play host to an Israeli agent who appears in Pyongyang. When the wife of a North Korean diplomat in Pakistan dies under suspicious circumstances O is told to investigate with a curious proviso: Dont look too closely at the details and stay away from the question of missiles. O knows he cant avoid finding out what he is supposed to ignore on a trail that leads him from the dark chilly rooms of Pyongyang to an abandoned secret facility deep in the countryside guarded by a lonely general; and from the streets of New York to a bench beneath a horse chestnut tree on the shores of Lake Geneva where the Inspector discovers he is up to his ears in missiles---and worse. Stalked by the past and wary of the future O is convinced there is no one he can trust and no one he cant suspect. Swiss intelligence wants him out of the country; someone else wants him dead.. Once again James Churchs spare lyrical prose guides readers through an unfamiliar landscape of whispered words and shadows a world wrapped in a level of mystery and complexity that few outsiders have experienced. With Inspector O noir has a new home in North Korea and James Church holds the keys.