The Old Woman with the Knife: A Novel Spiral-Bound | March 8, 2022
Gu Byeong-mo
The Old Woman with the Knife: A Novel
The kinetic story of a 65-year-old female assassin who faces an unexpected threat in the twilight of her career--an international bestseller and English language debut from an award-winning South Korean author
*A New York Times Book Review Notable Book*
*An NPR Best Book of the Year*
*An NPR Book We Love*
*A New York Times Editors' Choice Pick*
*A Most Anticipated Read in LitHub, CrimeReads, Thrillist, and Popsugar*
*A Boston Globe Thriller to Read on Your Summer Vacation*
*A Crime Reads Best International Crime Fiction for 2022*
The kinetic story of a sixty-five-year-old female assassin who faces an unexpected threat in the twilight of her career—this is an international bestseller and the English language debut from an award-winning South Korean author
At sixty-five, Hornclaw is beginning to slow down. She lives modestly in a small apartment, with only her aging dog, a rescue named Deadweight, to keep her company. There are expectations for people her age—that she'll retire and live out the rest of her days quietly. But Hornclaw is not like other people. She is an assassin.
Double-crossers, corporate enemies, cheating spouses—for the past four decades, Hornclaw has killed them all with ruthless efficiency, and the less she's known about her targets, the better. But now, nearing the end of her career, she has just slipped up. An injury leads her to an unexpected connection with a doctor and his family. But emotions, for an assassin, are a dangerous proposition. As Hornclaw's world closes in, this final chapter in her career may also mark her own bloody end.
A sensation in South Korea, and now translated into English for the first time by Chi-Young Kim, The Old Woman with the Knife is an electrifying, singular, mordantly funny novel about the expectations imposed on aging bodies and the dramatic ways in which one woman chooses to reclaim her agency.
"Sardonic and funny, as it probes expectations around aging women and their bodies."—LitHub
"A suspense-filled thriller like nothing you've read before."—POPSUGAR
"Gu's first novel to be translated into English addresses societal attitudes on aging."—New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice
“Incisive...a kick-ass approach to narrative convention.”—The Daily Mail
"Skillfully rendered...a thriller with heart."—Kirkus Reviews
"As a person who loves novels about aging AND crime thrillers, I was thrilled to encounter the mash-up."—Molly Young, New York Times
This startling work upends every stereotype of old ladies and killers...unforgettable."—First Clue
“A slow burner, laced with pitch-black humor and take-no-prisoners observations on aging and how society (not just Korean) views the elderly, until the white-knuckle, action film-ready finale that plays out like a sort of reimagined Die Hard, and it as unexpected as it was satisfying.”—Mystery Scene Magazine
"An unparalleled story only Gu Byeong-mo could create, with a groundbreaking female character as captivating as any in literature."—Kyung-Sook Shin, Man Asian Literary Prize-winning author of Please Look After Mom
"The Old Woman with the Knife is a wild thrill of a novel. I found myself clutching my chest as I turned each page: from fright, heartbreak, and from the devastating gallows humor. It is about revenge and retribution, aging and death, and the quotidian woes of a bureaucratic job—even if that job is murder-for-hire. Hornclaw, our 65-year-old assassin main character, defies expectations: she is brutal, thoughtful, and almost as tender as her beloved dog, Deadweight, who truly steals the show."—Gabriella Burnham, author of It Is Wood, It Is Stone
"A resonant K-noir treat."—Luke Jennings, author of the Killing Eve series
"The Old Woman with the Knife will sweep you away. This electric novel will have you thinking about its beautiful, melancholy, awe-inspiring force for a long time. I can't remember who I used to be before I read this book."—Ko-eun Yun, author of The Disaster Tourist
"What a moving, resounding, and beautifully executed novel."—Seo Mi-ae, author of The Only Child
“The Old Woman with the Knife is a deeply compassionate and rebellious novel. Thrilling and richly meditative, the novel excavates memory, modern life on the edge, and the absolute persistence of the self. With poetic grace, Gu Byeong-mo’s assassin transcends age, power, and the expectations of a society bent on erasing her.”—Michael Zapata, author of The Lost Book of Adana Moreau
"An unforgettable portrait. More than a thriller, The Old Woman with the Knife is also a tale of a profound observation of aging and decline, love and compassion. The story crawled into my soul and never let me go until the last page."—J.M. Lee, author of The Investigation
"The Old Woman with the Knife is unique - a gripping thriller as well as a deeply thoughtful book about out attitudes to ageing and grief. Wonderful stuff."—Doug Johnstone, author of Tombstoning
"It's a thriller with an engrossing plot, but it's also a look at how society views the aging."—Boston Globe
"Sensational."—Yunhap News
"Masterful."—Jihu Daily
"Evocative and haunting."—Civic News
“There has never been a Korean novel with such a groundbreaking heroine.”—Segye Ilbo
"I couldn’t hope for a better heroine--a truly powerful character with an aging human body.”—Book DB
“This novel breaks out of the box of what constitutes ‘a mystery thriller with a killer as the heroine’ and into a much broader literary territory...a cruel yet beautiful study on what is the fate of being, on bruising and disintegrating life, and on all the inevitable truths of human life.”—Chunji Ilbo
"Fantastic."—London Review of Books