Hidden Moon

An Inspector O Novel

By: James Church

Narrated by: Feodor Chin

In A Corpse in the Koryo, James Church introduced readers to one of the most unique detectives to appear in print in years—the elusive Inspector O. The stunning mystery was named one of the best mystery/thrillers of 2006 by the Chicago Tribune for its beautifully spare prose and layered descriptions of a terrain Church knows by heart.

And now the inspector is back.

In Hidden Moon, Inspector O returns from a mission abroad to find his new police commander waiting at his office door. There has been a bank robbery—the first ever in Pyongyang—and the commander demands action, and quickly. But is this urgency for real? Somewhere, someone in the North Korean leadership doesn’t want Inspector O to complete his investigation. And why not? What if the robbery leads to the highest levels of the regime? What if power, not a need for cash, is the real reason behind the heist at the Gold Star Bank?

Given a choice, this isn’t a trail a detective in the Pyongyang police would want to follow all the way to the end, even a trail marked with monogrammed silk stockings. “I’m not sure I know where the bank is,” is O’s laconic observation as the warning bells go off in his head. A Scottish policeman sent to provide security for a visiting British official, a sultry Kazakh bank manager, and a mournful fellow detective all combine to put O in the middle of a spider web of conspiracies that becomes more tangled—and dangerous—the more he pulls on the threads.

Once again, as he did in A Corpse in the Koryo, James Church opens a window into a society where nothing is quite as it seems. The story serves as the listener’s flashlight, illuminating a place that outsiders imagine is always dark and too far away to know. Church’s descriptions of the country and its people are spare and starkly beautiful; the dialogue is lean, every thought weighed and measured before it is spoken. Not a word is wasted because in this place no one can afford to be misunderstood.

©2007 James Church (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“The book’s often sharp repartee is reminiscent of Raymond Chandler’s dialogue, while the corrupt North Korean bureaucracy provides an exotic but entirely convincing noir backdrop…Like Marlowe and Spade before him, Inspector O navigates the shadows and, every now and then, finds truth in the half-light.” ( Wall Street Journal)

inspector O rolls on

What did you love best about Hidden Moon?

all the very bad old jokes, and the conditions under which he has to work

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

no

What about Feodor Chin’s performance did you like?

all

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

no

Any additional comments?

no

The butterflies, they don't flap their wings

Church's second Inspector O novel struck gold with its dialogue and textured setting, was hit-and-miss with its characters, and was only so-so in developing its plot (sorta felt phoned-in on a spotty line). For me, the novel was a bookshelf whose corners just didn't quite square. You can tell the Church cared about the project, but the pieces just didn't all fit in the end.

Love it or hate it, he is a good writer

If you could sum up Hidden Moon in three words, what would they be?

enchantingly soft core action

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The first book had a wonderful level of depth, that was missing in this installment of the series.

What aspect of Feodor Chin’s performance would you have changed?

More range and energy,, he seemed to be a bit flat with playing females, or coming off flirty , etc.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

The voiceover made it so that I had to take my time with this one

Any additional comments?

Even with the lack of raw power, found in the first book of the series, this book still has a spell all its own