D. B. John was born in Wales. He began training as a lawyer but switched to a career in publishing, editing popular children’s books on history and science. In 2009 he moved to Berlin, Germany, to write his first novel, Flight from Berlin. A visit to North Korea in 2012 inspired Star of the North. He lives in Angel, London.At CrimeReads he tagged five exceptional novels about North Korea, including:
How I Became a North Korean by Krys LeeRead about another entry on the list.
This beautifully written story follows the lives of three stateless Koreans as they struggle to survive in a perilous Chinese frontier town on North Korea’s northern border, the most common escape route for defectors. Impossible to tell friend from foe,they fall prey to sex traffickers, missionaries who are not altogether benign, and thieves. The shadow over all of them is the ever-present danger being caught and returned to a gruesome fate. Memorably, the novel opens with a very shocking scene: a lavish banquet for the rolex-wearing elite in Pyongyang, hosted by the Dear Leader Kim Jong-il himself, becomes a crime scene when Kim shoots a love rival in the heart, forcing the victim’s son, Yongji, to flee if he’s to avoid being punished for his father’s offense. Crazy but true: in North Korea, guilt is hereditary…
--Marshal Zeringue
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