Mrs. Shim is a Killer is not your average mystery. Indeed, Kang Jiyoung’s most recent novel is unlike anything I’ve ever read. A bizarre, multi point of view tale, Mrs. Shim is at times a compelling examination of what it means to live a desperate life, at times simply a straight up drug trip. The Korea in the book is a bleak place. Every character seems to be struggling. I was deeply surprised to see it described as a “darkly comedic” work, as I generally missed out on what was supposed to be funny.
Perhaps it was the concept itself that was designated as humorous. Mrs. Shim is a middle aged lady, whose husband has recently died and left them penniless, and whose current employer, a butcher shop, has gone bankrupt. Left unemployed, she answers a sketchy ad in a newspaper asking for middle aged women specifically and promising a crazy amount of money. Seeing no red flags there, she heads to the Smile Detective Agency and is almost immediately hired as a contract killer. This juxtaposition – of a small wrinkled lady committing so much violence – is likely what is meant to be the joke.
This book, however, is populated with unlikeable people. Perhaps not a surprise, given many are contract killers or adjacent to them, but Mrs.Shim is a complicated woman herself. Though she later feels the many murders she commits weigh heavy on her, her first kill is no big deal. She doesn’t feel bad for the victim; she doesn’t hesitate to commit the crime. The contracts are deemed to be bad people – but designated as such by the ones paying to kill them. This includes a fraud psychic, a bathhouse owner who potentially stole money from her ex husband, and a legitimate serial killer.
Many of these victims get perspective chapters before Mrs.Shim comes into their life. In fact, almost every chapter of the book is from a different point of view and titled based on their connection to the other characters. Because of this, for me, the middle section dragged. The beginning and ending, which focused on Mrs. Shim and those around her, were much more interesting for me.
Though the narration treats her as if she’s ancient, Mrs. Shim is fifty. Though much of the humor went over my head (the serial killer offs people using knitting needles and this did not hit for me, for example), this book is an interesting examination on underestimating people. Mrs.Shim is more than capable of handling herself. And, if nothing else, I doubt I’ll read anything like it again. — Margaret Agnew