The Black Orb - by Ewhan Kim (Hardcover)

About the Book

"One evening in downtown Seoul, Jeong-su is smoking a cigarette outside when he sees something impossible: a huge black orb appears out of nowhere and sucks his neighbour inside. The orb soon begins consuming other people and no one knows how to stop it... A piercingly dark, surreal satire on mass panic, disaster response and modern masculinity."--

Book Synopsis

The object was a black orb, roughly two meters in diameter. Despite its large size, it made no sound as it moved. Although it wasn't chasing Jeong-su fast enough to catch him, it was unrelenting and persistent in its pursuit...

One evening in downtown Seoul, Jeong-su is smoking a cigarette outside when he sees something impossible: a huge black orb appears out of nowhere and sucks his neighbor inside. Jeong-su manages to get away, but the terrifying sphere can move through walls, so he's sure he won't be able to hide for long.

The orb soon begins consuming every person caught in its path, and no one knows how to stop it. Impervious to bullets and tanks, the orb splits and multiplies, chasing the hapless residents of Seoul out into the country and sparking a global crisis with widespread violence and looting. Jeong-su must rely on his wits as he makes the arduous journey in search of his elderly parents. But the strangest phases of this ever-expanding disaster are yet to come and Jeong-su will be forced to question everything he has taken for granted.

Dryly funny, propulsive and absurd, The Black Orb is terrifyingly prescient about the fragility of human civilization.

Review Quotes

"The Black Orb is a movie playing on paper. The orb in this book absorbs people, and this book absorbs your time. It's a powerful pageturner."
--Soyoung Park, New York Times bestselling author of Snowglobe

"Ewhan Kim depicts human anxiety and survival instincts in the face of overwhelming fear. The sense of urgency of being chased by a two-meter-diameter black orb that absorbs people captivates you until the last page. A fast-paced, gripping, brilliant book with an accurate insight into this time filled with confusion."
--J.M. Lee, author of The Investigation and Broken Summer

"This heart-pounding novel explores an ordinary person's anxiety and primal fear of being chased for no reason! Feeling as if you're the terrified protagonist yourself, you just can't put down this gripping novel!"
--Kyung-Sook Shin, New York Times bestselling author of Please Look After Mom and Violets

"Stealthy, unflinching and flush with ideas, The Black Orb is a dark propulsive nightmare that had me gripped from page one. Ewhan Kim is a brilliant writer and this is a really welcome translation. I loved it."
--Tom Watson, author of Metronome

"Ewhan Kim pulls off the most unlikely feat: a high-paced thriller set at walking speed. The Black Orb is a Kafkaesque page-turner that will check all your horror, thriller, and sci-fi boxes at once, with an ending that rocks. Never before have I finished a novel, and immediately turned back to reread the first chapter in such a new light. The Black Orb is totally inventive and wholly scary, igniting the slow-burning nightmare that haunts us all: the fear of those things which we can never outrun."
--Nick Fuller Googins, author of The Great Transition

"The Black Orb is a wild ride. Surprising, thought-provoking, and entertainingly bleak. It's immediately apocalyptic, fast-paced, and filled with intriguing explorations of paranoia, misinformation, togetherness, and societal rage. Be careful, or this novel might swallow you whole!"
--Sam Rebelein, Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of Edenville and The Poorly Made and Other Things