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For a number of years Martin Limón has been writing mysteries featuring two US Army investigators working in South Korea in the 1970s. Readers who haven't discovered the series until now will have no trouble diving in with MR. KILL, the seventh book in the series. George Sueno and Ernie Bascom are dispatched to help find a rapist who assaulted a young mother in a rest room on a crowded train. There's a chance her assailant was an American GI. If so, George and Ernie need to apprehend him quickly, before the tension between Koreans and the foreign troops stationed there spills into violence. When a second assault ends in murder, the two army investigators pool their resources with the legendary chief homicide inspector in the Korean police, Gil Kwon-up, whose name has been routinely mispronounced by Americans as "Mr. Kill." Between them, they conduct a twisting, complicated investigation that follows a brutally violent man who is driven by fury to inflict more violent attacks, all part of a checklist of "corrective actions." The interplay among the three detectives provides an intriguing view of two cultures. Mr. Kill may be much feared, but in person he appears cool, intellectual, and far more civilized than his counterparts in the US army. George and Ernie are an odd couple—Ernie is a brawler, a drinker, and a ladies' man. George is, in contrast, thoughtful, empathetic, and determined to carry out justice by the book—yet despite their differences, they are loyal to one another, and whenever Ernie gets into a brawl, George wades in to back him up. The story, while an engaging mystery, is particularly notable for providing an evocative map of South Korea and offers insights into two complex cultures: Korean society and military life. It also plants the seeds for a future encounter between the two investigators and Mr. Kill, something for readers to look forward to. § Barbara Fister is an academic librarian, columnist, and author of the Anni Koskinen mystery series.
Reviewed by Barbara Fister, January 2012
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