book cover of The Law of Lines
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The Law of Lines

(2020)
A novel by

 
 
From the Award-Winning Author of The Hole, a "Simmering"* and "Compelling"** Thriller—"A Mystery Masterpiece . . . . Hye-young Pyun at Her Best"*** Named One of the "Best Books of 2020 (So Far)"****
*New York Times Book Review  **Wall Street Journal  ***Books & Bao  ****CrimeReads

The Law of Lines follows the parallel stories of two young women whose lives are upended by sudden loss. When Se-oh, a recluse still living with her father, returns from an errand to find their house in flames, wrecked by a gas explosion, she is forced back into the world she had tried to escape. The detective investigating the incident tells her that her father caused the explosion to kill himself because of overwhelming debt she knew nothing about, but Se-oh suspects foul play by an aggressive debt collector and sets out on her own investigation, seeking vengeance.

Ki-jeong, a beleaguered high school teacher, receives a phone call from the police saying that the body of her younger half-sister has just been found. Her sister was a college student she had grown distant from. Though her death, by drowning, is considered a suicide by the police, that doesn't satisfy Ki-jeong, and she goes to her sister's university to find out what happened. Her sister's cell phone reveals a thicket of lies and links to a company that lures students into a virtual pyramid scheme, preying on them and their relationships. One of the contacts in the call log is Se-oh.

Like Hye-young Pyun's Shirley Jackson Award–winning novel The Hole, The Law of Lines an immersive thriller that explores the edges of criminality in ordinary lives, the unseen forces that shape us, and grief and debt.


Genre: Mystery

Praise for this book

"Reading Hye-young Pyun’s work reminds me of taking science class as a child and my first time seeing onion cells under a microscope. Pyun slices off a piece of the most everyday layer of life, places it on a slide, and reveals to us the cellular division of emotions that we’ve never seen before. She surprises us and makes us think, 'So this is what life has looked like all along?'" - Un-su Kim

"To read this book is to be given a code to help decipher this indecipherable world. . . . The unexpected loss of an under-appreciated father and a misunderstood half-sister, their deaths wrapped in suspicion, brings the two protagonists into each other’s paths. Is their meeting a nightmare? Or does it bring hope? After making their way through this irrational world that the author has thrown us into, the reader will find themselves on surer ground." - Kyung-Sook Shin


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