Book Review: The Silla Project
The Silla Project
PlotForge, Ltd. (August 12, 2012)
SYNPOSIS:
Kim Jong Il, the tyrannical leader of North Korea, hopes nuclear weapons will reunite the divided nation under his iron fist. But turning plutonium into weapons is more than the tiny country hoped for. In a desperate ploy to achieve his aim before economic crisis destroys the dynasty built by his father, he orders his chief operative Pak Yong-nam, to abduct “Someone who can help.”
Mitch Weatherby is a Los Alamos nuclear scientist at the top of his game… until the Feds raid his house, kill his wife, and accuse him of building a dirty bomb to sell to the highest bidder. Mitch knows he is innocent of these crimes but is convicted and sentenced to life in prison. So, when mysterious commandos abduct him it feels more like a rescue.
Secreted away to a mountain stronghold deep in North Korea, Mitch is faced with a choice. Help the country that saved him, or remain loyal to the nation that destroyed his life.
For someone who has been a North Korea observer the past 25 years—both as a writer and the instructor of a course on Northeast Asian Politics/History at an international business school in Daejeon, South Korea—I was keenly interested in The Silla Project. Although it is fiction and the product of the author’s imagination, the book does have its share of “Eureka” moments when the author deftly describes the North’s attempt to build a nuclear bomb. The author has clearly done his research—both on nuclear engineering as well as North Korea’s desire to join the world’s nuclear club—and in the process creates a chilling and riveting Cold War thriller. There are plenty of twists along the way which keeps you on the edge of your seat as you hurry to get through one chapter after another to find out if the protagonist is going to sell out his country for love.
For the most part, the story works. It is quite plausible that North Korea could kidnap a nuclear scientist; after all, the North captured Japanese actors and actresses and had them brought to North Korea to star in movies. However, after the fast-paced and well crafted first half of the book I was let down as I got closer and closer to the end. Although there’s plenty of action and a lot of twists and turns which kept me on the edge, I expected much more as I got closer to the end of the book.
Nonetheless, I would recommend this book for readers who enjoy a thought-provoking Cold War thriller. At the very least, the book, though fiction, offers a glimpse into this Stalinist country and Cold War holdout.
