Holy Boy: A Novel

by Lee Heejoo, Joheun Lee (Translator)

Four obsessed women kidnap a K-Pop idol with unexpected and devastating results in this chilling, thought-provoking literary thriller that blends the dark impulsions of Butter with the ratcheting tension of Misery.

Four wildly different women are consumed by Yosep, a dreamy twenty-one-year-old K-pop idol known as “the boy.”

Ahna, a woman in her forties, first sought the company of younger men to quell the loneliness she experienced accompanying her husband on his trips abroad. When an affluent friend introduces her to the boy and she sees him on television, Ahna joins his cultish fandom. She soon bonds with Mihee, a beautiful, socially isolated woman in her twenties, who also worships the boy, and they eventually meet two other Nami, a young shaman, and Heeae, who worked as a maid for Ahna’s family and is Yosep’s birth mother. Heeae gave her son up for adoption to ensure him a better life but yearns to be reunited.

Fierce and unapologetic, each woman has her own reason for wanting Yosep—a yawning desperation that spawns a dangerous plan. After taking the young singer hostage at a mansion in the mountains of South Korea’s Gangwon Province, Ahna, Yosep, Mihee, Nami, and Heeae will go to extreme lengths to keep him there, no matter how coercive—or murderous—the means. But the fervency that united this formidable team begins to fracture them, igniting a holy war over that sets each woman against the other. Who will emerge the victor? And just how far will she go to win the boy for herself?

A probing, page-turning psychological novel as thrilling as a rollercoaster ride, told in exquisite, breathtaking prose, Holy Boy is a subversive, intricately plotted novel that explores the perils of objectification, the dark undercurrents of female desire, and the precarity of love.

Translated from the Korean by Joheun Lee

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Contemporary, Adult, Asia

296 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 5, 2026

Reviews

[Emma Ewart · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was going to be a 2star read up until the epilogue in which the daughter of the victim who was kidnapped basically calls her father a succubus and that he wanted to be raped because he was bored with his life??? What in gods name makes someone write that? I understand that it may be to show the depravity of these women's mental states but the daughter who was conceived during her father's kidnapping saying that feels insane.

The book also for being a thriller, has the same chapter lengths as Donna Tartt's the Secret History, why was every chapter 100pages long?

Not to mention that this book is premised around the kidnapping of an Idol and yet he has less time in the book than the random police officers and side characters?

Normally with a translated book there is debate about who messed up, the author or the translator. I this case I think its both. The writing in English felt incredibly dull and half hearted, there was no tension, no passion, no nothing in a book about literal obsession? The pacing was insane, I think we saw the main women go shopping about 3 times for absolutely no reason. The book seemed to focus more on the women's lives outside of their obsession rather than on what lead them to commit such a crime or how obsession changed them over time, nope nothing.

I actually feel like watching those videos of Idols get swarmed at the airports are scarier than this. While some depraved things do happen in this book it felt like the editor said to the author 'hey maybe we should actually mention the victim once in a while, you know? Have the kidnappers actually do something with their hostage', but it came across like begrudgingly bad hospice care workers who would rather be anywhere else.

I fully believe this book was written to capitalise of the global success of the Idol industry, and instead of showing how genuinely scary it can be in the world of stalkers, dieting, creeps so on and so forth. This book does very little in the way of actually highlighting any real issue and if anything downplays alot of the current fears surrounding fan culture.

Please do not read this absolute drivel.

[jenny reads a lot]

This is weird & sinister & makes you feel a little uncomfortable (which I think is the point). The writing style is interesting and took a bit for me to get used to, but I think it’s very effective for increasing that uncomfortable feeling.

I think this will work for those who like weird lit. Something different. something uncomfortable and can handle the subject and content.

I was quite enjoying this, it’s not my usual genre, but I like to sprinkle in something different to break up the fantasy and romance and this was definitely that.

Unfortunately it is a DNF for me at 28% due to the nature of the content. I wish there had been a content warning or author’s note available for this. There are a number of heavier topics, please read with care.

Audio Narration: 4/5. Solid performance. Pacing and inflection were good. Pausing at the end of sentences was a bit exaggerated.

| IG | TikTok |

Thank you HarperVia for the gifted book. All opinions are my own.

[Kate O'Shea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like nothing more than a strange and wonderful novel. However this had me entirely baffled after the first quarter and I had my head in my hands by the end, trying to work out what I'd just read. It is an interesting premise but I feel like the author simply tried to put too much into it.

Yosep is a member of a K-pop band. However he has had some personal problems which lead him into a dangerous situation whereby he is "kidnapped" by four women who all purport to adore him.

Ahnna has a penchant for young men, Nami believes that if Yosep sees her he will fall in love, Mihee who also worships the pop star and Heeae, who gave up the infant Yosep for adoption.

The women hole up with the unconscious Yosep in a mansion but after this their plans for his future begin to diverge and rivalries emerge with terrible consequences.

This is the basic story - I think - there are parts of the novel that are completely incomprehensible as the women begin to contemplate what they've done. There is also another thread narrated by a bodyguard (possibly) which explains why Yosep is found in his car on the night of the kidnap.

Unfortunately, the more I tried to unravel what promised to be an interesting look at stalking/fandom/hero worship, the more confused I became. Contemporaneous notes did not help.

Not for me.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Picador for the digital review copy.

[Carm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to HarperVia and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

Ok. Let’s get something straight from the start. This was absolutely not “K-Pop Misery.” If you’re going to invoke Stephen King in your blurb, you better be prepared for readers to sharpen their pitchforks when they don’t get the bill of goods that was promised. That comparison was… ambitious. Misguided. A choice.

What this actually is? Disjointed. Nonlinear. With brief nods to Korean myth and symbolic folk parables and flashes of the geopolitical tension between North and South Korea. A rotating carousel of POVs that sometimes feel like interconnected short stories and sometimes like the author tossed a handful of narrative threads into the air just to see where they’d land. There are a lot of what ifs. Not a lot of answers. Closure is not the point. Your discomfort is.

And underneath all that chaos? A pointed look at idol life. The story circles four women obsessed with “The Boy”, all orbiting the same manufactured sun. But it doesn’t stop there. Even inside the machine, he isn’t safe. K-Pop idols are infantilized to seem pure, sexualized to drive engagement, micromanaged into something consumable. Performers, sure. But also products. Commodities. The industry demands perfection. Fans demand access. Ownership. Devotion. And what makes it sting is the kind of need he becomes a magnet for. Loneliness curdled into fixation. Trauma looking for something pure to cling to. Faith morphing into destiny. Guilt dressed up as sacrifice. Even his handler, who presents himself as measured and altruistic, can’t stand working in the shadow of someone so perfect without feeling diminished.

The boy becomes a screen for projection. Savior. Fantasy. Obsession. Redemption arc. Rival. That’s the real horror simmering underneath it all. Not just the machine, but the way a carefully manufactured boy becomes a vessel for everyone else’s grief, lust, regret, and delusion. He doesn’t even have to do anything. He just has to exist. He’s rarely even there. One chapter. A few flashbacks. A sleeping body in the background. And still, everything bends toward him.

This book is BONKERS. Capital letters earned. And I had a blast.

But let’s manage expectations. First, if you’re new to Asian thrillers and horror, there are a few unspoken rules. Things are going to get icky. Not cute spooky. Icky. Whether it’s sex icky or gore icky, there will be ICK. There will be fluids. You’ll feel… a way. If you’re someone who scans trigger warnings like it’s your part time job, maybe pick a different weekend read.

Next, the prose is deceptively simple. Clean. Matter of fact. Delicate. You’ll either find that restraint unsettling and effective, or you’ll think it feels emotionally stunted. That’s kind of the gamble.

Last, ambiguity is baked in. You may be asked to suspend your disbelief in ways Western writers rarely demand. You may not get tidy explanations. You may not even get moral framing. You just get dropped into the mess and told to sit with it.

Was it cohesive? Not really. Did it fully land every swing? Nope. Who was the lady in the wedding dress? Hell if I know. Did I enjoy the ride? Absolutely.

I noticed some differences between my ARC and the Amazon Kindle sample, and now I’m almost impatient to see the finalized edition in print. This isn’t just a book I enjoyed. It’s one I want on my shelf. To revisit. To sit with again once the dust settles. I have a feeling it’s going to hit differently on a reread.

[Mallorywhobooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am still processing my feelings on this one. I went in expecting a "weird girl" story centered on parasocial relationships and the dark side of fan culture; however, it didn't quite deliver the commentary I was hoping for.

Our four main leads are compellingly unhinged and we get decent backstories for each character as well as a POV of a bodyguard but the overall story takes a dip during all of this. The victim, Yosep, essentially fades into the background, and the narrative shifts its focus to the internal friction between the women and their plans to ensure they aren't caught. While I enjoyed the story for what it was, it didn't fully scratch that itch for a critique of fandom. That said, the narrator was excellent, and I’ll definitely be seeking out more of their work.

Thank you to HarperAudio and NetGalley for the ALC of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

[Paul Fulcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some people fall in love with a figure in an old painting while strolling through an art gallery . . . Compared to them, I would say I’m lucky. I dipped my feet in the same water as him, if only for a moment.

미술관을 걷다 불현듯 오래된 그림 속 인물과 사랑에 빠지는…… 그에 비하면 나는 운이 좋은 셈이지요. 적어도 한순간은 그애와 같은 강물에 발을 담갔으니까요.

Holy Boy (2025) is the translation by Joheun Lee of 성소년 (2021) by 이희주.

The figure, or perhaps the void, at the centre of the novel is Josep, a K-pop idol. The narrator, whose identity is clearer at the novel's end, opens by telling us that, as per the quote above, she was fortunate that her life overlapped with his, if only briefly, and, writing after his death, tells us that she is imagining more details of the story that 'that remains untold between those women and him'.

The story, which comprises much of the novel, has four women obsessed with Josep, some as pure fans, others for deeper reasons (their connection to Josep becoming clearer as the novel progresses): Ahnna, Nami, Mihee, and Heeae. Saju of the four women was under the strong influence of metal, earth, fire, and wood, respectively. Since Yosep’s had water, the five of them were destined to help each other.

Ahnna decides that the only logical outcome of her obsession is to kidnap Josep, concealing him in a remote and abandoned mansion, on the north-east coast close to the Korean border, and recruits the others to help her: After wandering the streets for a while, Ahnna went to the river. On an excessively wide and long bridge, she had only one thought. That she wanted to die. That she wanted to throw herself into the gray, gloomy water. She felt like she could be reborn if she could immerse herself in the rolling stream. She might become milky-white again like a lamb pulled out of a boiling cauldron. But she didn’t let herself fall to the river bottom. Yosep held her back at the last moment. Even if she were to go, she had to embrace him, Yosep, one last time. When she reached that thought, Ahnna scoffed at herself. Embrace Yosep? There was no way she could achieve that unless she kidnapped him or something. Yes, unless she kidnapped him ...

Much of the novel is the story of them holding Josep captive - he has lost his memory, and is convinced by the women that he has also lost the use of his legs in a car accident. Even as someone who has neither read the book, nor seen the movie, it's hard not to think of Stephen King's Misery, but the book acknowledges that by having one of his captors draw the same parallel:

Yosep might have lost his memory, but he hadn’t gone deaf. He might grow suspicious if he learned that the women were driving around when he believed they were marooned in the mansion. What if his memory came back? They wouldn’t be able to keep scaring him and bandaging him up like they were now. They might have to resort to breaking his leg, like in Misery. “That can’t happen. He needs to dance,” Nami said to herself loudly.

As the story progresses, the rivalries between the women come to the surface, each believing Josep's true fate is to be with them and the others are merely helping this destiny, and the level of violence, both to those who might interfere with their plan and between each other, cranks up to somewhat extreme levels, with the K-pop idol himself almost incidental to their machinations.

And the narrator concludes the story by revealing her identity, telling us the aftermath of the incident but perhaps also calling the story she's told us into question.

An effective, and rather different (the Misery link notwithstanding) K-novel. 3.5 stars rounded to 4

Thanks to the publisher via Netgalley for the ARC.

Some selected quotes:

A nod to a real-life hostage situation from Korean in 1988 that mirrors that in the novel (the song referred to The Bees Gees's Holiday, which the hostage-taker was playing as the siege ended)

When Mihee turned on the system and set the radio station, a familiar pop song started to play. “I haven’t heard this in a while,” she said. In a gleeful voice unbecoming of the tragic melody, Ahnna asked, “How do you know this song?” “I heard it on TV.” “Weren’t you only in grade school back when the incident happened? You remember all sorts of things, don’t you?” Ahnna started to hum excitedly. Filthy, unkempt heads began to barge into Mihee’s mind. The criminals who broke into a family’s home and took them hostage in a standoff against the police.

The real-life hostage situation is also famous for the phrase 유전무죄 무전유죄 - “If you have money, innocent. If you don't have money, guilty.” - shouted by the lead hostage-taker. The novel also draws on the Asama-Sansō hostage situation at a remote mountain lodge in Japan in 1972.

The CEO of Josep's talent agency, who is both horrified and impressed by the obsessive K-pop bands, comparing their efforts to those of the generation that rebuilt the country after the Korean War:

“How did we make it all this way from the devastated battlefield using only our bare hands? That’s all our people’s doing. That’s how relentless we are. Smart, diligent, persevering. Where do you think all that blood went to?” The CEO heaved a deep sigh, his admiration and disgust blending together.

“In my opinion, those girls are talented. It takes a special kind of patience to live on the street, stay up all night stalking, and use your brain to send things like these. If they’d been born under the Japanese occupation, they would have fought for independence. If they’d been born just a decade earlier, they would have made their name in pro-democracy protests. The problem is, why are these girls wasting their talent doing this? It’s just amazing. Amazing, but gross.”

“걔들은 말이다. 내가 봤을 때 보통 인재가 아니다. 웬만한 인내심으로는 밤새우면서 쫓아다니고, 길에서 살고, 머리 굴려서 이런 거 보내는 짓 못한다. 일제강점기 같은 때 태어났으면 독립운동했을 거다. 십 년만 일찍 태어났어도 운동으로 날렸을 거다. 문제는 인재들이 왜 이딴 짓을 하고 있느냐 이거다. 하여간 정말 대단하다. 대단한데 징그럽다.”

Ahnna's obsessive view of the need to preserve Yosep's beauty:

The shape of his head deserved to be preserved for generations to come. Along with the Happy Prince’s sapphire eyes, a green emerald plucked from a lion’s heart, and a blood-stained red ruby and a fist-sized white diamond that once sat on top of the mightiest tyrant on earth, Yosep’s smooth chin and cheekbones needed to be displayed under subdued indirect lighting, shrouded in the sweet dust of a museum. And one day, they would get shot by bullets, pouring down like rain at the heart of war, and crumble away along with the glittering blue beetles a model of an evolving human. Such sorrow was the pinnacle of Yosep’s beauty. But all of that was to happen after Ahnna died. She couldn’t let anyone else have Yosep before then.

The quote from the narrator that gives rise to the title, the author herself inspired by Yumiko Kurahashi’s Holy Girl(聖少女/Seisho-jo)

The moment I saw Father’s face—tinged with pity, loneliness, slight affection, and a peculiar sadness for mortal beings—I realized that, unlike those women, his body had meant nothing to him. Father had resigned himself to distributing his meaningless, bound-to-decay body to wretched women who could only satisfy their hunger with his flesh and their thirst with his blood. After this epiphany, I felt at peace, as if enveloped in a massive body of light. My father was a saint. A Holy Boy, who resolved to love no one yet loved everyone.

[jason]

“Holy Boy” is a Misery-esque tale following four women and their obsession with a K-Pop idol. The four women, all infatuated with the idol, Yosep, for varying reasons, unite in their shared love and abduct the young man, taking him to a semi-abandoned mansion in the mountains near the North Korean border.

I’m having a hard time coming up with a rating for this book, so I’m thinking, for now, of leaving it unrated. BUT I’ve had so many thoughts about it since finishing it, and I’d like to think that counts for something. I’ll start with the things I did like. I liked that each of the four women had a distinct reason for obsessing over Yosep.

Mihee: A young woman with a rough childhood and difficult family history. Mihee’s mother was ambivalent toward her; a woman who cared more about her own happiness and consistently engaged in toxic relationships with men, rather than caring for her daughter. Thus Mihee was forced to fend for herself, ultimately ending up on the streets. Mihee finds Yosep while at her lowest, and views Yosep as a light at the end of the tunnel, a reason to keep going.

Nami: Another young woman with a traumatic past, Nami tragically witnessed both of her parents’ deaths in front of her. Following the accident which claimed their lives, Nami is raised by her aunt, a shaman, and follows in her aunt’s footsteps. Nami believes that her and Yosep are destined to be together due to their shared childhood trauma, and are bound together—not by love, but by their pain.

Ahnna: A middle-aged woman with a perverted attraction to younger men, she harbors, possibly, the largest—and most sickening—attraction to Yosep, and knew the idol when he was a child, acting as a tutor for him when he was a boy. Ahnna is debatably the most twisted character in this book, but her delusions did lead to some interesting scenes.

Heeae: Yosep’s birth mother, who gave him up for adoption when he was a baby because she couldn’t provide the life for him he deserved. Propelled by her desire to reunite with her son, she is pulled into the orbit of the other women, primarily Ahnna, as a last-ditch effort to be the mother she never had the chance to be.

Ahnna acts as the ring leader, orchestrating the kidnapping and selecting each of the other women after seeing first-hand their equal obsessions with Yosep. I liked the exploration of fan culture here, and the different ways idolization can come to fruition. Despite the shared desire surrounding Yosep, the four women’s obsessions all have unique roots.

That being said, I don’t think we had as much depth or exploration to their backstories as I would have liked. And one of the glaring issues I have with the book is that there are so many—in my opinion—unnecessary characters. I think the narrative would have worked better had we followed the four women, their backstories, and how that all culminated in the abduction of Yosep, but we follow other side characters, too: Yosep’s manager, who secretly hates the idol; the grandson of the mansion owner and his three friends; a police officer whose father used to visit the mansion the women are holed up in. Ultimately, there are so many characters on the periphery who are explored when they don’t need to be, and this detracts from the story pitched to us. It leads to a jumpy, fractured narrative, which could have been stylistically intended to reflect the mental states of the women, but just felt too messy in its execution for me to even give it points for that.

Additionally, there were some glaringly problematic sentiments expressed here. Now, basically all of these characters are bad people—that’s obvious—and I don’t think that, inherently, an unlikeable character’s opinions should fully sway the way a reader feels about a book as a whole; but ending the book with a character commenting that Yosep probably allowed himself to be sexually assaulted because he was bored during his abduction…I just don’t see any reason for including this at all? It contributes nothing to the plot and only serves to leave a bad taste in the reader’s mouth.

I think there was potential here, and I found myself actually semi-enjoying most of my time reading this. Like I said before, there was room for so much commentary on fanaticism and fan culture, especially in the realm of K-Pop, that just felt half-baked. For instance: the involvement of K-Pop companies in manufacturing idol’s personalities and overall image for the sole purpose of impressionable fans obsessing over them. For instance: the dating scandals idols find themselves in, and how this leads to the idol losing support from their “fans” or retaliation / public ridicule. For instance: the psychology behind fan culture and how different experiences can lead to a person becoming overly obsessive / possessive over an idol. Even the theme of motherhood in relation to Heeae and her desperation to reunite with her son. There were touches of these ideas throughout the novel, but none of them went deep enough for me that I felt it redeemed the less favorable parts of the novel.

Had this been structured differently and tackled a bit more thoroughly, I think this could have been a great exploration of the K-Pop industry and the nature of fans, commenting on the purposeful design of these idols as vessels for people to project themselves onto and fall in love with. However, with a lackluster dive into each of these women, and with the titular “Holy Boy” gracing the novel for maybe about 35 pages of the book, the novel fell flat in its desired execution.

I also think it’s noteworthy that, in the ~K-Pop x obsession~ books I’ve read so far, it’s always a crazed female fan (or fans) obsessing over a male idol. I think it could be worth exploring why these types of narratives use ~crazy~ women and girls as vessels for their commentary on idolization. I feel like this ties back to the generalization that more women inhabit “fan” spaces and overall are more likely to let their emotions control their actions. I can’t help but feel like there’s a twinge of misogyny there, and none of the books I’ve read have delved into that aspect yet. I’d like to see an obsessed idol story including a male character being the lust-er rather than the lusted for (preferably in an MLM situation). But that’s for another day…

[em]

DNF’d @ 60%
The writing was honestly impossible to get through. This book should have been an edgy thriller, delving into parasocial relationships, but instead I was bored out of my mind. The four women were severely underwritten and Yosep himself was as stiff as cardboard. There were also abrupt parts of the book that were overtly sexual and misogynistic for no reason. A let down.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for kindly providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. #HolyBoy #NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[aasiya · Rating 1 out of 5]

I honestly thought I was having a stroke until I realised it was just the writing style. Once I got past that, I then had to endure not one, not two, and nope not three either, but FOUR 2-dimensional women and their obsession with this young idol who you would think, as the victim, would have a lot more of a role to play in this, but nope, I'm wondering if he existed at all (and SPOILER - yes, as a last minute little twist they really tried to go there before taking it back- ridiculous).

The premise was great and a LOT more could have been done using multiple narrators which could have really fleshed out the plot and build on the 4 women's descent into madness and murder. But I feel like the author crammed as much as they could in as little pages as they could and so the execution, like the women's plan, was terrible.

[Robyn Darnell · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you’re expecting a modern day Misery by Stephen King, you will finish this book feeling rather miserable.

Unsure whether it is that maybe some things were lost in translation, but I am still not entirely sure what happened in this book.

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Sad to say this was hard to get through. I appreciate the eARC from NetGalley and HarperVia though, so I felt I needed to finish it. I thought this was going to be a wild and fun ride where four women team up to kidnap a K-pop idol, who they’re all obsessed with and obviously have parasocial relationships with. But there was nearly no action or character development. We hardly hear from the Holy Boy himself. And I was bored for most of the book. The very ending picked up, and I wish that ending had been expanded as the crux of the book instead of what it is. I read that this book started as a story published with weekly installments. Maybe that’s why it seems disjointed with overlapping parts, and having difficulty to get to its point. I think the description and cover don’t set the right tone. Pub date Feb 17, 2026.

[His Ghoul Friday (Julia) · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I’m your number one fan.”

Holy Boy follows the story of four women who kidnap a K-pop idol.

This was really hard to put down. I love that the story plays into Stephen King’s Misery a bit, going as far as even referencing the book. I found it interesting to learn about the main characters’ backstories and how they ended up in this situation.

However the story jumps around a lot which made it super confusing to read at times, but other than that I recommend checking out this “I want to look away, but can’t” type novel.

[Jordyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Those in love plunge to their lowest place.”

Happy pub day to the English translation of HOLY BOY by Lee Heejoo (translated by Joheun Lee). Thank you to HarperVia and Netgalley for this ARC. I was so thrilled about this release and it did not disappoint!

Set at the very end of the 20th century, Holy Boy tells the story of four very different women banding together to kidnap k-pop idol Yosep and hide him away in a mansion in the mountains of Eungrang (fictional town in real life Gangwon-do).

Other than being a psychological tilt-a-whirl, this book depicts parasocial fandom in a way that’s horrifying and at times uncomfortably familiar. As someone who follows k-pop news pretty closely, I see real headlines about crazed fans breaking into idols’ homes or showing up to their bias’s apartments with luggage, ready to move in (yep). And of course there’s the countless fans that dedicate their entire lives to following their idol’s every move, desperately trying to get close.

And as a k-pop fan, I’m well aware of the parasocial nature of this genre and the way “Holy Boys” tend to take up space in our brain in a very unique way. Lee Heejoo excellently depicts how this phenomenon can go wrong with just enough distance to make the reader shudder and a touch of familiarity that forces us to really sit with these characters.

I’ve seen some commentary that entirely missed the point of this book, but I personally thought it was brilliant. Unsettling, disturbing, fascinating, and rife with interesting historical context (please don’t skip the translator’s note!!).

Whether you love or hate this story and whether you love or hate k-pop, I can guarantee you will NEVER forget this book.

“Everyone needed a star in their hearts, an unreachable flower on the cliff to watch for the rest of their lives.”

[Natalie H · Rating 4 out of 5]

February 2026
Paperback edition

I brought this book for my sister, I just got to read it first. Instant Misery vibes and that is mentioned in the story. Apparently the women have limits. No breaking bones.

It’s f’d up from the get go. Four women kidnapping an idol, each with their own reason to do so. It gets weird. The opening chapters are from the idol’s pov. It is weird how he was referred to as boy and at one point I felt the need to double check his age.

I think the saddest bit was the unnecessary deaths on the way. Add in the one that pushed him to ‘fake his death’ and yeah, a lot going on. 4 stars based on a game of Eenie meenie since I couldn’t decide between 3 or 4.

The more I think about this book the more ill I start to feel. I’m hoping she wasn’t the real mother.

[Erin Sharp · Rating 3 out of 5]

IDEK. I need to think about this one. could be a 2, could be a 4. I just don't know.

[emily]

this seems like a mess, i’m so in

[ps.stillreading · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Everyone harbors a weird fantasy or two. It just happens that some people actually have the means to carry them out."

In Holy Boy, four women come together to enact an unhinged plan: kidnap Yosep, their favorite K-pop idol. With Yosep under their control, they plan to show him just how much they love him. And hope that he comes to love them in return.

This book offers an interesting dive into how these four so-called fans turned into obsessed and dangerous individuals who think their actions are justified because of the "love" they have for their idol. Each woman has her own selfish reason for going along with this plan, this parasocial relationship taken to the extreme. What they do is bone-chilling, but also sad. Because these women clearly have nothing else to live for and so they pour everything they have and all that they are towards a K-pop idol who doesn't even know they exist. And the devastating part about this is, despite what they believe, they don't ~know~ Yosep, not truly. They can only fantasize and project their desires onto him.

As I read, I realized Yosep also remained a vague figure to me. We only ever see him the way other characters see him. As a brilliant young K-pop idol. A moneymaker for the company. A delicious young body. An angel of a lost son. A soulmate. A gift from Fate herself. A rival whose beauty and charisma you can never compete with. But the real Yosep? Is he even any of those things, or is he someone else entirely?

And while the four women have Yosep in their grasp, they won't be able to share him forever. Eventually they'll have to find out which one of them will get to win the ultimate prize: Yosep's love.

Thank you to Pan Macmillan and Picador Press for the ARC.
Holy Boy by Lee Heejoo (translated by Joheun Lee) is out today Feb 5, 2026 🫰🏻❤️

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is absolutely bonkers. Holy Boy follows four women who are each vividly well written and, in their own ways, struggling with day to day life. They turn to their idol, Yosep, to bring brightness and hope into what would otherwise be an ordinary life amid the late 1990s South Korea.

The novel does a great job at discussing the human need for love and connection, and how far one will go to claim an idol as their own. There are so many parts of this book that made me flinch or want to stop reading, and Lee definitely doesn’t shy away from uncomfortable and completely outlandish scenarios. Some trigger warnings are needed I think, specifically regarding sexual violence and violence in general, even if the end of the novel puts this into question.

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would, but I think some parts could do with some refining as there’s a lot going on. The structure felt bloated and all over the place, like Lee was trying to do as much as possible in a short span of time.

I liked that Lee was unflinching in their discussion of how far these women were willing to go, as it definitely shows the ugly side of fan culture, especially when things go too far. I think it’s also an important subject with the current culture of unhealthy parasocial relationships.

Thank you to Picador / Pan MacMillan and NetGalley for the arc.

[Leo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Despite the wild premise, this book was boring and full of victim blaming. Rape content warning.

Yosep, our central figure, gets no agency whatsoever and disappears from the story almost entirely. Everyone is both unintelligent, useless, and unhinged—but not in the fun way, but the way that makes you wanna tear out your hair because they all just suck that much.

I had hoped it'd go into parasocial relationships and the toxicity of idol culture, but it kind of just... lightly mentions it and then somewhat forgets. There's no tension whatsoever, and the incredibly stilted translation just makes it that much worse.

More people should've died. Everyone but Yosep should've died.

The daughter victim blaming him for being raped by everyone in the end is crazy. The fact that they won't even really show it is also crazy. They kind of just TLDR everything that could even be remotely suspenseful or shocking and then you're supposed to care that something crazy happened but you don't get to see any of it. Sure.

This book says nothing other than the age old "bitches be crazy". There is no nuance, nothing that can make you even slightly get on board with and/or see how people can get like this. There's just horribly annoying women sucking the whole book and one guy also sucking. And then the victim exists somewhere in the background. Whatever.

[Meems · Rating 4 out of 5]

Idols exist within every facet of the entertainment industry; with the music sphere breeding particularly hardcore followings of artists. Eminem accidentally penned the verb used by many to describe their support: ‘I stan’ youths now text, tweet and post. Whilst Donald Glover explored how far fans are willing to go in ‘Swarm’.

Lee Heejo takes us down the dark side of devotion through her novel ‘Holy Boy’. An unhinged tale traversing the minds of four women all expressing deep admiration (turned addiction) for a young Korean idol. The twists and turns of this book had me hooked from the first chapter. Themes of femininity, motherhood, and age all play a part in the lives of our protagonists. Time is played with in an interesting, if not slightly convoluted way, taking us back and forth across different POVs.

Overall, a greatly uncomfortable read (meaning it most definitely achieved what it set out to do), with plot twists galore, making it very reminiscent of a thrilling kdrama (fingers crossed somebody picks it up for production).

Would highly recommend!

[Caitlin · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5/5

First, thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this eArc in exchange for an honest review.

I'm really so disappointed right now. The cover and the description really promise something completely different than what is given. What the description suggests: Kpop Idol life, a cunning plan, and missteps. What you get: Pedophilia, barely any mentions or interactions the Holy Boy (the idol), rape, and a ton of discomfort.

First, the pedophilia in this is completely unnecessary. This is such an icky thing to write. I truly considered marking this, "dnf" but felt weird about doing so as it was an ARC. I haven't felt so sick reading something maybe ever. This book is supposed to be about a kpop idol, so what was all of that and why.

My second gripe is that we hear from Holy Boy a whopping ONE CHAPTER? He's literally just a plot device when he is supposed to be the entire plot. He's just kind of vaguely mentioned in the background unless he's being sexually assaulted while asleep... which... also... huh? Did anyone predict that being the vibe of this? Not me!!

Also... did the author just forget about the other corpses showing up in town?? What was all of that?? This wasn't the only inconsistenty. The timeline would change, characters would go from a bob cut to long locks the next chapter... I could go on, but I really want to pretend I never read this.

The ending of this is the only thing giving this book an extra half star, and it can thank me for it.

Tl;dnr: Avoid this at all costs as it is not what is described and heavily focuses on absolutely unnecessary vile actions.

[Chelsea is Booked · Rating 3 out of 5]

Four, wildly different women bond over their love for a male K-pop idol. Each for their own reasons decide to work together to kidnap the young man. Holding him in a remote mansion in the woods, the women do what they have to do to keep their secret from getting out. Slowly, they start turning on each other.

This was definitely not what I thought it was going to be. I was expecting more action and thriller but instead this is very much a psychological horror. Its not bad though. The plot is interesting and the story is weird. I feel it left a bit in the air too for reader interpretation and speculation. I thought it was interesting that we got multiple perspectives but they all were related to one person, who we didn't get to hear much from. Knowing what I know now I kind of want to read it again.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.75⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for providing this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I found this to be a muddled, confusing account of four women holding a young man hostage - or, alternatively, four fans keeping their K-pop idol hostage. For something so inherently serious, this was told in such a mundane way that I felt like the author wanted us to assume that it was all a bit of fun.

I was not engaged in the characters or their back stories. The structure was obviously trying to be somewhat nonlinear, but the result was a mess that I could not untangle. The strange ending practically rendered the entire work pointless. It asked some questions and answered nothing.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Way too many low reviews of this that I guess were expecting more of a straightforward airport thriller about a Kpop idol kidnapping. The details of the abduction and his treatment once they have him isolated in an abandoned house are secondary here to the explorations of celebrity obsession, Korean capitalist culture, and character studies of the type of person wanting to do this type of crime. It reminds me in a way of Dennis Cooper's The Sluts in that it's in theory About This Perfect Guy but in actuality it's about the way the pull of that orbit distorts the lives of everyone obsessed with him where who he really is is kinda inconsequential. Really interesting book.

[Mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

With thanks to Pan Macmillan for the proof!

Lee Heejoo offers a thoughtful and unusually tender perspective on the parasocial relationships that grow between idols and their fans. The novel’s ensemble cast, all drifting into the orbit of the enigmatic Holy Boy Yosep, feels vivid and deliberately constructed. The pacing is gentler in the first half but ramps up noticeably in the second, with a few great jaw dropping plot twists throughout. A compelling and original concept that will resonate with readers interested in fame, adoration, and the people behind the spotlight.

[Beth Younge · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting read as it's not the typical cosy crime i normally read from South Korea. The 4 women were all very distinctive in tone and characterisation and i thought that the idol side with Yosep and his manager were also written really well. This felt like it had a distinctive look at idol culture and it felt layered in it's approach. I enjoyed this and can see myself recommending this to other people who enjoy crime novels that blend popular culture and unhinged women.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.

[Dani C · Rating 1 out of 5]

1⭐️ I am SO disappointed with this book as I really thought I was going to love it. First of all, there’s only 3 chapters - with the last chapter being 200 pages. It’s hard to follow and frequently changes perspectives. The plot did not correlate to how this book was pitched to me and I found it very boring. I skim read the last 50% of this book and the ending is just disturbing. *check trigger warnings*

[Sam Holmes · Rating 2 out of 5]

the blurb is so much better than the actual story. It was hard to follow, boring in places, not enough action, and also the random points made in the story that didn't connect made it for an unpleasant reading experience.

[Aoife Cassidy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave up on this at about the half way mark. Nonsensical, misogynistic drivel set in South Korea and dealing with the kidnapping of a K-Pop idol by four crazed women.

Poorly written, poorly translated - just a complete mess that didn’t make a whole lot of sense and was very unpleasant in places.

Avoid unless incoherent ramblings are your thing. One of the worst books I’ve read in recent years.

Many thanks to the publisher Picador and Netgalley for the advance copy.

[Jo Fitch · Rating 2 out of 5]

My instincts told me to dnf this after the first chapter and I wish I had listened. Hours of my life I can't get back