Molka

By: Monika Kim

*This post contains spoilers for Molka

Overview:

Dahye can’t believe her luck when she finds herself in a whirlwind romance with handsome, charismatic Hyukjoon, the heir to a multi-million dollar fortune.

But then a shocking revelation threatens: the couple has been caught on a spycam amid Korea’s growing molka epidemic, and the video is all over the internet. When Hyukjoon flees the country to avoid the intense public scrutiny, Dahye is left to grapple with the ramifications on her own; and the demons from her childhood, long dormant, begin to surface.

Amid the chaos, she catches the attention of Junyoung, a nerdy, introverted IT tech at work. Junyoung harbours a dark secret: he has been spying on the women at work with his own hidden cameras. As Dahye’s life begins to unravel, she unknowingly becomes the sole target of Junyoung’s perverse obsession.

When the facts surrounding the invasion of her privacy come to light, Dahye is faced with the humiliating truth. Her pain and hurt turn to rage as she faces her past. Her desire for vengeance is insatiable, and she will not rest until the men who have wronged her have paid in blood…

Molka

I was looking forward to reading this book so bad. However, I heard it was terrifying so I held onto it for a couple of days before I got the courage to start reading. Honestly, I think I hyped myself up too much because it turned out way less scary than I imagined. Don’t get me wrong, the book was super creepy but not overall scary.

The concept itself is something that everyone should fear. Someone filming your most intimate moments and violating your personal space. This book takes place in Korea where this seems to be more of a known fear than perhaps in the US. It is absolutely a problem here but the name of the book, Molka, is a term given to this type of material. Having a word for this act means that it is very prevent in everyday life.

What’s even more scary, is the punishments that offenders face once caught. Barely any jail time or even a slap on the wrist. Women are told that what happened to them wasn’t that bad and they should almost be thankful that they were only filmed. It’s infuriating and frustrating.

Dahye, reaches her breaking point when she realizes that she is a victim when her images are found on a Molka website. What she doesn’t know is that another man in her life has way more material that he keeps for himself. It isn’t enough that one man has done this to her but to have two men doing this at the same time would make anyone lose it. Although, she doesn’t find out what Junyoung has been up to until she finds him in her apartment during the final pages of the book.

In the end, Dahye is able to get her revenge on Hyukjoon and Junyoung. Hyukjoon meets his demise by Dahye’s own hand and attempts to kill Junyoung as well before she is killed by the police. Junyoung is then later fatally struck by a car driven by Dahye best friend Bora with the presumption that Dahye and her sister’s spirit had aided her. They exacted their revenge on the men that did them wrong but society never saw them as criminals.

Hyukjoon’s disappearance was investigated immediately while Dahye’s case was pushed to the side. Junyoung was considered a hero even though he broke into a woman’s apartment and filmed probably hundreds of women over his lifetime. Dahye knew that she would never get justice so instead she got revenge.

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Overall,

I very much enjoyed this book. Again, I was so worried that it was going to be terrifying but it ended up being creepy and disgusting. I would have loved to see a little more about the entity stalking Dahye that ended up being her sister. I think that could have led to more terrifying moments before Dahye realizes why she is being pursued by her.

However, it is a book that is written well and plays around with time in an interesting way. The time jumps happen at any point in the story and they don’t hold the story up.

It is a book of an uncomfortable truth. The book doesn’t make you feel good and has you checking your surroundings a little extra carefully.

Rating: 4/5 stars