Inhalt: A "mesmerizing" novel of a love triangle and a mysterious disappearance in South Korea ( Booklist ). In the fast-paced, high-urban landscape of Seoul, C and K are brothers who have fallen in love with the same beguiling drifter—Se-yeon—who gives herself freely to both of them. Then, just as they're trying desperately to find connection in an alienated world, Se-Yeon suddenly disappears. All the while, a spectral, calculating narrator haunts the edges of their lives, working to help the lost and hurting find escape through suicide. When Se-yeon reemerges, it is as the narrator's new client. Recalling the emotional tension of Milan Kundera and the existential anguish of Bret Easton Ellis, I Have the Right to Destroy Myself is a dreamlike "literary exploration of truth, death, desire and identity" ( Publishers Weekly ). Cinematic in its urgency, it offers "an atmosphere of menacing ennui [set] to a soundtrack of Leonard Cohen tunes" ( Newark Star-Ledger ). "Kim's novel is art built upon art. His style is reminiscent of Kafka's and also relies on images of paintings (Jacques-Louis David's The Death of Marat, Gustav Klimt's Judith) and film (Jim Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise ). The philosophy—life is worthless and small—reminds us of Camus and Sartre, risky territory for a young writer. But Kim has the advantage of the urban South Korean landscape. Fast cars, sex with lollipops and weather fronts from Siberia lend a unique flavor to good old-fashioned nihilism. Think of it as Korean noir." – Los Angeles Times "Like Georges Simenon, [Kim's] keen engagement with human perversity yields an abundance of thrills as well as chills (and for good measure, a couple of memorable laughs). This is a real find." –Han Ong, author of Fixer Chao