Molka - by Monika Kim (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

From the author of The Eyes Are the Best Part, praised by The New York Times Book Review as "violent, smart, gruesome and wildly original," a provocative exposé into the hidden world of spy cameras, sexual shaming, and vengeance pursued with a very sharp kitchen knife.

Molka: an abbreviation of molrae-kamera, a "sneaky camera" hidden to capture covert images and videos for voyeurs.

In an unassuming Seoul workplace, IT technician Junyoung's network reaches throughout the whole office. Every entrance. Every lobby. Every bathroom. The women in this building may be cold and dismissive, but whenever they disrespect him, he calls up his favorite images and remembers who holds the real power. Until one, Dahye, sets herself apart from the rest.

Dahye, ever the romantic, yearns to be cherished after years of living in the shadow of her perfect older sister, who tragically drowned years ago. Only her boyfriend seems to appreciate Dahye. He's rich, handsome, famous, and generous--she'd do anything to hold on to the happiness he brings her.

But when a celebrity hidden camera scandal rocks the city, Dahye's dreams of fairy-tale romance sour into a grotesque nightmare. Her boyfriend abandons her. Her parents reject her. Her dead sister appears as a lank-haired, demon-eyed ghost, desperate to reveal a long-hidden secret. As Junyoung falls into obsession with the troubled Dahye, more and more illusions are stripped away, until Dahye turns to extreme lengths to satisfy her own lust for revenge . . .

From the innovative imagination of rising horror star Monika Kim, Molka is an all-too-real snapshot of surveillance, power, and one woman's justified rage.

Review Quotes

Praise for Monika Kim:

"Monika Kim is one of the best of horror's new wave. MOLKA is desperate, brutal, and heart-wrenching, filled with horrors both human and supernatural. A vengeance-fueled must-read from the brilliant author of The Eyes are the Best Part!" --Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Road of Bones and The Night Birds

"Molka is a harrowing, ghastly, page-turning revenge tale that unflinchingly shines a bright light on the evil of an all-too-real, misogynistic, uniquely 21st century horror." --Paul Tremblay, New York Times Bestselling author of Horror Movie and A Head Full of Ghosts

"As brilliant as it is provocative, perverse, and deeply unsettling, Molka is the novel I've been waiting for...A rage-soaked interrogation of power that finally confronts our twinned cultures of surveillance and shame-I couldn't put it down. No one writes the monstrosities of man like Monika Kim, and even though this book lays bare the devastating consequences of nonconsensual voyeurism, I wouldn't hesitate to peek into Kim's brain." --Ling Ling Huang, Award-winning author of Immaculate Conception

"Violent, shocking, and utterly transfixing, Monika Kim returns with a skin-crawling and layered novel examining voyeurism, grief, misogyny, and female rage. Every bit as gruesome and captivating as her debut, Molka is a must read for horror fans who love seeing female revenge served searing and bloody." --Liann Zhang, internationally-bestselling author of Julie Chan is Dead

"Brilliant with addictive prose and a knife-sharp message, this story is so full of cathartic feminine rage and I loved every second of it. Monika Kim's work has swiftly become a must-read for me." --CG Drews, New York Times Bestselling author of Don't Let The Forest In

"Molka is a novel with ugly truths at its heart, where the actions of predatory men have ghostly, and deserved, consequences. Monika Kim has crafted a story that filled me with dread while simultaneously making me root for her protagonist--grieving and sensitive Dahye, a young woman who is both singular and intimately familiar. I read this propulsive novel in one sitting and it will haunt me forever." --Jen Sookfong Lee, internationally-bestselling author of The Hunger We Pass Down

"Brutal and unflinching, Molka is a wild ride through a world of dark obsession, drowned ghosts, and long-overdue revenge. You won't be able to look away as this book cuts you to pieces." --Kylie Lee Baker, author of Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng

"Molka locks you in a grimy closet just as the walls start closing in. Vicious, unsettling, and filled with horrific honesty." --Hailey Piper, Bram Stoker Award (R) winning author of A Game in Yellow

"With razor-sharp effectiveness, Monika Kim rouses the rage of being driven to madness by someone who then blames you for being mad, the heartache of learning that the person you love doesn't even like you, and the dehumanization felt by women reduced to objects by men who ruthlessly collect and consume. A story of betrayal and ghosts, Molka is a masterful work of horror that's sure to be ranked as one of the year's best." --Nick Medina, author of The Whistler

"Razor-sharp, dripping with social commentary, and impossible to put down: with MOLKA, Monika Kim once again raises the bar for horror fiction. I can't wait to see this book get all the hype it deserves." --Johanna van Veen, author of Blood on Her Tongue

"Brimming with feminine rage, heartache, and exquisite body horror, Molka had me flying through its pages while feeling deeply uncomfortable in the best way." --Tatiana Schlote-Bonne, author of The Mean Ones

"By turns eerie and disquieting, sad and affecting, bloody and demented, this feminist fable flays open the rotten heart of South Korea's patriarchal and economically unequal society. Monika Kim's crisp prose and careful plotting delights and disgusts. I couldn't put Molka down." --Ariel Courage, author of Bad Nature

"Molka will make readers squirm with discomfort as it tackles obsession, addiction, injustice, the violence of silence, and the dangers of the seemingly perfect, holding its audience captive under the light of a gas lamp. Kim has toxic character spirals and fascinating absurdist narratives down to a science. A breathless tale of revenge." --Ai Jiang, Bram Stoker Award (R) winning author

"Violent, smart, gruesome and wildly original, this novel pulls readers into a horrific world of murder and cannibalism while also critiquing misogyny, exploring Asian fetishization and stereotypes, sharing what it's like to navigate two cultures and telling a touching story of a family in turmoil." --New York Times Book Review on The Eyes Are the Best Part

"[An] inventive... terrifying tale of misogyny, Asian fetishization, and cannibalism." --TIME magazine, 100 Must-Read Books of 2024 for The Eyes Are the Best Part

"I was enticed from the first line and entertained throughout. The Eyes Are The Best Part is a quirky, engaging read." --Oyinkan Brainthwaite, bestselling author of My Sister, the Serial Killer on The Eyes Are the Best Part

"The perfectly executed pacing ensnares readers even as the story's palpable anxiety evolves into repulsion, daring them to pull their eyes away. Ji-won will stay with readers whether they want her to or not. With obvious nods to the serious issues that underpin Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, and clearly inspired by Gillian Flynn's seminal Gone Girl, Kim has written a novel that every library needs to own." --Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW on The Eyes Are the Best Part

"Obsessive, grotesque, and never predictable, this is a horror debut to sink your teeth into." --Emily M. Danforth, bestselling author of Plain Bad Heroines on The Eyes Are the Best Part

"Visceral, disgusting, glorious. I loved this book and every character in it. Monika Kim's sentences are superb, and I was riveted and nauseated from the very first page. Keep your eyeballs fixed on Kim, she's without a doubt one to watch!" --CJ Leede, author of Maeve Fly on The Eyes Are the Best Part

"A deliciously disturbing dive into a mind warped by pain, anger, and a most unusual craving." --Johnny Compton, author of The Spite House on The Eyes Are the Best Part

"Kim's talent buoys her tale. . . and distinguishes her as a writer to watch." --Publishers Weekly on The Eyes Are the Best Part

"A new voice in horror tells a gripping psychological story about how one woman is driven to do the unthinkable . . . Horror fans will enjoy getting to know this new author, and readers of thrillers will enjoy the unreliable narrator and the pace." --Booklist on The Eyes Are the Best Part

About the Author

Monika Kim is an acclaimed, Sunday Times bestselling author of "violent, smart, gruesome and wildly original" (The New York Times Book Review) horror novels. Her debut, The Eyes Are the Best Part, was a TIME Magazine, New York Times, B&N, and Kobo Best of the Year, as well as a Goodreads Choice Awards finalist and a Bram Stoker Award nominee. A second-generation Korean American, she learned about eating fish eyes and other Korean superstitions from her mother, who immigrated to California from Seoul in 1985. She lives in Los Angeles's Koreatown and can be found online at Monika-Kim.com.