I recently saw this book and was intrigued by the title and cover, it’s also pretty short, so I decided to give it a try.

It is the summer of 2002 when the 18-year-old Hae-on is found murdered. Although there were two serious suspects, the murder was never solved. In the present, Hae-on’s younger sister Da-on hasn’t been able to let go and move on from her older sister’s death. She reflects on her relationship with her sister and the meaning of life and death, while she tries to find the truth about her sister’s death.

I thought this one was interesting. Rather than focusing on the murder mystery, it focuses on how the murder impacts Da-on. Before the murder, the two sisters already had a complicated relationship, as Hae-on was known for being beautiful, as well as being very aloof and not very good at studying. Da-on is her opposite, as she is a rather plain girl who is more extroverted and the top of her grade, and was more like an older sister to Hae-on than the other way around. I thought their relationship was interesting and well done, it felt very authentic. It was also sad to see how the murder causes Da-on to change, as she becomes completely focused on her sister, even getting plastic surgery to look more like her.

I liked how the murder mystery stayed on the ambiguous side throughout the story, although in the end it is very strongly implied who was responsible for the death. That said, the book felt rather short, and I thought the ending was quite sudden. I thought the story was interesting enough and could have been a bit longer, I would have liked to get to know the characters a bit more.

Overall, this was a pretty quick read, and I mostly liked it. I do feel like I wasn’t able to get fully into the story because it was so short, though.