Oxford Soju Club

A Novel

De: Jinwoo Park

Narrado por: Jason Vu

The natural enemy of a Korean is another Korean.

When North Korean spymaster Doha Kim is mysteriously killed in Oxford, his protégé, Yohan Kim, chases the only breadcrumb given to him in Doha’s last breath: “Soju Club, Dr. Ryu.” In the meantime, a Korean American CIA agent, Yunah Choi, races to salvage her investigation of the North Korean spy cell in the aftermath of the assassination. At the center of it all is the Soju Club, the only Korean restaurant in Oxford, owned by Jihoon Lim, an immigrant from Seoul in search of a new life after suffering a tragedy. As different factions move in with their own agendas, their fates become entangled, resulting in a bitter struggle that will determine whose truth will triumph.

Oxford Soju Club weaves a tale of how immigrants in the Korean diaspora are forced to create identities to survive, and how in the end, they must shed those masks and seek their true selves.

©2025 Jinwoo Park (P)2025 Dreamscape Media

Spy Novel Debut of the Year

OXFORD SOJU CLUB by Park Jinwoo is one of the finest spy novels I’ve read in years, and an especially impressive debut. I hope it marks the beginning of a long and productive career for this author in the espionage genre.

I admit a personal bias. I have a close connection to Korea, and this novel resonated deeply with me. What makes OXFORD SOJU CLUB so distinctive is not only its sharply drawn portrait of duplicitous maneuvering among Korean spies in the unlikely setting of Oxford, but also its rich immersion into Korean culture, food, and identity. The cultural texture never feels ornamental. It is essential to the emotional life of the story.

You feel the characters’ profound longing for their homeland and conversely their growing estrangement from it. That emotional tension gives the novel its quiet power. This is not an espionage tale of clean victories and heroic triumphs. There are no true winners here, and that is precisely what makes the story feel honest.

Why do these characters do what they do? Because they are caught beneath the weight of forces far larger than themselves, powers they cannot challenge or escape. And those forces, chillingly, have murderous intent.

Gripping, culturally rich, and morally haunting, I highly recommend OXFORD SOJU CLUB.

Solid narration by Jason Vu, though he mispronounced a few Korean words, for which he could be forgiven.

I wanted to like this book.

This looked like a very different sort of spy story, North Korean, South Koreans and Americans. in the end it almost made sense to me, but it was a struggle throughout. Part of the problem was that the narrator didn't pause even for a breath as the story ping ponged back and forth from the past to the present. I helped myself by writing a phonetic list of the names. Everyone had a real name plus a spy name.
The real problem, I think, is that I could never quite grasp how all this drama between North and South Korea was taking place in Oxford, England. Sleepy, beautiful, historic Oxford.

Outstanding!

One of the best thrillers, not just spy thrillers, I have read in a long, long time. And on top of this is a debut novel??? If this book does make most of the year end best of 2025 lists, I will be shocked. It’s on mine, and Jinwoo Park is also now on my must read list. Highest recommendation!

Great character based espionage fiction

I loved this book, very quick read. It was the rare spy thriller where the non-spy characters were the stars of the show. Would highly recommend.