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Molka
From the award-winning 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 journey into a perilous world of voyeurism, scandal, female rage, and vengeance . . . pursued with a very sharp kitchen knife.
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 entire building. He sees every entrance. Every lobby. Every bathroom. The women in this building may be cold and dismissive, but he can always pull up his favorite images of them and remember 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, and generous—and she’d do anything to hold on to the happiness he brings her.
But when a hidden camera scandal rocks the city’s elites, Dahye’s dreams of a fairy-tale romance twist into a grotesque nightmare. Her boyfriend abandons her. Her parents reject her. Her grip on reality begins to shatter as visions of her dead sister suddenly appear. And as Junyoung’s interest in Dahye turns to obsession, and the truths of their troubled lives are revealed, Dahye must go to extreme lengths to bring the truth to light . . .
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 entire building. He sees every entrance. Every lobby. Every bathroom. The women in this building may be cold and dismissive, but he can always pull up his favorite images of them and remember 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, and generous—and she’d do anything to hold on to the happiness he brings her.
But when a hidden camera scandal rocks the city’s elites, Dahye’s dreams of a fairy-tale romance twist into a grotesque nightmare. Her boyfriend abandons her. Her parents reject her. Her grip on reality begins to shatter as visions of her dead sister suddenly appear. And as Junyoung’s interest in Dahye turns to obsession, and the truths of their troubled lives are revealed, Dahye must go to extreme lengths to bring the truth to light . . .
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 28, 2026
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About the author
Monika Kim
4 books2,067 followersMonika is a second-generation Korean American living in Los Angeles’s Koreatown. She learned about eating fish eyes and other Korean superstitions from her mother, who immigrated to California from Seoul in 1985.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,389 reviews
May 3, 2026
THESE MEN AINT SH!T
This was infuriating and upsetting, and while it had some of the “good for her” and feminine rage vibes I was hoping for, this story is mostly all about the ways that men are just absolute garbage
This was infuriating and upsetting, and while it had some of the “good for her” and feminine rage vibes I was hoping for, this story is mostly all about the ways that men are just absolute garbage
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
⭐️ 4 ⭐️ Like many of us, I love the use of social media and share bits and pieces of myself in my reviews. The concept of privacy is different today than it has been in the past. With growth of social platforms and technological advancements, what is privacy and consent? Consensually, we share a lot of information on a daily basis. But does anyone really know how much of our information is shared non-consensually? In South Korea, as a factual example, there is a widespread "molka" epidemic that involves illicit filming in public places. Molka means "miniature spy cameras" also known as 'sneaky cameras' that are often installed to capture voyeuristic images and videos. The tiny cameras record victims without consent and then that footage is sold or streamed elsewhere. This is clearly very illegal and brings myriad number of problems including shame to many who are affected. This novel does a great job exploring a vast number of serious issues: privacy & consent, exploitation, power dynamics, sexualization of women and young girls, toxic masculinity and male entitlement, shame in East Asian cultures and how technology can magnify harm.
Set in Seoul, the story follows Dahye, a young woman whose private life becomes a nightmare when an intimate video of her is released all over the internet. She's dating a rich, charming, handsome man--Hyukjoon, who she falls in love with. Blinded by love, Dahye can't see through all the red flags. He leaves her to deal with this situation all alone and her life begins to crumble. Meanwhile, we have Junyoung, a coworker of Danye who is a total stalker and a creep. He uses molkas in all the bathrooms to spy on women in the building and has dirty fantasies and labels women according to the color of their panties. These two stories, while initially separate, become intertwined in something that becomes so infuriating and unsettling, it will make your inside curl with rage and anger.
This story wasn't simply just about voyeurism, its about the unnerving social horrors that women face on a day to day basis. It's sad to say this, but gender does play a big role in the justice system. It's socially and statistically known that women do not get a fair treatment or same justice as men do. When a woman is sexually assaulted, most of the reported grievances are swept under the rug with no justice served. When a woman is sexualized and prayed on over an outfit, society screams 'it's her fault for tempting a male'. When a woman chooses to have romantic relationships and sexual activities prior to marriage or even post a divorce, the society (in many cultures) shames and ostracizes her in all ways possible. Would these scandals and grievances be understood differently if the victims were men? Sure, the socioeconomic status and background play a major role in justice, but is justice ever served fairly? Absolutely not. Toxic masculinity, entitlement and power dynamic will always overshadow women, regardless of socioeconomic status. Sometimes women have to take maters into their own hands to make sure that justice is served right. Molka, in that regard, is a slow burn of justice, reclaim of control and a reflection of much deeper issues in modern society.
First and foremost, I want to praise Monika Kim for a creative way in which she delivered a gut punching story of victim. The horror elements were excellent. I was very touched by the relationship between the main character and her sister's ghost. I'm not familiar with Korean mythology, but I can say it felt distinct and moody. The suspense slowly creeped on you in the right corners, creating a very unsettling reading experience while highlighting all the major points of the story. I also enjoyed the dual narration of two converging stories. Danye's story was atrocious. Her life was one horror story. The book made me feel and think all kinds of emotions about how women are treated all around the world, how women are harassed and nothing significant is done about it. How our privacy is invaded and police force just sweeps it under the rug or how fathers teach their sons that all women are weak, pathetic and prone to fits of hysteria. In Molka, Kim really wrote the most despicable male characters who believed that women are pliable things and their sole purpose is to be molded into whatever the man wants, into their own sick form of an 'ideal woman'.
Secondly, and here is where I felt the disconnect, the book (on its cover) promises thirst for revenge and the premise says 'her desire for vengeance is insatiable', but the deliverance of this insatiable rage & hunger was nowhere close to what I expected. While it's extremely well written, vengeance and rage is nowhere in sight until 85% into the story. I felt this was a bit anticlimactic and reduced my rating of this book. I wanted more obsessing and plotting on Danye's end but the deliverance of it should have hit harder. It felt a bit emotionally restrained for me despite how gripping the entire book was.
Lastly, the ending. I think a lot of people will be split in the endings interpretation. I was not expecting it to go the way that it did. I thought it didn't land or cohere on a level with my expectations. Was I surprised? Yes but I didn't think Danye "won" with that ending. A part of me thought it was a disservice to everything that she went through. I expected it to be more powerful. I wanted to see justice served, and while it was served, it wasn't served in the way that benefited Danye.
This book is featured on BOTM! You can get this book just for $1 until April 30th using this link: https://www.mybotm.com/bgnrjn6qk0o
You can cancel anytime! I love this subscription service and always highly recommend them!
Many thanks to NetGalley, Kensington Publishing and the author, Monica Kim for the early eARC!
Publication date: April 28, 2026
Set in Seoul, the story follows Dahye, a young woman whose private life becomes a nightmare when an intimate video of her is released all over the internet. She's dating a rich, charming, handsome man--Hyukjoon, who she falls in love with. Blinded by love, Dahye can't see through all the red flags. He leaves her to deal with this situation all alone and her life begins to crumble. Meanwhile, we have Junyoung, a coworker of Danye who is a total stalker and a creep. He uses molkas in all the bathrooms to spy on women in the building and has dirty fantasies and labels women according to the color of their panties. These two stories, while initially separate, become intertwined in something that becomes so infuriating and unsettling, it will make your inside curl with rage and anger.
This story wasn't simply just about voyeurism, its about the unnerving social horrors that women face on a day to day basis. It's sad to say this, but gender does play a big role in the justice system. It's socially and statistically known that women do not get a fair treatment or same justice as men do. When a woman is sexually assaulted, most of the reported grievances are swept under the rug with no justice served. When a woman is sexualized and prayed on over an outfit, society screams 'it's her fault for tempting a male'. When a woman chooses to have romantic relationships and sexual activities prior to marriage or even post a divorce, the society (in many cultures) shames and ostracizes her in all ways possible. Would these scandals and grievances be understood differently if the victims were men? Sure, the socioeconomic status and background play a major role in justice, but is justice ever served fairly? Absolutely not. Toxic masculinity, entitlement and power dynamic will always overshadow women, regardless of socioeconomic status. Sometimes women have to take maters into their own hands to make sure that justice is served right. Molka, in that regard, is a slow burn of justice, reclaim of control and a reflection of much deeper issues in modern society.
First and foremost, I want to praise Monika Kim for a creative way in which she delivered a gut punching story of victim. The horror elements were excellent. I was very touched by the relationship between the main character and her sister's ghost. I'm not familiar with Korean mythology, but I can say it felt distinct and moody. The suspense slowly creeped on you in the right corners, creating a very unsettling reading experience while highlighting all the major points of the story. I also enjoyed the dual narration of two converging stories. Danye's story was atrocious. Her life was one horror story. The book made me feel and think all kinds of emotions about how women are treated all around the world, how women are harassed and nothing significant is done about it. How our privacy is invaded and police force just sweeps it under the rug or how fathers teach their sons that all women are weak, pathetic and prone to fits of hysteria. In Molka, Kim really wrote the most despicable male characters who believed that women are pliable things and their sole purpose is to be molded into whatever the man wants, into their own sick form of an 'ideal woman'.
Secondly, and here is where I felt the disconnect, the book (on its cover) promises thirst for revenge and the premise says 'her desire for vengeance is insatiable', but the deliverance of this insatiable rage & hunger was nowhere close to what I expected. While it's extremely well written, vengeance and rage is nowhere in sight until 85% into the story. I felt this was a bit anticlimactic and reduced my rating of this book. I wanted more obsessing and plotting on Danye's end but the deliverance of it should have hit harder. It felt a bit emotionally restrained for me despite how gripping the entire book was.
Lastly, the ending. I think a lot of people will be split in the endings interpretation. I was not expecting it to go the way that it did. I thought it didn't land or cohere on a level with my expectations. Was I surprised? Yes but I didn't think Danye "won" with that ending. A part of me thought it was a disservice to everything that she went through. I expected it to be more powerful. I wanted to see justice served, and while it was served, it wasn't served in the way that benefited Danye.
This book is featured on BOTM! You can get this book just for $1 until April 30th using this link: https://www.mybotm.com/bgnrjn6qk0o
You can cancel anytime! I love this subscription service and always highly recommend them!
Many thanks to NetGalley, Kensington Publishing and the author, Monica Kim for the early eARC!
Publication date: April 28, 2026
December 14, 2025
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
I’ve often thought, I wish I could be a fly on the wall. To hear what people say about you when you’re not in their presence. To hear the unfiltered and unencumbered. People in an unobserved state are fascinating to me, but that’s about where someone’s voyeuristic curiosity should start and stop.
This book ratchets up that voyeurism to 100. The men in this book are villainous and vile, and deserve everything coming to them in this story. And come to them it does.
This taps into the female revenge trope, and injects a healthy dose of novelty into its veins. It spends most of the story with our protagonist in the dark, as we look in with horror and sympathy, but once she becomes illuminated, her fearlessness and ferocity prevail. Dayhe is a well rounded main character. She is vulnerable and frail. She is fierce and powerful. She is flawed and relatable.
Kim spends most of the novel ramping up the despicability of the men, and the systems that enable female subjugation, and does so very effectively. It’s hard to know who the real villain is, the men or the institutions that give them license, but in the end, it doesn’t really matter. Both work in concert to monstrous ends.
The supernatural element felt slightly out of place in the story, but it wasn’t enough to pull me out of it. I enjoyed this book immensely. A very solid sophomore showing for an author on the rise.
I’ve often thought, I wish I could be a fly on the wall. To hear what people say about you when you’re not in their presence. To hear the unfiltered and unencumbered. People in an unobserved state are fascinating to me, but that’s about where someone’s voyeuristic curiosity should start and stop.
This book ratchets up that voyeurism to 100. The men in this book are villainous and vile, and deserve everything coming to them in this story. And come to them it does.
This taps into the female revenge trope, and injects a healthy dose of novelty into its veins. It spends most of the story with our protagonist in the dark, as we look in with horror and sympathy, but once she becomes illuminated, her fearlessness and ferocity prevail. Dayhe is a well rounded main character. She is vulnerable and frail. She is fierce and powerful. She is flawed and relatable.
Kim spends most of the novel ramping up the despicability of the men, and the systems that enable female subjugation, and does so very effectively. It’s hard to know who the real villain is, the men or the institutions that give them license, but in the end, it doesn’t really matter. Both work in concert to monstrous ends.
The supernatural element felt slightly out of place in the story, but it wasn’t enough to pull me out of it. I enjoyed this book immensely. A very solid sophomore showing for an author on the rise.
March 30, 2026
Molka felt like a real life horror story! This is a dark book, that grabbed my attention at the very beginning. The word Molka is a Korean term for spy cameras that secretly and illegally get installed, so that they can watch people in public spaces. We know people do this everywhere and it is extremely disgusting, disturbing, unethical and horrifying. While this book captured my attention at the very beginning, it did slow down in the middle, then had a quick build up towards the end.
“Molka” is about how a woman’s life gets destroyed by a toxic man. Furthermore, it also goes over the different culture in South Korea. Even though this book is very unsettling, it comes with twists and female rage. There’s just something I love about female rage in books. This novel had a real life premise and was horrific in many ways! It was well written, easy to follow, fast paced, and discussed modern day real life issues. This book has really heavy trigger warnings, please keep that in mind. It gave me the book, “Bat Eater” by Kylie Lee Baker vibes! Overall, I give this book 5 out of 5 stars!
Thank you to NetGalley, author Monika Kim Kensington Publishing, and Erewhon Books for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
This book is set to be released on April 28, 2026!
Side Note: This is the same author as award winning, “The Eyes are The Best Part” novel!!
“Molka” is about how a woman’s life gets destroyed by a toxic man. Furthermore, it also goes over the different culture in South Korea. Even though this book is very unsettling, it comes with twists and female rage. There’s just something I love about female rage in books. This novel had a real life premise and was horrific in many ways! It was well written, easy to follow, fast paced, and discussed modern day real life issues. This book has really heavy trigger warnings, please keep that in mind. It gave me the book, “Bat Eater” by Kylie Lee Baker vibes! Overall, I give this book 5 out of 5 stars!
Thank you to NetGalley, author Monika Kim Kensington Publishing, and Erewhon Books for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
This book is set to be released on April 28, 2026!
Side Note: This is the same author as award winning, “The Eyes are The Best Part” novel!!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I am sad to say it, but Dahye does not in fact pop off in this one. I loooooved The Eyes Are the Best Part so when I heard Queen Monika was coming out with Molka I just had to get my hands on it. I know the original scandal & I also know Monika's talent so this was one of my highly anticipated reads going into 2026 & I'll be honest I did not love it....not even remotely as close to how much I loved her debut. One thing I'll give Monika Kim is she reminds me how much I don't trust men. She really knows how to write the most despicable men & in this one every single one of them is just diabolical.
This started off really strong, especially with Junyoung being the creep that he is & trying to figure out how he's going to fit into the story, but then it just progressively gets slower & slower. I understand the purpose of this book & appreciate the awareness the author was trying to raise with it & it's commentary throughout but this was just way too slow for how short it is.
The only redeemable character in this entire book is Bora. Our mc, Dahye has close to zero personality & if i'm being completely honest she was kind of dumb. Me, you & everyone else's mother brothers sisters & cousins could see Hyukjoon was a walking red flag from 5 miles away except for Dahye apparently & I have astigmatism in both eyes with -6.50 prescription ok, there's no reason for Dahye to have been this blind to how awful Hyukjoon was. Junyoung is a level 10 perv & by the sixth mention of his erections I was ready to report his ass for fictional harassment.
I think my main disappointment is how misleading the synopsis is. Respectfully, you cannot claim Dahye's desire for vengeance is insatiable & this is a story about female revenge & then deliver one & a half scene of very mid revenge at the very end. Literally nothing happens until 85% of the way through & when it did... dare I say it was anticlimactic. We were scooping eyes out & eating them for snacks in the last one, where is the vengeance/rage everyone is talking about?
it's not a bad book by any means but with how great her debut was I expected a lot more blood to be shed. Maybe if we spent as much time diving into the obsessing, plotting & eventually enacting actual revenge as much as we spent hearing about Junyoung & his penis this would have been a 5 star.
Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review
This started off really strong, especially with Junyoung being the creep that he is & trying to figure out how he's going to fit into the story, but then it just progressively gets slower & slower. I understand the purpose of this book & appreciate the awareness the author was trying to raise with it & it's commentary throughout but this was just way too slow for how short it is.
The only redeemable character in this entire book is Bora. Our mc, Dahye has close to zero personality & if i'm being completely honest she was kind of dumb. Me, you & everyone else's mother brothers sisters & cousins could see Hyukjoon was a walking red flag from 5 miles away except for Dahye apparently & I have astigmatism in both eyes with -6.50 prescription ok, there's no reason for Dahye to have been this blind to how awful Hyukjoon was. Junyoung is a level 10 perv & by the sixth mention of his erections I was ready to report his ass for fictional harassment.
I think my main disappointment is how misleading the synopsis is. Respectfully, you cannot claim Dahye's desire for vengeance is insatiable & this is a story about female revenge & then deliver one & a half scene of very mid revenge at the very end. Literally nothing happens until 85% of the way through & when it did... dare I say it was anticlimactic. We were scooping eyes out & eating them for snacks in the last one, where is the vengeance/rage everyone is talking about?
it's not a bad book by any means but with how great her debut was I expected a lot more blood to be shed. Maybe if we spent as much time diving into the obsessing, plotting & eventually enacting actual revenge as much as we spent hearing about Junyoung & his penis this would have been a 5 star.
Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review
April 12, 2026
In my opinion Monika Kim's sophomore novel is even more terrifying than her debut. Which is quite the achievement considering that The Eyes Are The Best Part is about a young woman developing a certain hunger for eyeballs. But Molka's horror is more grounded, more real, and thus all the more terrifying to me. Molka is the Korean term for hidden spy cameras often used for voyeurism, and apparently it's quite the problem in South Korea. The molka epidemic regularly destroys women's lives while the actual perpetrators only ever face mild charges or none at all. Reporting a molka crime often leads to nothing, but at the same time it's a huge scandal once public figures are involved. Make it make sense. Everything about that is appalling and infuriating, but I still was strangely hooked by one of the main characters being a pervert who installed cameras in all the women's restrooms in his office building. His POV was so absurd to me. The absolute entitlement and arrogance of this mediocre man and the way he looked down on every person (but especially women) made me hate him so bad. Of course, he isn't a character that the reader is supposed to root for and serves as the prime example for toxic male behavior. But honestly, every single male character in this book was terrible. And I wish that I could now tell you about the badass female character who slaughtered them all, but the other main character Dahye really wasn't that bitch. She was dating a rich guy who was way out of her league and who was one big walking red flag. But Dahye was completely in love with him and very naïve in that regard. She only notices that something is wrong when it's too late and she herself gets involved in a molka scandal. But I also understand her as a character who is failed by the system and let down by almost everyone. Her sister tragically died and her parents blame her for it, and I interpret it as her jumping at the opportunity of love from someone else at the first possible moment. So her character did make a lot of sense to me, but her whole story still wasn't what I expected. This was not the grand revenge tale that this was kinda marketed as, and the ending was overall more hopeless than hopeful to me. It just showed once again that the system is letting women down or ignoring them completely on a daily basis while men basically just have to exist and get everything handed to them. Men are believed and their bad behavior gets excused or isn't seen as bad at all. If a woman acts the same way she is hysteric or dramatic or psychopathic and nobody wants to deal with her. Nothing about that is new to me, but it still hits when such facts are classified as what they should be: horror.
Huge thanks to NetGalley and Erewhon Books for providing a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.
Huge thanks to NetGalley and Erewhon Books for providing a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.
April 28, 2026
What we have here is a nice little female revenge story. It shows the tipping point of one woman after she’s had enough of being mistreated by men.
As per the author’s note, South Korea has a molka epidemic. There are tiny little cameras hidden everywhere, and not much is being done about them.
Sometimes you just need to take matters into your own hands.
Junyoung currently works in IT as support staff. He spends his day taking mundane calls and watching videos from all of the cameras he’s hidden, most importantly in the women’s bathroom. He’s absolutely just plain creepy.
Dahye works in the same building as Junyoung, and he becomes infatuated with her. She, on the other hand, has started dating Hyukjoon, who is the son of a very wealthy businessman. She falls for him rather quickly; however, things hit a speed bump when a sexual video of them is released to the media. His father does damage control and has him leave the country, and Dahye is left to pick up the pieces. Unfortunately, Hyukjoon isn’t as innocent as he seems. And the police are not concerned, to say the least.
This is more of a slow burn of creepiness. Dahye starts off as more of a shy woman who is constantly bowing down to others; however, the more she takes, we see her transition into her request for revenge and stop being a doormat. With each page turn, I could feel the tension increasing. There is a payout at the end, and it’s worth waiting for.
For those expecting something super action-packed, this is not it, but it is definitely still a page turner. And a creepy one at that. This is my first book by the author, and now I need to check out her previous one. I also will never look at vents in bathrooms the same way again.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
As per the author’s note, South Korea has a molka epidemic. There are tiny little cameras hidden everywhere, and not much is being done about them.
Sometimes you just need to take matters into your own hands.
Junyoung currently works in IT as support staff. He spends his day taking mundane calls and watching videos from all of the cameras he’s hidden, most importantly in the women’s bathroom. He’s absolutely just plain creepy.
Dahye works in the same building as Junyoung, and he becomes infatuated with her. She, on the other hand, has started dating Hyukjoon, who is the son of a very wealthy businessman. She falls for him rather quickly; however, things hit a speed bump when a sexual video of them is released to the media. His father does damage control and has him leave the country, and Dahye is left to pick up the pieces. Unfortunately, Hyukjoon isn’t as innocent as he seems. And the police are not concerned, to say the least.
This is more of a slow burn of creepiness. Dahye starts off as more of a shy woman who is constantly bowing down to others; however, the more she takes, we see her transition into her request for revenge and stop being a doormat. With each page turn, I could feel the tension increasing. There is a payout at the end, and it’s worth waiting for.
For those expecting something super action-packed, this is not it, but it is definitely still a page turner. And a creepy one at that. This is my first book by the author, and now I need to check out her previous one. I also will never look at vents in bathrooms the same way again.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
Currently Reading
May 7, 2026molka (n): the Korean term for spy cameras secretly and illegally installed, often to capture voyeuristic images and videos
The bar is in hell, but I support women's wrongs. 💅
The bar is in hell, but I support women's wrongs. 💅
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the ARC!
🌟🌟🌟✨/5
Monika Kim's sophomore novel 'Molka' is a great addition to the 'true horror often lies in heinous acts committed by humans' literary canon. This book made me deeply uncomfortable and angry right from the first chapter and that's how I knew it was (mostly) going to be a hit.
As always, I appreciate books that provide trigger warnings right at the beginning. Please do not overlook them; the book gets very dark. I also appreciate the author's note. I wasn't aware of Molka scandals before reading this book, so the author's note was both enlightening and very disturbing for me. She mentions how it became extremely rampant (and resulted in other crimes like rape and blackmail) and how the perpetrators were often never given the punishment they deserved.
Monika Kim excels at writing men so vile they make your blood boil right from the moment they enter the story. Along with the protagonist Dahye, the other perspective was of Junyoung, the man who installed cameras in every single one of the women's restrooms. I'm sure you can imagine how horrifying the reading experience was. I had to put down the book several times because I couldn't read on. Dahye was a protagonist who was far from perfect and quite flawed, but also someone I (obviously) felt empathy for. She had been living in the shadow of her 'perfect sister' for years. In the present, her life was wrecked by a Molka scandal. Oh, and the ghost of said sister (who committed suicide a few years ago) may or may not be haunting her. Misogyny is a prevalent theme in 'Molka', and there were a lot of subtle moments along with the main plotline that highlighted this. I like how, in some capacity, the book made a point about how misogyny is carried from generation to generation, and how people like Junyoung end up how they are because of how they were raised. The revenge scenes were satisfying but a bit abrupt, considering nothing...violent/female rage-ish happened for most of the book.
Although I'm glad the story wasn't wrapped up in a neat little bow by the end (that would've done the subject matter a great disservice), some more explanation about the ending would've made it better. I have mixed feelings about the ambiguous note the book ended on. In some ways, 'Molka' was similar to Kylie Lee Baker's 'Bat Eater'. However, Baker's novel wove together social commentary and chilling supernatural elements in a better way than this book did. For me, the ghostly and realistic aspects of 'Molka' didn't come together that well. That, and a particular plot point that wasn't addressed at all made me knock down a star from my rating.
For the most part, 'Molka' succeeded at what it set out to achieve. It is a necessary book despite of it's shortcomings, and I appreciate the author raising awareness through her work. As the author's note says, the story is not meant to make you lose hope. At its heart, it is about resilience of women and female solidarity. I can't wait to see what Monika Kim comes up with next!
🌟🌟🌟✨/5
Monika Kim's sophomore novel 'Molka' is a great addition to the 'true horror often lies in heinous acts committed by humans' literary canon. This book made me deeply uncomfortable and angry right from the first chapter and that's how I knew it was (mostly) going to be a hit.
As always, I appreciate books that provide trigger warnings right at the beginning. Please do not overlook them; the book gets very dark. I also appreciate the author's note. I wasn't aware of Molka scandals before reading this book, so the author's note was both enlightening and very disturbing for me. She mentions how it became extremely rampant (and resulted in other crimes like rape and blackmail) and how the perpetrators were often never given the punishment they deserved.
Monika Kim excels at writing men so vile they make your blood boil right from the moment they enter the story. Along with the protagonist Dahye, the other perspective was of Junyoung, the man who installed cameras in every single one of the women's restrooms. I'm sure you can imagine how horrifying the reading experience was. I had to put down the book several times because I couldn't read on. Dahye was a protagonist who was far from perfect and quite flawed, but also someone I (obviously) felt empathy for. She had been living in the shadow of her 'perfect sister' for years. In the present, her life was wrecked by a Molka scandal. Oh, and the ghost of said sister (who committed suicide a few years ago) may or may not be haunting her. Misogyny is a prevalent theme in 'Molka', and there were a lot of subtle moments along with the main plotline that highlighted this. I like how, in some capacity, the book made a point about how misogyny is carried from generation to generation, and how people like Junyoung end up how they are because of how they were raised. The revenge scenes were satisfying but a bit abrupt, considering nothing...violent/female rage-ish happened for most of the book.
Although I'm glad the story wasn't wrapped up in a neat little bow by the end (that would've done the subject matter a great disservice), some more explanation about the ending would've made it better. I have mixed feelings about the ambiguous note the book ended on. In some ways, 'Molka' was similar to Kylie Lee Baker's 'Bat Eater'. However, Baker's novel wove together social commentary and chilling supernatural elements in a better way than this book did. For me, the ghostly and realistic aspects of 'Molka' didn't come together that well. That, and a particular plot point that wasn't addressed at all made me knock down a star from my rating.
For the most part, 'Molka' succeeded at what it set out to achieve. It is a necessary book despite of it's shortcomings, and I appreciate the author raising awareness through her work. As the author's note says, the story is not meant to make you lose hope. At its heart, it is about resilience of women and female solidarity. I can't wait to see what Monika Kim comes up with next!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
3.5 Stars
This is a difficult book to recommend because it's definitely not for everyone and honestly I'm not sure if it was for me.
Given the subject matter, this novel involves a lot of adult content which by itself is not an issue for me. However, since this horror, not romance, these elements were tackled from a crude and uncomfortable perspective. I'm definitely not a prude but I didn't exactly have a fun time with those elements. I understand that the book handles tough topics and my visceral reaction was likely intended by the author. However it's not the kind of book that I would want to reread or even revisit in my mind.
I would recommend this primarily to horror readers who enjoy intense stories that push boundaries and ultimately push you to feel uncomfortable. If you love that feeling, this novel may be up your alley.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
This is a difficult book to recommend because it's definitely not for everyone and honestly I'm not sure if it was for me.
Given the subject matter, this novel involves a lot of adult content which by itself is not an issue for me. However, since this horror, not romance, these elements were tackled from a crude and uncomfortable perspective. I'm definitely not a prude but I didn't exactly have a fun time with those elements. I understand that the book handles tough topics and my visceral reaction was likely intended by the author. However it's not the kind of book that I would want to reread or even revisit in my mind.
I would recommend this primarily to horror readers who enjoy intense stories that push boundaries and ultimately push you to feel uncomfortable. If you love that feeling, this novel may be up your alley.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
Want to Read
March 11, 2025I will read any "good for her" revenge book that Monika Kim writes. So excited for this!!
January 17, 2026
Such a bummer to report that this was not my cup of tea. The Eyes Are the Best Part was one of my favourite books of 2024 so my hopes/expectations were high for this one. The beginning of the book was strong and did a good job of creating discomfort, anger, and disgust. But as the story went on it really lost me. Somehow following the pervy guy was more engaging than following Dahye, which is such a shame. Her character just felt so dull. Also some things that were thrown in here just felt unnecessary and unbelievable. Ultimately, I felt pretty disconnected from the story even though I love reading about female rage and the patriarchy. I don’t think this one will stick with me. Regardless, I will still be keen to look out for Monika Kim’s next release.
Thank you very much to NetGalley for an early copy for review.
Thank you very much to NetGalley for an early copy for review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
“All pigs go to the slaughterhouse to die.”
Going into this without having read 'The Eyes Are the Best Part', I approached the story with a clean slate and no set expectations. What I found most impressive was the sheer readability of the prose. For a reader with a demanding schedule, the author’s straightforward and uncomplicated style is a breath of fresh air. The narrative moves forward with such clarity that I never felt the need to 'rewind' or double-back to track the plot—a rare and appreciated quality for anyone short on time.
There is no denying the power of the source material here; the author clearly draws from the 'Burning Sun' scandal to create a cast of truly repulsive male antagonists.
This novel is a morbidly fascinating dive into the systemic failures of the Korean justice system. While it leans into familiar cinematic tropes—specifically the 'damsel vs. chaebol' dynamic found in many K-dramas—the story is grounded in the harrowing real-world violations women face daily. Even when the plot takes a turn for the surreal or unbelievable, the female rage on display remains deeply resonant. In a world where legal systems so often fail victims, the protagonist's quest for revenge offers a cathartic and immense satisfaction that transcends the limits of reality.
It could have been much grittier and more gruesome; however, while it wasn't as extreme as I’d liked, the eventual comeuppance for the vile male characters still made for a satisfying, if predictable, conclusion.
My thanks to NetGalley for a digital arc and I'm leaving this review voluntarily.
Going into this without having read 'The Eyes Are the Best Part', I approached the story with a clean slate and no set expectations. What I found most impressive was the sheer readability of the prose. For a reader with a demanding schedule, the author’s straightforward and uncomplicated style is a breath of fresh air. The narrative moves forward with such clarity that I never felt the need to 'rewind' or double-back to track the plot—a rare and appreciated quality for anyone short on time.
There is no denying the power of the source material here; the author clearly draws from the 'Burning Sun' scandal to create a cast of truly repulsive male antagonists.
This novel is a morbidly fascinating dive into the systemic failures of the Korean justice system. While it leans into familiar cinematic tropes—specifically the 'damsel vs. chaebol' dynamic found in many K-dramas—the story is grounded in the harrowing real-world violations women face daily. Even when the plot takes a turn for the surreal or unbelievable, the female rage on display remains deeply resonant. In a world where legal systems so often fail victims, the protagonist's quest for revenge offers a cathartic and immense satisfaction that transcends the limits of reality.
It could have been much grittier and more gruesome; however, while it wasn't as extreme as I’d liked, the eventual comeuppance for the vile male characters still made for a satisfying, if predictable, conclusion.
My thanks to NetGalley for a digital arc and I'm leaving this review voluntarily.
November 20, 2025
I loved the author’s note at the beginning of this. It’s extra upsetting that molka scandals are a real thing that happens to women on a fairly regular basis. On some level I knew about inappropriate public surveillance, but I didn’t know how prevalent it was or how powerless the victims are to find any sort of justice. (There's also a lot more going on in this story, and all of it is tough to read about.) "Molka" as a novel is gross and uncomfortable, but it’s written that way on purpose. I was infuriated by the end of it. But Monika Kim is a great writer, and if I only read the easy stories then I would miss out on some of the important ones. (Though I will caution that this was not a great time, a lot of the time.)
Kim is also the author of “The Eyes Are the Best Part.” I liked that one, but even with the darker subject matter I liked this one more. (Kind of a weird thing to say about such a repulsive plot, but it was so well-written and interesting, and I was involved with where the story was going to take me even as I felt the anger and stress of the main character.)
Kim is so good at writing from the perspective of an absolute dirtbag. The villains of this story, especially the one whose POV we follow, were a little too convincing. Any time I'm confronted with the evil of human nature, that's the thing that gets under my skin the most. But "Molka" also has a supernatural element on top of the gritty realism, which I won't go into detail about since it doesn't appear to be mentioned in the synopsis. But if that isn't your thing, you might not be thrilled about that aspect. Even now, I can't decide how I feel about that subplot. There were things about it that I liked, but others that took me out of the action and felt as though they belonged in a different book.
Overall, I was consistently shocked by the twists and turns in this novel multiple times. None of the characters are saints, not even main character and victim Dahye. It is a dark, complicated and disturbing book and I was enthralled. Boy, do I have very mixed feelings about that ending, though! (I do understand why things happened the way they did.) I will definitely read more from Monika Kim!
This story contains graphic depictions of domestic abuse and sexual assault, so please be aware.
Thank you to NetGalley and to the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.
Biggest TW: Sexual harassment, Misogyny, *Domestic abuse, *Sexual assault, Suicide.
Kim is also the author of “The Eyes Are the Best Part.” I liked that one, but even with the darker subject matter I liked this one more. (Kind of a weird thing to say about such a repulsive plot, but it was so well-written and interesting, and I was involved with where the story was going to take me even as I felt the anger and stress of the main character.)
Kim is so good at writing from the perspective of an absolute dirtbag. The villains of this story, especially the one whose POV we follow, were a little too convincing. Any time I'm confronted with the evil of human nature, that's the thing that gets under my skin the most. But "Molka" also has a supernatural element on top of the gritty realism, which I won't go into detail about since it doesn't appear to be mentioned in the synopsis. But if that isn't your thing, you might not be thrilled about that aspect. Even now, I can't decide how I feel about that subplot. There were things about it that I liked, but others that took me out of the action and felt as though they belonged in a different book.
Overall, I was consistently shocked by the twists and turns in this novel multiple times. None of the characters are saints, not even main character and victim Dahye. It is a dark, complicated and disturbing book and I was enthralled. Boy, do I have very mixed feelings about that ending, though! (I do understand why things happened the way they did.) I will definitely read more from Monika Kim!
This story contains graphic depictions of domestic abuse and sexual assault, so please be aware.
Thank you to NetGalley and to the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.
Biggest TW: Sexual harassment, Misogyny, *Domestic abuse, *Sexual assault, Suicide.
January 9, 2026
Thank you to the publisher for an early copy! 4.5 stars
Loved the female rage!! What a hard hitting story
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZThF6RyCD/
Loved the female rage!! What a hard hitting story
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZThF6RyCD/
May 1, 2026
This book left me feeling thoroughly disgusted, mortified, shocked, sick and full of rage. It was very well done. So incredibly well written. I think the only thing that I didn't 100% think fit, a lack of explanation more than anything, I enjoyed the element overall, was the paranormal element. It almost seemed a bit random, and there wasn't much explanation at all for this. But otherwise, I really liked this (considering it subject matter).
January 8, 2026
Whoa, this was something.
This is my first time reading a book by Monika Kim, and I’ve heard good things about The Eyes Are The Best Part, so naturally, when NetGalley sent me an advanced copy of her new release, I was ready to take it on.
And I quite liked it.
Although the constant mention of Junyoung’s privates already felt like an act of harassment, I pulled through because I appreciated the awareness the author was trying to convey. I mean, in a world where women are preyed upon, taken advantage of, and abused, this book is a testament to the idea that a person’s privacy should never be invaded, mocked, or spread around for laughs.
The men in this book were all creeps and pigs, and they deserved what happened to them. I felt completely sorry for Junyoung’s mother.
The pacing got a bit slow in the middle and didn’t pick up until about 80%. The revenge part was anticlimactic, and I felt like two more chapters were needed. I just wanted a proper ending, I guess.
Overall, this is a fun book, and after getting a taste of Kim’s writing, I’m definitely going to read The Eyes Are The Best Part next.
Thanks for the ARC, Kensington Publishing!
This is my first time reading a book by Monika Kim, and I’ve heard good things about The Eyes Are The Best Part, so naturally, when NetGalley sent me an advanced copy of her new release, I was ready to take it on.
And I quite liked it.
Although the constant mention of Junyoung’s privates already felt like an act of harassment, I pulled through because I appreciated the awareness the author was trying to convey. I mean, in a world where women are preyed upon, taken advantage of, and abused, this book is a testament to the idea that a person’s privacy should never be invaded, mocked, or spread around for laughs.
The men in this book were all creeps and pigs, and they deserved what happened to them. I felt completely sorry for Junyoung’s mother.
The pacing got a bit slow in the middle and didn’t pick up until about 80%. The revenge part was anticlimactic, and I felt like two more chapters were needed. I just wanted a proper ending, I guess.
Overall, this is a fun book, and after getting a taste of Kim’s writing, I’m definitely going to read The Eyes Are The Best Part next.
Thanks for the ARC, Kensington Publishing!
May 5, 2026
4⭐️ This was a creepy look into the problem of Molka in S Korea. Molka are mini hidden cameras that are placed to secretly record women in public places such as restrooms and changing rooms.
Dahye is an average young woman working in an office and still grieving the death of her only sister by suicide years before. The ghost of her sister begins to appear to her in different settings.
The women of the office are being secretly filmed in the restrooms by a coworker, Junyoung, in the IT dept. He becomes obsessed with Dahye.
Dahye comes into contact one night with millionaire Hyukjoon and falls head over heels in love. Turns out he has lots to hide. Dahye begins to spiral and lose touch with reality, haunted by her ghostly sister.
This horrifying tale alternates POV between Dahye and Junyoung. The story is tense, absorbing, and scary. Junyoung’s obsession grows as Dahye sinks deeper into a mental breakdown and her focus on revenge on the men that continue to get away with their crimes of voyeurism.
The pacing was perfect as we follow the different characters Dahye, JunYoung and Hyukjoon to the twisty but perfect ending!
Thanks to NetGalley and Brazen Publishers for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.
Dahye is an average young woman working in an office and still grieving the death of her only sister by suicide years before. The ghost of her sister begins to appear to her in different settings.
The women of the office are being secretly filmed in the restrooms by a coworker, Junyoung, in the IT dept. He becomes obsessed with Dahye.
Dahye comes into contact one night with millionaire Hyukjoon and falls head over heels in love. Turns out he has lots to hide. Dahye begins to spiral and lose touch with reality, haunted by her ghostly sister.
This horrifying tale alternates POV between Dahye and Junyoung. The story is tense, absorbing, and scary. Junyoung’s obsession grows as Dahye sinks deeper into a mental breakdown and her focus on revenge on the men that continue to get away with their crimes of voyeurism.
The pacing was perfect as we follow the different characters Dahye, JunYoung and Hyukjoon to the twisty but perfect ending!
Thanks to NetGalley and Brazen Publishers for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.
April 11, 2026
"Molka: the Korean term for hidden or miniature spy cameras secretly and illegally installed, often to capture voyeuristic images and videos, Molka is an abbreviation of molrae-kamera, which means sneaky camera."
Monika Kim's sophomore novel explores themes of male entitlement and privilege through the perspective of the main character Dahye, who falls victim to the spy cameras of two different men. Each of the men have different reasons for their objectification of multiple women. Both abuse their power in order to get what they want, while disregarding how this will affect the women.
Molka raises many questions centering on the concept of privacy and how the modern phenomenon of social media has bent more traditional boundaries in ways society is still coming to terms with.
One of the most powerful topics explored in the book is how society views similar or sometimes seemingly identical actions or attitudes taken by men and women through radically different lenses. How often is violence and anger seen as routine and justified for men, but when exhibited by women is described as hysterical? A scene in the book that highlights this is when Dahye is ignored by police when reporting a crime only to later learn their seriousness in investigating when a more powerful man is feared to be in danger. Her frustration is evident in her conversation with them, "Oh, now you're trying to get to the bottom of things! What about when I went to the police to ask them to help me when it first happened?"
As the story follows the lives of Dahye and other women it is clear to see the growing irritation and disappointment they experience through often being invisible other than as objects to be used for the satisfaction of men. Dahye's unresolved feelings eventually reach a boiling point that resolve themselves in a horrifying, yet unsurprising conclusion.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Monika Kim's sophomore novel explores themes of male entitlement and privilege through the perspective of the main character Dahye, who falls victim to the spy cameras of two different men. Each of the men have different reasons for their objectification of multiple women. Both abuse their power in order to get what they want, while disregarding how this will affect the women.
Molka raises many questions centering on the concept of privacy and how the modern phenomenon of social media has bent more traditional boundaries in ways society is still coming to terms with.
One of the most powerful topics explored in the book is how society views similar or sometimes seemingly identical actions or attitudes taken by men and women through radically different lenses. How often is violence and anger seen as routine and justified for men, but when exhibited by women is described as hysterical? A scene in the book that highlights this is when Dahye is ignored by police when reporting a crime only to later learn their seriousness in investigating when a more powerful man is feared to be in danger. Her frustration is evident in her conversation with them, "Oh, now you're trying to get to the bottom of things! What about when I went to the police to ask them to help me when it first happened?"
As the story follows the lives of Dahye and other women it is clear to see the growing irritation and disappointment they experience through often being invisible other than as objects to be used for the satisfaction of men. Dahye's unresolved feelings eventually reach a boiling point that resolve themselves in a horrifying, yet unsurprising conclusion.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
April 2, 2026
Dahye is a psycho B and I loved it!!
Now don’t get me wrong it’s all the men in her life that made her that way.
There was so much going on but I could not stop turning the page. I now have a fear of using public restrooms which I didn’t know could be a fear.
I love that this felt like a horror novel that could happen to anyone and then we got a sprinkle of paranormal.
The last half was so quick and had my heart racing.
Genre: Horror
APK: Ebook
Pages: 292
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Series or Standalone: Stand-alone
Now don’t get me wrong it’s all the men in her life that made her that way.
There was so much going on but I could not stop turning the page. I now have a fear of using public restrooms which I didn’t know could be a fear.
I love that this felt like a horror novel that could happen to anyone and then we got a sprinkle of paranormal.
The last half was so quick and had my heart racing.
Genre: Horror
APK: Ebook
Pages: 292
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Series or Standalone: Stand-alone
November 24, 2025
Book Stats:
📖: 288 pages
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Erewhon Books
Format: eARC
Series: Standalone
General Thoughts:
This book taught me a lot about this current issue in Korea that I did not know existed. Well, I found the book to be pretty predictable in terms of who everybody was going to end up being. I found the way the story was told to be pretty original and unique. The fact that the story addresses a real life larger issue makes it all the more harrowing as you read.
I could not help but feel increasingly bad for our FMC as the events unfolded around her. The female rage that she embodied was totally mesmerizing and all encompassing for me. I felt very emotionally drawn to what she was going through.
I wanted every single man in this book to get their just desserts. Pretty happy with the way things ended up. The pacing was a little off me at times. I felt like there was a couple of slogs there in the middle that were hard to get through. But ultimately did not overall affect my enjoyment of the novel.
Disclaimer: I read this book as an eARC from NetGalley. All opinions are my own. This is my honest and voluntary review.
📖: 288 pages
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Erewhon Books
Format: eARC
Series: Standalone
General Thoughts:
This book taught me a lot about this current issue in Korea that I did not know existed. Well, I found the book to be pretty predictable in terms of who everybody was going to end up being. I found the way the story was told to be pretty original and unique. The fact that the story addresses a real life larger issue makes it all the more harrowing as you read.
I could not help but feel increasingly bad for our FMC as the events unfolded around her. The female rage that she embodied was totally mesmerizing and all encompassing for me. I felt very emotionally drawn to what she was going through.
I wanted every single man in this book to get their just desserts. Pretty happy with the way things ended up. The pacing was a little off me at times. I felt like there was a couple of slogs there in the middle that were hard to get through. But ultimately did not overall affect my enjoyment of the novel.
Disclaimer: I read this book as an eARC from NetGalley. All opinions are my own. This is my honest and voluntary review.
April 29, 2026
All pigs go to the slaughterhouse to die.
“Molka” is a Korean term meaning “sneaky camera,” referring to illegal spy cameras often used to capture voyeuristic, invasive images and videos. Dahye, the protagonist of Monika Kim’s sophomore novel of the same name, finds herself embroiled in a molka scandal when she is caught on camera in a hotel with her wealthy boyfriend. While her boyfriend flees the country to avoid the fallout, Dahye finds herself embroiled in it, facing the intense scrutiny all alone. It’s during this time that she captures the attention of an IT tech at work, after he sees her on one of the many spy cameras he’s illegally installed around the office. When Dahye realizes just how much her privacy has been invaded, her hurt and pain coalesce into something it’s impossible for her to ignore, or resist: rage.
When the first chapter enraged me, I knew I was in for quite a ride with Molka. Kim employs the “good for her”/female rage/revenge trope to explore voyeurism, male privilege, sexual violence and violation, and broken patriarchal systems. The book is vulgar and unflinching and uncomfortable and infuriating, all by design. Kim places us firmly inside a society where women are subjugated and exposed against their will, with little to no repercussions for the individuals (men) responsible. If this book doesn’t make you angry, you’re not paying attention.
I have to give Kim credit for the deliberate pacing of this story. The tension builds gradually as we linger with Dahye in her hurt, as we are enraged on her behalf and waiting for her to catch up. Kim doesn’t rush through these parts of the story, exploring Dahye’s pain and vulnerability and the despicable actions of the men in her orbit in excruciating detail, so it makes it all the more meaningful when Dahye decides she’s had enough.
I’m still not sure how I felt about the supernatural element, which seemed a bit out of place in the story, but I did appreciate how cinematic it was. And to that end, Molka seems ideal for a Netflix series - can someone please make that happen?
I think I enjoyed The Eyes Are the Best Part a bit more than Molka, but one thing is for sure: Monika Kim is an author to watch and I am seated for whatever she writes next. Thank you to Erewhon Books for the early reading opportunity.
April 6, 2026
4.75⭐️ Molka by Monika Kim is a powerful and unsettling novel that really stayed with me after I finished it. The title itself is important—“Molka” refers to hidden spy cameras, which are secretly used to record people without their consent. Knowing this made the story feel even more disturbing and real from the very beginning.
The book dives into the dark reality of these crimes and how technology can be used to invade people’s privacy in the worst ways. What stood out to me the most was how the story highlights the lack of justice, especially for Asian women who are often the main victims of these crimes. It was frustrating and heartbreaking to see how their voices are ignored or not taken seriously, which made the story feel even more impactful.
I found the writing very gripping and emotional. Monika Kim doesn’t just tell a story—she makes you feel the fear, anger, and helplessness that the characters go through. At times, it was honestly difficult to read because of how intense some parts were, but I think that’s what made it so powerful.
The characters felt real, and I could understand their struggles and reactions, even when I didn’t fully agree with them. The book also explores important themes like trust, trauma, and the long-term effects of having your privacy violated.
Overall, I genuinely enjoyed this book, even though it deals with heavy topics. It’s meaningful, thought-provoking, and very relevant today. I would definitely recommend Molka to anyone who is ready for an intense but important read.
Many thanks to NetGalley, Kensington Publishing, and the author, Monika Kim, for the early ARC
publication date 28th April 2026
The book dives into the dark reality of these crimes and how technology can be used to invade people’s privacy in the worst ways. What stood out to me the most was how the story highlights the lack of justice, especially for Asian women who are often the main victims of these crimes. It was frustrating and heartbreaking to see how their voices are ignored or not taken seriously, which made the story feel even more impactful.
I found the writing very gripping and emotional. Monika Kim doesn’t just tell a story—she makes you feel the fear, anger, and helplessness that the characters go through. At times, it was honestly difficult to read because of how intense some parts were, but I think that’s what made it so powerful.
The characters felt real, and I could understand their struggles and reactions, even when I didn’t fully agree with them. The book also explores important themes like trust, trauma, and the long-term effects of having your privacy violated.
Overall, I genuinely enjoyed this book, even though it deals with heavy topics. It’s meaningful, thought-provoking, and very relevant today. I would definitely recommend Molka to anyone who is ready for an intense but important read.
Many thanks to NetGalley, Kensington Publishing, and the author, Monika Kim, for the early ARC
publication date 28th April 2026
May 7, 2026
Uncomfortable, enraging, brutal, and brilliant!
Thank you, Monika Kim, for creeping me out, pissing me off, and keeping me glued to those pages. WOW! 🤩
It sucks when men terrorize women, but end up as the hero. Well, not in this one! Molka was such a unique kind of horror. I loved every gory detail and also appreciated the symbolism of the color pink sprinkled throughout the story. It was a wild ride, for sure!
Thank you, Monika Kim, for creeping me out, pissing me off, and keeping me glued to those pages. WOW! 🤩
It sucks when men terrorize women, but end up as the hero. Well, not in this one! Molka was such a unique kind of horror. I loved every gory detail and also appreciated the symbolism of the color pink sprinkled throughout the story. It was a wild ride, for sure!
October 23, 2025
4/5 stars
Probably one of the most disturbing books I’ve ever read, Molka legit kept me up at night because I was so MAD!! Every man in this book is straight up EVIL and SINISTER and it made me sick. Thank God for Dahye, my avenging angel, for saving it all.
We follow two POVs in modern-day Seoul. Junyoung is an IT assistant for an accounting company who has planted cameras in all the women’s bathrooms for stalking purposes. I have never wanted a man to die so much in my life. His POV is repellant. There are no redeeming factors to this man, although it was interesting seeing how he became the way he is.
The second is Dahye, an employee at said accounting firm, whose sister Eunhye committed suicide about 10 years ago, something that still haunts Dahye everyday. Junyoung falls hard for Dahye — in a sociopathic, stalker-ish way — and the results are pretty fucked up.
Dahye is the beating heart of the book and I honestly would have preferred we just got her POV, because Junyoung disgusted me so much. However, his POV did make the ending more impactful and the narrative was more interesting because of him. Still, I never wanna read from this man’s POV ever again.
Exploring Dahye’s grief and guilt at losing her sister, especially when they had such a complicated relationship, was exceptional. Kim is at her best when writing about interpersonal relationships, and it really shines here. This dynamic was the highlight for me, and I adored the way Eunhye was portrayed: complex and with flaws, but still an older sister and all the love that comes with it.
The ending was really poetic and well-done. But be warned, the book is BLEAK. I mean it. There is little hope for change and women are punished to the max for just about anything. But if you can charge through, you’ll find a stunning and disturbing book about female rage.
I will read anything Monika Kim writes and this book is just further proof why.
Probably one of the most disturbing books I’ve ever read, Molka legit kept me up at night because I was so MAD!! Every man in this book is straight up EVIL and SINISTER and it made me sick. Thank God for Dahye, my avenging angel, for saving it all.
We follow two POVs in modern-day Seoul. Junyoung is an IT assistant for an accounting company who has planted cameras in all the women’s bathrooms for stalking purposes. I have never wanted a man to die so much in my life. His POV is repellant. There are no redeeming factors to this man, although it was interesting seeing how he became the way he is.
The second is Dahye, an employee at said accounting firm, whose sister Eunhye committed suicide about 10 years ago, something that still haunts Dahye everyday. Junyoung falls hard for Dahye — in a sociopathic, stalker-ish way — and the results are pretty fucked up.
Dahye is the beating heart of the book and I honestly would have preferred we just got her POV, because Junyoung disgusted me so much. However, his POV did make the ending more impactful and the narrative was more interesting because of him. Still, I never wanna read from this man’s POV ever again.
Exploring Dahye’s grief and guilt at losing her sister, especially when they had such a complicated relationship, was exceptional. Kim is at her best when writing about interpersonal relationships, and it really shines here. This dynamic was the highlight for me, and I adored the way Eunhye was portrayed: complex and with flaws, but still an older sister and all the love that comes with it.
The ending was really poetic and well-done. But be warned, the book is BLEAK. I mean it. There is little hope for change and women are punished to the max for just about anything. But if you can charge through, you’ll find a stunning and disturbing book about female rage.
I will read anything Monika Kim writes and this book is just further proof why.
May 1, 2026
Some books are read. Others put their hand on the back of your neck and lean in close until you can hear them breathing. Molka by Monika Kim, the second novel from the author of The Eyes Are the Best Part, belongs firmly in the second group. It is sleek, unkind, and so committed to its rage that it sometimes overwhelms its own architecture. That is also, mostly, the point.
The Setup, Unspoiled
Dahye is a young woman in Seoul who has fallen suddenly and completely for Hyukjoon, the chaebol heir of a media empire whose Rolex costs more than her annual rent. Their relationship has the soft-focus shimmer of a K-drama, until a hidden camera turns it into something else entirely. The footage spreads. Hyukjoon disappears across the Pacific. Dahye is left alone with the wreckage, with her mother's quiet contempt, and with the memory of a sister whose drowned body has refused, after five years, to stay drowned.
In a basement office across town, an IT technician named Junyoung is filming the women's restrooms. He has an ugly little kingdom of forty camera feeds and a father's voice in his head telling him this is what men are for. When Dahye crosses his radar, his sickness has a target.
That is the engine. Molka by Monika Kim runs it hard.
Three Points of View, One Long Scream
The book rotates through three perspectives:
Dahye, whose grief over her sister Eunhye, whose love for Hyukjoon, and whose slow comprehension of what has been taken from her form the emotional spine.
Junyoung, whose chapters are the most uncomfortable thing in the book. Kim writes him without softening, without rescue, and without a single scene that lets the reader off the hook.
A third presence that hovers between them and refuses to be classified as either dream, hallucination, or ghost.
The structural choice is the bravest thing about the novel. By forcing readers into Junyoung's interiority, Kim disallows the comfortable distance most thrillers offer their voyeur villains. You sit with him while he rationalises, while he watches, while he convinces himself he is in love. It is foul. It is also necessary, because the book's argument is that this man is not a monster lurking somewhere offstage. He is the guy at the next desk.
What Works
The prose is lean and built for speed. Sentences land like jabs, paragraphs end on small bruises.
Kim's use of Korean ghost story conventions, water-soaked figures, hair across faces, blue-skinned and wrinkled, is sourced from a tradition older than the cameras and made to comment on them directly.
The ensemble of women Dahye meets at a molka support group is the warmest, most human thing in the book. They are funny, prickly, exhausted, and they give the narrative a moral counterweight it badly needs.
The author's note at the front, which discusses the 2019 Burning Sun scandal and the real legal failures around digital sex crimes in Korea, primes the reader without preaching.
What Doesn't Quite Land
I want to be honest about this, because Molka by Monika Kim is being received with a great deal of justified enthusiasm and not very much pushback. A few things:
The middle act sags. There is a stretch where Dahye's grief loops on itself, and certain set pieces (the bridge, the bathroom mirror) are repeated in ways that feel like emphasis rather than escalation.
Junyoung's chapters are calibrated for revulsion, and Kim is very good at it, but past a certain point the reader is no longer learning anything new about him. A few of those scenes could be trimmed without losing the indictment.
Hyukjoon, who needs to be charming enough for Dahye's choices to read as plausible, is sketched a little too thinly. He works as a symbol of inherited power and casual cruelty. He is less convincing as a man someone could actually fall for.
The supernatural and the realist registers occasionally elbow each other. There is a version of this novel where the ghost is more ambiguous, and a version where the violence is more grounded, and Kim is reaching for both at once.
None of these flaws are fatal. They are the kind of seams you only notice because so much else is pulled so tight.
A Genre That Won't Sit Still
Trying to label this book is its own little exercise. The publisher calls it horror. It is also a revenge thriller, a domestic mystery, a piece of social realism about gender and surveillance, and, in places, a quiet ghost story about two sisters. Kim trusts her reader to hold all of those at once. The only place the genre balancing slips is the ending, where the supernatural is asked to do a lot of work that the realism has been doing fine on its own. Some readers will find that thrilling. Others will wish for a quieter, harder landing.
What is consistent throughout is the voice. There is a sardonic, slightly stand-back quality to Kim's narration, a willingness to let small absurdities sit next to atrocities, that owes something to writers like Han Kang and Sayaka Murata, but is also very much Kim's own.
How It Compares to The Eyes Are the Best Part
Readers who came to Kim through her debut, The Eyes Are the Best Part, will recognise several preoccupations: the body as battleground, the misogyny embedded in family, food and consumption as horror imagery. The earlier book is the more contained, more domestic of the two, with a tighter focus on a single family. Molka by Monika Kim is louder, bigger in scope, and willing to risk overshooting in service of its larger argument. If the debut was a controlled cut, this one is a wider gash that is bleeding on purpose.
Who This Book Is For
Pick this up if you want:
A horror novel rooted in a real, ongoing crisis rather than invented scares
Korean settings written by an author who treats the place as more than backdrop
Female rage that is allowed to be ugly, wrong, and effective
Body horror that has a thesis
Endings that prefer rupture over resolution
Skip it, or hold off, if you are sensitive to detailed depictions of voyeurism, sexual harassment, suicide, and graphic violence. The content notice in the front matter is not decorative.
The Verdict
Molka by Monika Kim is a furious, unstable, often brilliant book that knows exactly what it is angry about and only occasionally trips over the size of that anger. It will not be for everyone, and it is not trying to be. For readers who want horror with a working argument, and who can sit with a narrator they should not be sitting with, this is one of the strongest genre novels of the year.
The Setup, Unspoiled
Dahye is a young woman in Seoul who has fallen suddenly and completely for Hyukjoon, the chaebol heir of a media empire whose Rolex costs more than her annual rent. Their relationship has the soft-focus shimmer of a K-drama, until a hidden camera turns it into something else entirely. The footage spreads. Hyukjoon disappears across the Pacific. Dahye is left alone with the wreckage, with her mother's quiet contempt, and with the memory of a sister whose drowned body has refused, after five years, to stay drowned.
In a basement office across town, an IT technician named Junyoung is filming the women's restrooms. He has an ugly little kingdom of forty camera feeds and a father's voice in his head telling him this is what men are for. When Dahye crosses his radar, his sickness has a target.
That is the engine. Molka by Monika Kim runs it hard.
Three Points of View, One Long Scream
The book rotates through three perspectives:
Dahye, whose grief over her sister Eunhye, whose love for Hyukjoon, and whose slow comprehension of what has been taken from her form the emotional spine.
Junyoung, whose chapters are the most uncomfortable thing in the book. Kim writes him without softening, without rescue, and without a single scene that lets the reader off the hook.
A third presence that hovers between them and refuses to be classified as either dream, hallucination, or ghost.
The structural choice is the bravest thing about the novel. By forcing readers into Junyoung's interiority, Kim disallows the comfortable distance most thrillers offer their voyeur villains. You sit with him while he rationalises, while he watches, while he convinces himself he is in love. It is foul. It is also necessary, because the book's argument is that this man is not a monster lurking somewhere offstage. He is the guy at the next desk.
What Works
The prose is lean and built for speed. Sentences land like jabs, paragraphs end on small bruises.
Kim's use of Korean ghost story conventions, water-soaked figures, hair across faces, blue-skinned and wrinkled, is sourced from a tradition older than the cameras and made to comment on them directly.
The ensemble of women Dahye meets at a molka support group is the warmest, most human thing in the book. They are funny, prickly, exhausted, and they give the narrative a moral counterweight it badly needs.
The author's note at the front, which discusses the 2019 Burning Sun scandal and the real legal failures around digital sex crimes in Korea, primes the reader without preaching.
What Doesn't Quite Land
I want to be honest about this, because Molka by Monika Kim is being received with a great deal of justified enthusiasm and not very much pushback. A few things:
The middle act sags. There is a stretch where Dahye's grief loops on itself, and certain set pieces (the bridge, the bathroom mirror) are repeated in ways that feel like emphasis rather than escalation.
Junyoung's chapters are calibrated for revulsion, and Kim is very good at it, but past a certain point the reader is no longer learning anything new about him. A few of those scenes could be trimmed without losing the indictment.
Hyukjoon, who needs to be charming enough for Dahye's choices to read as plausible, is sketched a little too thinly. He works as a symbol of inherited power and casual cruelty. He is less convincing as a man someone could actually fall for.
The supernatural and the realist registers occasionally elbow each other. There is a version of this novel where the ghost is more ambiguous, and a version where the violence is more grounded, and Kim is reaching for both at once.
None of these flaws are fatal. They are the kind of seams you only notice because so much else is pulled so tight.
A Genre That Won't Sit Still
Trying to label this book is its own little exercise. The publisher calls it horror. It is also a revenge thriller, a domestic mystery, a piece of social realism about gender and surveillance, and, in places, a quiet ghost story about two sisters. Kim trusts her reader to hold all of those at once. The only place the genre balancing slips is the ending, where the supernatural is asked to do a lot of work that the realism has been doing fine on its own. Some readers will find that thrilling. Others will wish for a quieter, harder landing.
What is consistent throughout is the voice. There is a sardonic, slightly stand-back quality to Kim's narration, a willingness to let small absurdities sit next to atrocities, that owes something to writers like Han Kang and Sayaka Murata, but is also very much Kim's own.
How It Compares to The Eyes Are the Best Part
Readers who came to Kim through her debut, The Eyes Are the Best Part, will recognise several preoccupations: the body as battleground, the misogyny embedded in family, food and consumption as horror imagery. The earlier book is the more contained, more domestic of the two, with a tighter focus on a single family. Molka by Monika Kim is louder, bigger in scope, and willing to risk overshooting in service of its larger argument. If the debut was a controlled cut, this one is a wider gash that is bleeding on purpose.
Who This Book Is For
Pick this up if you want:
A horror novel rooted in a real, ongoing crisis rather than invented scares
Korean settings written by an author who treats the place as more than backdrop
Female rage that is allowed to be ugly, wrong, and effective
Body horror that has a thesis
Endings that prefer rupture over resolution
Skip it, or hold off, if you are sensitive to detailed depictions of voyeurism, sexual harassment, suicide, and graphic violence. The content notice in the front matter is not decorative.
The Verdict
Molka by Monika Kim is a furious, unstable, often brilliant book that knows exactly what it is angry about and only occasionally trips over the size of that anger. It will not be for everyone, and it is not trying to be. For readers who want horror with a working argument, and who can sit with a narrator they should not be sitting with, this is one of the strongest genre novels of the year.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I started and finished this on a flight. I thought it was very readable but it left me wanting more.. Of course what was happening was infuriating to read but I wanted more feminine rage. I still enjoyed this and will continue to read more of Kim's work.
Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book!
Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book!
August 10, 2025
I've been waiting for Monika Kim's follow-up and this did not disappoint. Because girl once again took "fuck around and find out" very seriously. In Molka, the dark world of voyeurism is explored and further brings anxiety to many peoples' fears of being spied and violated in unfamiliar places and vulnerable moments. Creepy shit man.
As with The Eyes Are the Best Part, it is SO satisfying to read Monika Kim's once again annihilate the men who take because they can. This is the kind of horror that terrifies me--the human monsters, the horror that touches upon our anger and fear of reality. I was enraptured.
Ugh, I never love being the first review here; I tend to have a difficult time conveying my thoughts and I would never want to do a disservice to a book, especially one I loved.
Thank you to the publisher for the early read. Ya'll are amazing and make me such a happy gal!! <3
As with The Eyes Are the Best Part, it is SO satisfying to read Monika Kim's once again annihilate the men who take because they can. This is the kind of horror that terrifies me--the human monsters, the horror that touches upon our anger and fear of reality. I was enraptured.
Ugh, I never love being the first review here; I tend to have a difficult time conveying my thoughts and I would never want to do a disservice to a book, especially one I loved.
Thank you to the publisher for the early read. Ya'll are amazing and make me such a happy gal!! <3
May 7, 2026
love a good dismembering
January 17, 2026
I had chills - literally, not figuratively - upon finishing this harsh, taut, gripping novel set in present-day Korea that explores social problems of gender-based and sexual violence, particularly cyber sexual abuse, video voyeurism, and stalking, with the gritty intensity, graphic visuals, and eerie folkloric elements of a Asian horror film.
If you’ve already read the author Monika Kim’s acclaimed debut novel, The Eyes Are the Best Part, you’ll be unsurprised to hear that you’re in for another ride with this one: expect an uneasy, if riveting read. Expect infuriating injustice and acts of depravity committed by vile misogynists within corrupt patriarchal systems. Expect desperate, fed-up victims of crime driven to the limits of sanity and the brink of vengeance.
While “enjoyed” doesn’t seem like quite the right word given the discomfort involved in reading Kim’s engrossingly grotesque, hyper-imaginative and metaphor-heavy renderings of such difficult but important topics, I’ve appreciated and valued both of her works so far.
I think we are at a cultural moment that demands we lean hard into the horror genre and other genre fiction to fully illuminate the social justice issues currently plaguing us. Monika Kim, along with Kylie Lee Baker, are two authors I think are successfully leading the charge in that effort. (I’ve promised myself I’ll stop raving about Baker’s Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng in my reviews for every other book, but this isn’t the day! - and I’m far from the first to compare these two authors and their recent lauded works.) Like Baker, Kim is an author to continue to watch, and I can fully envision either one writing a Beloved or The Handmaid’s Tale-caliber novel in our future that, unfortunately, will likely require such novels more than ever.
I was thrilled and honored to receive an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Kensington Publishing / Erewhon Books. Molka is scheduled for publication on April 28, 2026.
If you’ve already read the author Monika Kim’s acclaimed debut novel, The Eyes Are the Best Part, you’ll be unsurprised to hear that you’re in for another ride with this one: expect an uneasy, if riveting read. Expect infuriating injustice and acts of depravity committed by vile misogynists within corrupt patriarchal systems. Expect desperate, fed-up victims of crime driven to the limits of sanity and the brink of vengeance.
While “enjoyed” doesn’t seem like quite the right word given the discomfort involved in reading Kim’s engrossingly grotesque, hyper-imaginative and metaphor-heavy renderings of such difficult but important topics, I’ve appreciated and valued both of her works so far.
I think we are at a cultural moment that demands we lean hard into the horror genre and other genre fiction to fully illuminate the social justice issues currently plaguing us. Monika Kim, along with Kylie Lee Baker, are two authors I think are successfully leading the charge in that effort. (I’ve promised myself I’ll stop raving about Baker’s Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng in my reviews for every other book, but this isn’t the day! - and I’m far from the first to compare these two authors and their recent lauded works.) Like Baker, Kim is an author to continue to watch, and I can fully envision either one writing a Beloved or The Handmaid’s Tale-caliber novel in our future that, unfortunately, will likely require such novels more than ever.
I was thrilled and honored to receive an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Kensington Publishing / Erewhon Books. Molka is scheduled for publication on April 28, 2026.
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