Molka

by Monika Kim, Rosa Escoda (Narrator)

molka (n): the Korean term for spy cameras secretly and illegally installed, often to capture voyeuristic images and videos

Dahye can't believe her luck when she finds herself in a whirlwind romance with handsome, charismatic Hyukjoon, the heir to a multi-million dollar fortune.

But then a shocking revelation threatens: the couple has been caught on a spycam amid Korea's growing molka epidemic, and the video is all over the internet. When Hyukjoon flees the country to avoid the intense public scrutiny, Dahye is left to grapple with the ramifications on her own; and the demons from her childhood, long dormant, begin to surface.

Amid the chaos, she catches the attention of Junyoung, a nerdy, introverted IT tech at work. Junyoung harbours a dark secret: he has been spying on the women at work with his own hidden cameras. As Dahye's life begins to unravel, she unknowingly becomes the sole target of Junyoung's perverse obsession.

When the facts surrounding the invasion of her privacy come to light, Dahye is faced with the humiliating truth. Her pain and hurt turn to rage as she faces her past. Her desire for vengeance is insatiable, and she will not rest until the men who have wronged her have paid in blood...

Genres: Horror, Thriller, Fiction, Audiobook, Mystery, Contemporary, Adult

8 pages, Audiobook

First published April 28, 2026

About the author

Monika 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.

Reviews

[Brandon Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

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

[Esta · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s not all men, but it’s always men.

Molka is the Korean term for spy cameras secretly and illegally installed, often to capture voyeuristic images and videos.

Of the 16,201 people arrested between 2012 and 2017 for making illegal recordings, 98% were men; 84% of the 26,000 recorded victims over that period were women. And that's just the tip of the misogynistic iceberg.

So just a bit of content advice: my book review contains discussions of digital sexual violence and sexual abuse content, based on the book, Molka by Monika Kim, which also covers the same subject matter. Please be mindful before continuing to read below.

I wouldn’t say I “enjoyed” discovering how grounded in reality this lil techno-horror-thriller is, but I did spend several hours afterwards feeling a bit sick and angry and ended up going down a rabbit hole of research. So I’d say the book did its job.

One of the things this book did really well was show both perspectives: from a victim and from a perpetrator of the crimes. Dahye (the victim) has an underlying naivete and vulnerability about her and Junyoung (the perpetrator POV) is very much a pathetic, creepy, delulu, misogynistic loser, which makes the whole story feel realistic and even more disturbing at that.

I guess when women are participating in systems that don’t protect them, it’s no wonder that the 4B movement, where young women are rejecting societal expectations of marriage, motherhood and heterosexual relationships, is growing in South Korea.

I also hear it’s spread to the United States. And I mean, yeah… more than completely understandable, besties, see also: CNN exposes a global rape academy.

Jameela Jamil, activist and actor said something in an interview recently after she discovered there was a fair amount of deep fake, and A.I. porn of her on the internet, and I wholeheartedly believe it applies here:

"It’s harder to get an erection when someone pities you… I think they get off on the power of making us feel exposed and embarrassed and violated... And part of the appeal for them is to make us feel like we don’t have agency over who sees our body. And so I don’t think we should be gifting them that satisfaction.

I think we should turn this into ‘you are masturbating in a basement and you don’t have any friends. And you don’t have anywhere else to go right now. And I’m really worried about you that this is how a grown adult man is spending his time’... It's much harder to feel powerful when someone’s going 'you alright hun?'"

[Watch the full segment here.]

Anyway! Fun little rabbit hole I spiralled down after reading Molka by Monika Kim.

Please check content warnings before reading because this is not an easy read and the heinous content literally starts in the first chapter and carries all the way throughout.

However, I loved how it all panned out. The bar is in hell, but I support women's wrongs. 💅 And yes. Good for her. Highly Recommend.

Thanks so much to Netgalley & Kensington Publishing | Erewhon Books for the ARC.

﹏﹏﹏﹏

molka (n): the Korean term for spy cameras secretly and illegally installed, often to capture voyeuristic images and videos

[Sydney Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️

THE RAAAAGE I feel right now 🤬

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️s

molka (n): the Korean term for spy cameras secretly and illegally installed, often to capture voyeuristic images and videos.

After previously suffering a devastating loss, Dahye can’t believe her luck when she’s swept off her feet by Hyukjoon, a wealthy, handsome, and charming man. Everything seems perfect until she becomes entangled in a molka scandal after an intimate video of the two of them is leaked online.

Junyoung works in IT at Dahye’s company, and this absolute creeper has secretly installed hidden cameras in the women’s restroom, spying on his female coworkers. Unfortunately for Dahye, she becomes the focus of his obsession.

This was another rage-inducing read for me. It’s part horror, part thriller, with some paranormal elements mixed in as well. Horror stories like this are the ones that scare me most because they’re rooted in horrifying real-world truths. I absolutely did not see that ending coming, and at first I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, but the more I’ve sat with it, the more I think it really worked.
Overall, I thought this was a great read. I just wish the revenge aspect of the story had kicked in a little sooner.

Perhaps it’s time for me to read something involving rainbows, bunnies, and unicorns as a much needed reset after some of my recent stress-inducing reads. 🐇🌈🦄

[Sidney · Rating 3 out of 5]

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. He essentially love bombs her, treats her like garbage, & continues to put her in uncomfortable sexual situations & for some reason she's so hung up on this man it gets to the point she's stalking him? 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

[Liana Gold · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️ 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
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Many thanks to NetGalley, Kensington Publishing and the author, Monica Kim for the early eARC!

Publication date: April 28, 2026

[Alexia · Rating 2 out of 5]

{“All pigs go to the slaughterhouse to die.”}

This was quite an experience, to put it mildly. Honestly, I wasn’t exactly sure what I anticipated from this book, but it certainly wasn’t what I ended up reading.

I want to start by expressing my appreciation to the author for choosing to write about the sensitive and often overlooked issue of spy cameras. It's a subject that rarely receives the attention it deserves, and when it does, the focus is often on the invasiveness rather than the trauma faced by victims, people whose privacy has been shockingly invaded without their consent. The widespread problem of spy cameras in Korea is particularly disturbing, yet it’s a phenomenon that occurs worldwide. Unfortunately, authorities and governments tend to downplay or dismiss the severity of the situation, showing a lack of real commitment to addressing it.

While I genuinely believe the message behind the book is crucial and worth highlighting, the rest of the story fell short for me. I did not expect the narrative to delve into supernatural elements, and I found that addition quite off-putting. It felt unnecessary and took away from the core storyline and Dahye's character development. It would have been more impactful if Dahye had gradually started her journey of vengeance on her own initiative rather than being pushed or influenced by others.

Dahye’s character was a major factor in my disappointment with this book. Her portrayal was frustrating. In the first part of the story, she lacked backbone and allowed others to manipulate and walk all over her. The beginning was particularly excruciating to read, her drowning in a hopeless, pathetic love for a man she barely knew. I can't stand this level of desperation for a man. If she had been motivated by greed or ambition, such as going after his money, I could have understood and even admired her resolve. But instead, her obsession was rooted in love.

Moreover, her gradual shift from obsession to vengeance was painfully slow, and the rushed conclusion robbed me of emotional investment. I was expecting a story centered around female rage, revenge, and murder, themes that are so compelling when explored thoroughly. However, these themes only appeared in the latter part of the book, and even then, they were limited. The earlier portion was mostly about Dahye chasing after a man, with little focus on her inner transformation or the emergence of her wrath. It’s understandable to set up the story, but the second part should have been given more space to develop naturally rather than feeling hurried.

Another major reason I didn't enjoy this story was the perspective of the disgusting male character. I was forced to spend most of the book inside his distasteful mind due to the dual POV narrative. Unfortunately, it left me feeling that I got very little payoff, as his ending was so rushed.

In conclusion, the men were despicable characters who deserved death. The ending came across as abrupt and unresolved, leaving me with a sense of disappointment that the story didn’t fully deliver on its potential.

[Court Zierk · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

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.

[TheConnieFox · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!!

[DianaRose · Rating 5 out of 5]

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc!

molka (n): the Korean term for spy cameras secretly and illegally installed, often to capture voyeuristic images and videos...

whewww i think i loved this even more than monika kim’s debut horror novel and this completely solidified monika kim as a new autobuy author for me — i was so enraged throughout this entire novel, and the ending did NOT help (even the VERY end i was still seething with rage).

i’m confused by the lukewarm reviews and ratings — for kim to produce such an infuriating story highlights her phenomenal writing skills because she is emphasizing the unfair reality so many women have faced daily from the dawn of time: sexual harassment, assault, and abuse from men they know and trust, but also from men that are complete strangers.

i listened to the audiobook through libby, and the narrator did a fantastic job!

i cannot wait to see what monika kim writes next — i will be on the edge of my seat with anticipation!

[Ricarda · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[chantalsbookstuff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tend to check bathroom stalls for hidden spy cams. It's a fear I've always had. This book just made it ten times worse, and that's just scratching the surface about what it's all about.
Check the triggers before picking this one up.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bold, powerful, and unforgiving. 🩸

The word I keep coming back to describing Monika Kim's style is Bold. She takes a real-world atrocity (voyeuristic cameras in Korea) by the throat and doesn't let go. She clenches at the disgust evoked by crimes against women. She's not necessarily exuding anger and fear, but boldness and power. She presents these disgusting incels for all their crimes against women and shows the extent of their moral depravity and does not forgive them.

Spy cameras are placed in workplace bathrooms, hotel rooms, public restrooms, etc for voyeuristic criminals. The protagonist winds up dating one of these manipulative a**holes. A video of her gets leaked and she gets blamed, not him. Then she finds out he already has a fiancé. Justified rage.

In some ways, the narrative is pretty straightforward, but it is built with bones the iron and steel of Kim's prose. There is the protagonist and her boyfriend, as well as his friends with the network of spy cameras. What stands out is the execution. First of all, this topic is not super-well known, at least it was new to me and something I will always keep an eye out for in public spaces now and in the future. The story is not confusing or flashy, but it is powerful. Monika Kim exudes power in a way that says this is who women and girls are. They are powerful, bold and fierce. They are anything but objects or toys, don't forget it. She is unrelenting on the topic, in a way that demands attention and naturally evokes justified rage. The kind of fury that only a rusty cleaver can quench.

Monika Kim does it again and hope she keeps on going because I'm a big fan.

[Dutchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[EmBibliophile · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

Great concept, not so great execution.

It has great commentary and an impactful message. I just felt like it was kind of surface-level and lacked depth. Maybe it’s a me thing, but I didn’t like the paranormal/horror aspect and would’ve loved it more if it was just a plain good-for-her/revenge plotline. I just felt like it was all kind of anticlimactic.

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.0 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.

[Booksblabbering || Cait❣️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just fine. It didn’t really do what it promised (female revenge), and the horror is pretty minimal.

This explores the dark realities of the real-life South Korean hidden-camera (molka) epidemic, drawing inspiration from the Burning Sun scandal. Honestly, the knowledge that this is a reality was a lot scarier than anything this book offered.

In my opinion, this was just lacking. In character depth, in revenge, in insightful dissection of social stigmas and realities.

It touches on topics that have cultural impact, yet throws the words around rather than spend time unpacking anything. In that sense, the whole book felt surface level.

The writing was gripping and the short-length meant that the book kept my attention throughout as the characters made worse and worse decisions.

The author also manages to accomplish a lot in few words, lending well to the horror/thriller genre.
2.75 stars.🌟

Side note - did anyone else notice the audiobook narrator would occasionally become very British on a few words every other chapter?

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[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

A book with powerful messages about men’s violence and exploitation of women, in this case specifically about the molka epidemic (e.g., men illegally and secretly installing spy cameras to capture voyeuristic images and videos of women). I liked how Monika Kim shed light on this important issue and portrayed the disgusting extent to which men feel entitled to women’s bodies. Great themes about the righteousness and value of women’s anger, as well as how law enforcement and other entities of power often side with patriarchy and men who enact abuse.

The only reason I give this book a slightly lower star rating is that while I think the messages are great, the writing on a sentence level didn’t wow me. The characters, to me, felt like tools to convey messages about social topics – messages that I agree with – though when reading fiction I desire a bit more three-dimensional character development and voice. Still, I can appreciate why this book has gotten the attention that it has.

[Niharika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, when you're adding a supernatural element to what is already a terrifying realistic horror, is it too hard to give the woman a little more agency in her revenge? I know, in real life more often than not women undergo horrific ordeals only to see the men responsible be effectively cushioned by the government, but again, it's a story with ghosts with supernatural abilities, so what's stopping you from making retribution sweet?

[Krysta ꕤ · Rating 4 out of 5]

”All pigs go to the slaughterhouse to die.”

not as good as The Eyes Are the Best Part, but the amount of rage it inflicts is very similar. the idea of these creepy men just watching women through cameras without their knowledge made my skin crawl. the pacing dragged a bit in the middle and i wasn’t expecting the paranormal aspect, but the ending made up for it despite being a bit frustrating. i think this author is really talented in writing these kinds of stories.

[Riley · Rating 2 out of 5]

i'm very sad to say that i did not enjoy this book. the eyes are the best part was one of my favorite books the year that i read it so i was excited for this. the first half had me very intrigued, the hidden spy cam storyline was very disturbing but i was super interested in where it was going. unfortunately the book fell apart in the second half and the ending was so dissatisfying. there was a paranormal aspect to this that felt very out of place and messy and it just didn't work for me

also "female rage" where????? it takes up like a total of 3 pages in the entire book and is pretty weak

[AG · Rating 4 out of 5]

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!

[Nenia Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Monika Kim kills at writing "good for her" horror. Like THE EYES ARE THE BEST PART, MOLKA is a scathing take-down of rape culture, the male gaze, and the sexualization and objectification of Asian women. MOLKA comes from the Korean word for secret cameras. While in the Korean language, it sounds tongue in cheek, according to the author, it is a serious crime and represents the entitlement when it comes to accessing women at all times for their pleasure, even without their consent.

Dahye is the youngest daughter in her family, and spent most of her life feeling like she was in her older sister, Eunhye's, shadow. When Eunhye dies tragically, Dahye feels responsible for her death-- and she can tell her parents blame her for it, too. She overperforms as a result, second-guessing her value and her self-worth. When the young heir to a big media company named Hyukjoon falls for her, she doesn't want to believe it. All the fancy dates and expensive gifts feel more like a trap than they do a way out, even if she wants to believe.

Junyoung is an IT worker at the same company where Dahye works. But he has a secret: he's been hiding cameras in the women's bathroom so he can watch women undress. When their paths cross, he becomes obsessed with Dahye, which causes a dark and downward spiral that exposes both of their secrets to the other, with chilling, inevitable results.

Reading this back to back with Canwen Xu's BORING ASIAN FEMALE was so satisfying, because both books focus around themes of obsession and Asian women bucking toxic stereotypes. I also didn't expect the ending of either book. In an era where the rich believe that they can get away with anything, and women's rights are constantly under fire, MOLKA feels especially timely and important. As with THE EYES ARE THE BEST PART, I also really appreciated the representation of difficult but loving sisterly relationships. The ending is a little bittersweet but will leave you feeling ultimately satisfied.

4.5 stars

[CK]

I will read any "good for her" revenge book that Monika Kim writes. So excited for this!!

[Fern · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Mai H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

ANHPI Month 2026 #8

molka (몰카) the Korean term for spy cameras secretly and illegally installed, often to capture voyeuristic images and videos

Men should be lonelier. And women should be less stupid.

Dahye gets caught up in a whirlwind romance with chaebol heir, Hyukjoon. We've all seen this K-drama a billion times. Happily ever after for the poor girl, right? No. The two get caught in a molka scandal. Hyukjoon says his father is forcing him to run off to New York. When Dahye offers to go with him, he ignores her.

Depressed, she stops going into work. Her parents kick her out of the apartment. She stays with a friend. In her sadness, she begins to see her dead sister's apparition. She speaks to her.

In between all this, Dahye's weird coworker in the IT department, Junyoung, begins to think she is the one because she smiled at him. He begins following her around. He is also behind the hidden cameras in the women's bathroom stalls. And this is why we don't smile at men.

all pigs go to the slaughterhouse to die

After "men should be lonelier," I believe my next used review line shall be "girl, kill him." And reader, she did. And I was very amused.

But you know what? I knew this wouldn't end well for Dahye. At least Hyukjoon gets his comeuppance. But I wanted more for Dahye. How is Junyoung the one that ends up alive and well?

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a horrific tale of perversion, insanity and revenge set in Seoul, South Korea. A young woman is exploited in a 'molka' scheme. Shame drives her to commit desperate acts leading to revenge on her chief tormenter at the cost of her own sanity. Everyone else in the story is abusive, perverted or non-caring.

The book was interesting and held my attention, but I felt there were too many loose ends. If you like gruesome horror and revenge, you may enjoy the book.

[Stacy (Gotham City Librarian) · Rating 4 out of 5]

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. 

[Caz (Underlined) · Rating 5 out of 5]

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

[Sadie E · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted this book to make me care about its women as much as it made me hate its men.

I really, really wanted to love this. It has the sort of premise that should have had me tearing through it at record speed: voyeurism, misogyny, grief, folklore, female rage, and the horror of having your privacy violated by someone who thinks they're entitled to you.

And to be fair, the opening gripped me.

We dive straight into the creepiness. We follow Michelle, a Korean-American woman working at a company in Seoul, only to realise we're actually watching her through the eyes of Junyoung, a creepy colleague several floors away who's installed cameras to spy on women in the office bathrooms.

And straight away, I'm like, oh, this man is fucking rancid 🫣

It does an amazing job of establishing who Junyoung is without spoonfeeding us. He's lonely, resentful, sexually frustrated, feels overlooked and disrespected, and has decided that the healthiest response to all of these feelings is to become some sort of goblin (sorry to all goblins).

Gross as he is, I actually found him fascinating. He's the kind of person who can rationalise almost anything away because he's constructed an entire worldview in which women are nothing more than objects. That perception of women stems from his father, “a man who hit him for just about everything…" except for treating women like shit, because “Boys will be boys. You just acted on your natural instincts… The thing is, Son, women are inherently weak. It’s a man’s job to lead. The faster she gets it through her skull, the better.” 

Boys will be boys??? Sir, (dis)respectfully, your parenting values are fucked.

It's an uncomfortable look at how misogyny can be inherited and normalised. His behaviour isn't presented as something that appears out of nowhere; there's a whole ecosystem of entitlement and misogyny around him telling him that men are superior to women.

Yhe author really knows how to make Junyoung disgusting. Like when he's stealing women's hair and drinking from their old water bottles because he once read an article about backwash and he likes to imagine “the millions of particles in the liquid that had been in her mouth and were now in his.”

Why did I learn to read? 

Why was literacy forced upon me?

But it's not just Junyoung. The men are all universally exhausting. Every time another man opened their mouth, I braced myself for another unhinged, misogynistic opinion. “She’s crazy… But most of the females in accounting are… They’re repressed.” 

Females 🤢

I hate to say this, but sometimes the book lands some genuinely darkly funny moments. Junyoung's such an absolute freak that his internal monologue sometimes loops back around into comedy. Sometimes I couldn't help but laugh at the audacity of this bitch.

“If this woman was Dahye’s mother, she was rude and off-putting. Not something he wanted in a mother-in-law, he thought, irritated. Hopefully she wouldn’t live long.”

😂😂

Don't come for me, but while Junyoung is awful, he's also unfortunately the most interesting person in the book. I'm not sure if I'd have wanted an entire novel from his POV (being trapped in his brain for an extended period probably legally counts as torture) but I did find him fascinating. I was far more interested in Junyoung than I was in Dahye.

Dahye's storyline should be the emotional core of the novel. She's dealing with the death of her sister Eunhye, the fallout from the hidden camera situation, grief, trauma, misogyny, and eventually the anger that comes from bottling all of that up for so long.

I wanted to care about her a lot more than I did, but her sections felt slow and distant. There's a flatness to the writing that becomes most apparent during Dahye's chapters, and at times it can feel like a slightly awkward translation because certain things feel glossed over or emotionally underdeveloped. The writing has a passive quality, and I was constantly frustrated by how little autonomy Dahye had over her own trajectory. The book wants me to care about her while keeping me at arm's length the entire time, when all I wanted was to feel her visceral grief and rage

And that becomes especially frustrating because female rage is clearly supposed to be one of the book's big ideas.

I wanted Dahye's rage to feel like hers, and I especially wanted her to reach breaking point herself. I wanted her to decide that she's done being powerless and that she's going to take matters into her own hands. But for most of the book it feels like people are pushing her toward that conclusion.

Which is a strange problem for a story that's so interested in women's autonomy.

It also contributes to a bigger issue I had with the female characters in general. The men are given all these elaborate explanations for why they are the way they are. Junyoung gets his childhood, his father, his loneliness, his frustrations, his sexual development, and his warped worldview. Meanwhile, the women sometimes feel more like vehicles for the book's themes.

So the female rage aspect didn't land for me as strongly as it should have. The book's very good at telling me that women have every reason to be angry, but it's not quite as good at showing me these women as fully realised people before they become angry.

Then there's the structure.

Oh, the structure.

There are SO MANY flashbacks.

We'll be right in the middle of something happening in the present, only to suddenly jump backwards. Sometimes it's literally a flashback to 5 minutes before. 

The book's 80% flashbacks and 20% actual plot. After a certain point, it feels like the book's written entirely in the passive voice.

And it's not that I hate backstory. Some of these flashbacks are actually really useful. The scenes with Junyoung's father add context to his character. But there are so many others that just feel redundant, particularly the repetitive scenes around Eunhye. I kept thinking, okay she's dead and that sucks but what else are we going to do with this information?

And it's really frustrating because despite all the backstory, I never felt like I got a good sense of the relationship between Dahye and Eunhye. But it's a common problem with the book. It gives us information without always giving that information somewhere to go. 

There are just too many threads, and they're all fighting for page space and relevancy, and none of them are winning.

I was also increasingly unconvinced by the supernatural elements. I love folklore, and at first I thought it was an interesting addition, and was curious about how the author was going to incorporate Korean folklore into the story. But the further I got, the more I felt like the supernatural story was pulling attention and valuable page time away from the much scarier story already happening.

Because there is already more than enough real world horror here.

The hidden camera/voyeurism aspect is terrifying precisely because it isn't a fantastical nightmare. And the book's at its strongest when it focuses on that. I really appreciate the author bringing attention to molka and, particularly, to the impact on victims. The book doesn't treat voyeurism like some naughty little transgression. It understands the fear, violation, humiliation, and lasting trauma that can follow it. But the ghosts dilute it.

You do not need ghosts to make that scarier.