A piercingly dark and surreal speculative novel on mass panic, disaster response and modern masculinity

'Captivates you until the last page. Fast-paced, gripping, brilliant - a book with an accurate insight into this time filled with confusion' J. M. Lee, international bestselling author of The Investigation and Broken Summer One evening in downtown Seoul, Jeong-su is smoking a cigarette outside when he sees something impossible: a huge black orb appears out of nowhere and sucks his neighbour inside. The orb soon begins consuming other people and no one knows how to stop it. Impervious to bullets and tanks, the orb splits and multiplies, chasing the hapless residents of Seoul out into the country and sparking a global crisis with widespread violence and looting. Jeong-su must rely upon his wits as he makes the arduous journey in search of his elderly parents. But the strangest phases of this ever-expanding disaster are yet to come and Jeong-su will be forced to question everything he has taken for granted. Dryly funny, propulsive and absurd, The Black Orb is terrifyingly prescient about the fragility of human civilisation.

"A social fantasy reminiscent of José Saramago's Blindness" - Newsis

"I recommend this book to anyone feeling anxious and stifled by the here and now." - The Jeonbuk Daily

"This book absorbs readers like a black orb." - The Korea Economic Daily