Book Review: DMZ by Rick Chesler

Six friends on a tourist trip to the Korean DMZ have their lives changed forever when they decide to step into a no-man's land. But they soon discover that a border is not the only line they've crossed. A revealed secret between them causes bad blood to spill over, preventing the friends from cooperating. With the specter of capture by a totalitarian regime awaiting them should they stray too far off course, and with a pack of primordial predators roaming the woods, the wayward travelers must find a way to set aside their differences if they are to avoid becoming either political prisoners... or prey.

My Review: 
A group of friends are at the end of a trip to South Korea and Kevin decides they can squeeze in a quick trip to North Korea where he has plans to propose to girlfriend Paige. Disappointed that the hut where tourists can safely briefly cross into North Korea is closed that day, Kevin uses GPS to locate the border at the edge of a forest and persuades his friends to cross over it for a few photos. However a series of unforeseen events leave them trapped there and an encounter with a pack of vicious dinosaurs leaves them with more to worry about than North Korean patrols coming to arrest them.

This was such an interesting plot. I have always wanted to visit that hut where you can walk round the room and have one foot each in North and South Korea. I saw it on a travel show once and I thought it was fascinating. I could share Kevin's excitement at the thought of going there and being able to say he was in North Korea. I could also imagine that I would be gutted to arrive there after that long journey to discover that a meeting was taking place in that hut and I couldn't go in! However, I would not have had the guts to follow his example and wander into North Korea for a few photos for fear of getting shot! Kevin is prepared to risk it all by sneaking off and dragging his friends with him. He lingers with Paige and manages to botch up the proposal twice. Instead of then climbing back up the hill to the car park and accepting the fury of their tour guide, he makes his friends hide in the forest, getting left behind when the tour bus has to make a quick exit from the area.

Naturally, Kevin's friends are not greatly happy to be hiding in a North Korean forest and instead of getting themselves back to the car park as soon as it is safe, they decide to walk along inside the cover of the forest, getting further from where they should be and things quickly start going wrong when they realise that the area is actually mined, and that packs of very fast and vicious dinosaurs are roaming around. After the group is attacked for the first time and his friends are injured, Kevin wonders if they should split up with the fitter members trying to go and get help. All thoughts of getting back to the car park are gone as they are now lost and have no idea what direction to go in. With nobody around to help them, they have to get themselves out of the jungle without being eaten, or captured by North Korean troops.

Kevin is a complete prat and an annoying idiot. I mean, he makes me want to strangle him! It is obvious from the way the author wrote it that we are meant to have that reaction to him so it didn't spoil the book for me the way I feared it might when I started reading it. The whole proposal to Paige was an amusing farce and I was sniggering at how stupid he was being as Paige got frustrated with his timing and his dumb behaviour! I also found the raft bit funny too. He has also become obsessed with the idea that Paige might have cheated on him at some point with Derek. You would think that that particular discussion could wait until they had escaped the dinosaurs and hostile troops but no, Kevin has to keep on about it! Frankly I find myself wondering what on earth Paige ever saw in this guy! I did find him annoying but it was also sort of entertaining to see what stupid idea he'd come up with next.

Based on the cover of the book, it looks as if the pack of dinosaurs will be dilophosaurus or something similar, which is nice for a change. These dinosaurs are pretty scary, hunting in a pack like raptors and targeting who looks to be the weakest. They attack and injure someone and then follow at a distance and wait for the chance to pick that person off. It makes the book tense as you wait for the next attack, and there are quite a few good attacks to enjoy. I can never resist a good dinosaur attack book! There is the added interest of a lost tribe in the forest and the threat of North korean soldiers catching them before they can find their way back to the border. Tunnels, rivers, forest situations all give some different problems to the group, which I also liked.

I found the ending a lot of fun though I can't say anything much about it without the risk of spoiling it for anyone who intends to read it. It just seems to be fitting for what happened all through the book for it to end that way. As always I enjoy Rick Chesler's creature feature adventures and this was another decent one. I liked the use of North Korea as a setting for a change and hopefully I can find more horror books set there. I look forward to more of his books in the future.

Read August 2019
3 stars.