"Seven Years of Darkness" is Jeong You-Jeong's second novel translated into English. Her English debut, "The Good Son", came out in 2018, and quickly became a big hit around the world. The books are quite different in themes and in styles, and I recommend trying "Seven Years of Darkness" without any expectations based on "The Good Son". Personally I enjoyed "Seven Years of Darkness" more, but that seems to be a minority opinion. Either way, if you haven't read either, definitely give Jeong You-Jeong's books a try, and here's hoping to more of her books in translation soon!The story kicks off with Choi Sowoon, the son of a man accused of mass murder. After his father's arrest, Sowoon is passed around from relative to relative and is unable to escape his father's crimes and lead a normal life for seven years following the incident in question. The only person that stands by his side during these seven years is Mr. Ahn, his father's employee from that time. One day, Mr. Ahn fails to return home but instead a strange manuscript is delivered to Sowoon, that sheds light on the events from seven years ago and forces Sowoon to revisit his past and question what he thought he knew about his father.This novel sucked me in and didn't let me go until the very last page. Admittedly, the first 30-40 pages were a bit slow as the scene was getting set and the characters were introduced, but once the manuscript started unfolding the story from the past I couldn't get the characters out of my head. Everyone has a backstory and everyone has things to hide, and that made the story all the more compelling. While we find out early on who is guilty of what, finding out the drive behind each character's actions is what kept me emotionally invested until the end. There is a lot of violence in here, on and off the page, and it ranges from child abuse to domestic violence to animal cruelty. There wasn't an instance, though, where I felt that the writer was sensationalizing this violence. It was just written as part of people's lives, which unfortunately that kind of violence often is. Without preaching anything, the book often shed light on how the societal system often overlooks this kind of abuse, and questions notions of morality.The pacing of the book was done very well, moving swiftly from one character's perspective to another. Often as I was reading I thought that it would probably make good material for a movie adaptation, and fortunately enough, other people thought that too and adapted it into the movie "Seven Years of Night". Now if you will excuse me, I need to go find myself a copy. But before that, I am definitely recommending this to fans of psychological and revenge thrillers.