Perhaps nothing epitomises the paranoia prevalent in this book better than the family of the interrogator - he is not sure whether his parents are actually both blind (as they insist they are) or simply pretending to be blind because it is safer, in some way it allows them to see more clearly what is going on around them.

Adam Johnson's novel won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize. In it he provides a vivid rendering of life inside North Korea where the state and the Dear Leader, exercise complete control over the lives of the citizens.

The story is told through the experiences of Jun Do, the orphan master's son. His travails as a tunneller, kidnapper and translator see him rise to be a national hero and then fall terribly when he is sent to the interrogation camp Division 42 - a "matterless place".  There he seizes the opportunity to steal a new identity and with the tacit knowledge of the state begins a new life which presents a fresh set of dangers.

Johnson's novel is magnificent - encompassing farce, satire and tragedy. To read it is in some way to undertake an ordeal, to have an experience. We experience the ever-present broadcasts to citizens, the retelling of events through the lens of the state and the pervasive fear of citizens whose lives can be subverted at the whim of the state and the Dear Leader. George Orwell conceptualised the idea of "doublethink" and Johnson shows us a society bamboozled by its application.

This book is an immense achievement.