Of Kith and Kin is a 376-page, September 2025 paranormal fantasy book. With 50 subtitled chapters, it is part of the Chronicles of the Threlphax.
When a strange man, Kit, unexpectedly approaches nurse Tae-hee Kim of Community Care Hospital, and convincingly introduces himself as Kim Tae-soo, her late and interred older twin brother, it becomes surreal. Hesitant and cautious at first, the doubtful nurse questions the otherwise earnest man. He explains himself: “But I revised my understanding of life and death that day. Something happened to me.”
Kit narrates his tribulations—after his mistaken connection with the Independence Movement—triggering her curiosity. Eager for a meaningful reconnection with his sister, Kit befriends her cherished friends at KSH House, including her best friend Jong, a doctor of philosophy in astrophysics, with whom he starts a romantic relationship that now hangs in the balance after a revelation associates the Kim siblings with gene-modifying companions called the threlphax. Tae-hee describes thus: “They are companions…care for us, but they’re not controlling us…halt the aging process.”
Some are born with threlphax, whereas others merge with it when older. “What about Kit?” “Kit doesn’t know…Kit is unique…other things that Kit is dealing with that I can’t discuss…Something happened to Kit…I don’t even understand…things might make more sense once he knows.”
The ensuing chain of events as the surreal plot unfolds, from a spate of suspicious deaths to abnormally glowing threlphax vessels to Kit’s suspenseful place in the matrix, makes this a pretty darn good book.
Commendable and recommendable.