I dithered between 2 and 3 stars, but ultimately I'm rounding up because as ridiculous and as unbelievable as the entire second half/conclusion was, it at least made me laugh out loud.

Spoiler

I mean, at one point our hero basically takes out an entire army batallion while accidentally high on crystal meth - what's not to love?

There was insta-love (ok maybe I'm being harsh, insta-crush more like), characters who are walking stereotypes, events (like a spontaneous rebellion with catchy slogans, in only the most repressive state in the world) that happen only because the plot needs it to, a genius hero who can incapacitate three trained men because she did judo in high school (a decade ago) - you get the drift. Go in with the right expectations, and you'll probably love this book. It did do a good job of weaving actual DPRK espionage activities into the story.

I think I was disappointed because given the way the author is presented as "one of the few westerners admitted into the DPRK", I had expected a better understanding of the country (and it's people's psyche) and a little deeper insight than "cult of Kim, arbitrary rules, everyone lives in fear of displeasing a Kim". Turned out it was just your run of the mill cold-war themed beach read.