3.75 Stars* (rounded up).

Girl In Snow is a character study of three individuals whose lives are torn apart by the death of a young girl (Lucinda Hayes) they all knew. A boy named Cameron, because he loved her from afar; a girl named Jade, because Lucinda coveted the boy she loved; and a man named Russ, because he is a police officer investigating Lucinda’s death and because his brother-in-law, Ivan, is suspected of committing the crime.

At the onset of the novel, Lucinda's body is found on the school playground. There are only a few suspects. Cameron - because he is a social outcast - a freak if you will - and because he was in love with her; her art teacher Mr. O - who also happens to date Cameron's mom; her ex-boyfriend Zap - who used to be Jade's closest friend, as well as the boy she loved; and Ivan – (Russ' brother-in-law), who is the school janitor and who has had some trouble with the law in the past.

Jade, being a misfit herself, befriends Cameron. She has always been invisible. To her parents, to her classmates, and to Zap. No one sees the real Jade. It is because of this that she has pretend conversations with everyone. Things she wishes she said, v. the things she actually says. It’s this play that she is writing - for someone her age, it’s kind of brilliant. And Cameron? He tries to untangle his thoughts of Lucinda from everything else that has happened in his life. And that is not an easy thing. For his life has not been an easy one. His father took off years ago. His dad was accused of this crime, and well everyone knew he was guilty, but he was acquitted. And then he took off. And now everyone just assumes, that Cameron is guilty of killing Lucinda. Because of his dad, and because Cameron is strange.. and because he used to watch Lucinda. Constantly. As for Russ - he works to find out who is responsible for Lucinda's death and ends up opening up wounds of his own. Wounds he thought he had buried a long time ago.

Dayna Kukafka a does an exceptional job of allowing the characters’ to dig deep, and in doing so, gets to the heart of the story, and the heart of the crime.

Girl in Snow is an easy to read novel, with strong, well-written characters. Cameron and Jade, made this book. There were however, several extraneous characters that were not needed, and could have been extracted completely. Overall, the novel had more of a YA feel, though it was still quite enjoyable. I will say however, that the ending didn’t quite “do it” – everything leading up to that was really quite good and then the ending was just kind of, well, less than stellar. That said, for a debut novel, I think Ms. Kukafka, did an incredible job and I look forward to seeing what she has in store next.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster and Danya Kukafka for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Published on NetGalley and Goodreads on 7.31.17.

*Will be published on Amazon on 8.1.17.

A good debut by first time author Danya Kukafka told from different perspectives. Kukafka has a clear understanding of her distinct characters, people with personal struggles who in some way relate to a murdered teenage girl. I only wish that this slow burner had more action related to the murder and less character study.

Girl in Snow is an intriguing and creepy [in a good way] novel about a girl named Lucinda who is found murdered and trying to find out who did this to her. There are three people who are the book focuses on Cameron who is obsessed with Lucinda, Jade who lost her childhood friend to Lucinda when he fell in her love with her and Russ who is one of the officers on the case who may be related to someone who might be evolved.

Told in alternating chapters we see how each one is touched by Lucinda in some way, shape or form. As we get to know each character we find these dark secrets that each holds and how it is possible that any of them could know something about Lucinda’s past and her murder.

I found this story original and yes creepy! But creepy in the way that’s so suspenseful and definitely keeps you on your toes. There was never a dull moment and you kept getting secrets and twist and turns thrown at you that you couldn’t keep up. I love that you didn’t find out the truth until the very end and I was surprised, which is nice since most of the time I can figure out things rather quickly! This is one novel that I think is worth the read!

I was disappointed with this book as it was not a thriller at all. It was more a character study of three individuals .The book was about unrequited love and friendships, rather than a murder mystery, and I found it all just a bit tedious at times. Sorry to say, I gave up reading it halfway through. On the plus side, it was well written with some eloquent prose but I found it all too slow and boring. Thank you Net Galley for my copy.

I read a lot of thrillers and mysteries; it is very hard for me to find any originality in texts. Enter, Girl in Snow by Danya Kukafka, which felt like a breath of fresh air for me. From the character development to the POV, I felt like this novel had something that others are lacking for me lately.

The plot opens with the discovery of a young girl (Lucinda), neck snapped, buried in the snow. From here, everything changes. Small town cop, Russ, begins to investigate while dealing with his own personal issues. Social pariah, Jade, is irritated with the hype; she hated Lucinda. Cameron, struggling with her death, and what he knows about it, is forced to face parts of himself that he longs to keep buried. Each character with a secret, each character seeking solace, Kukafka’s tale is weaved creating an unnerving story of love, loss and obsession.

The characters are 100% what made this novel for me; most mystery suspense titles have multiple POVs and characters, but they have similar MOs. You get the mother of the deceased or the boyfriend; someone who cares deeply about the deceased and who will stop at nothing to find a resolution. However, in Girl in Snow, Kukafka gives a narrative voice to a whole set of misfit characters. From Cameron, the boy next door, turned stalker with psychopathic tendencies to Jade, the magic practicing outcast who wished Lucinda dead, I was completely compelled as I turned the pages to see how they would all fit together and what role they played in her death.
Cameron was amazingly developed and by far my favourite player in the entire story. I was so impressed with his complexity and how it showed across the pages.

A majority of the plot is narrated through the eyes of the teenagers, giving this one a YA feel (which I usually have a major issue with), however, I didn’t find that an issue in this text and found it added to the ambience instead of taking away. Kukafka seemed to find the perfect balance.

As much as I loved the characters and the development of them throughout the text, I did find the actual plot to be underwhelming and was left wanting a bit more by the end of the novel; however, my love for the characters completely beat out any of this nitpicking and I ended up loving the book overall.

If you want a mystery suspense that feels completely different, then you will love Girl in Snow!

A well-developed, interesting mystery. The interweaving of the well-defined main characters is well done, though it leads to some painful reading at times.

3.25-3.5 STARS

If I’m being totally honest, “Girl in Snow” is without a doubt, the most bizarre story that I have read in a very long time. And yet, once I shook past my initial wariness, I found parts of this story strangely appealing.

Although “Girl in Snow” begins with the discovery of the murdered high schooler, Lucinda Hayes, the story that follows is less about the young girl’s mysterious death and more about the inner musings of those individuals closest to the case. And while the author shines a spotlight on several potential suspects in Lucinda’s murder, this savvy reader had no trouble deducing the true culprit’s identity early on.

Despite its oddities, “Girl in Snow” does have an intriguing appeal. So, if you’re looking for something a little bit “outside the box,” then “Girl in Snow” just might be the story for you.

"Unrequited love is the infinite curse of a lonely heart." - Christina Westover

This was not the book I was expecting it to be. I expected a murder mystery that involved a teenager. Instead the murder was almost buried underneath a depressing character study.

Also, one reason I chose this book was because it takes place in suburban Colorado, which is where I grew up (mostly). There really isn't a good description of the setting of the novel. It's generic and could happen almost anywhere.

The story takes place in 2005. The story is told from the points-of-view of three characters: teenage stalker Cameron; dark, misfit teen Jade; and police officer Russ. These main characters all have their own secrets and there are plenty of other secrets running throughout the book.

This book was slow going, at least for me. I did finish it but will never pick it up to read again. I understand this is the first published work of this young author. Technically it is sound but next time around, somehow breathe some life into the pages.

I received this book from Simon & Schuster through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.

**Thank you to NetGalley for providing a complimentary copy of GIRL IN SNOW in exchange for my honest review**

In the dark of night, somebody murders Lucinda Hayes. Russ, a downtrodden cop with a complicated history hopes one suspect is innocent, Cameron, the son of his former partner and Lucinda's stalker. Jade, who hated Lucinda and just about everyone else, knows more than she's saying. Told from Russ and Cameron's third person points of view and Jade's first person POV, the mystery unfolds until the suspect is arrested.

Based on the blurb, I expected GIRL IN SNOW to be a heart-thumping thriller/mystery. Instead Danya Kukafka's debut novel is more a character study about the three characters whose points of view are written. Kukafka's crisp, clear writing jumps off the pages in a manner that made reading GIRL IN SNOW pleasurable. The drawback was slow pacing and extraneous detail about characters' families that had nothing to do with Lucinda's murder or the investigation. The most interesting part of Russ's backstory, his former partner's past was given far less attention than Russ's wife. Whenever I wanted to sympathize with Cameron his Very Creepy stalking dashed those feelings. I tried to root for Jade, but her unlikability factor kept pulling me back. She treated others terribly.

I didn't guess the murderer or the reason. I liked that Kukafka didn't go for a predictable suspect. Unfortunately, the person and reasoning left me unimpressed, partially because the manner of the reveal.

GIRL IN SNOW is an interesting character study, but lackluster mystery.

Told from multiple points of view, this story of a young girl's murder in a seemingly idyllic small Colorado town is a haunting look into the character's secrets and fears.

I love psychological Thrillers--sometimes to the point that it creeps my husband out. So when I was given the chance to read this, I was excited and started right away. It took me so long to get through--I was forcing myself to keep reading in order to write this review. I didn't like, or relate to, any of the characters and easily predicted the ending. Not a seller for me.

This book held my interest all the way through. I enjoy this particular format when each chapter is from another character's point of view. The interaction of all these diametrically different protagonists is what makes this novel special. Thanks for letting me read it.

I wanted to like this book! I was engaged in the beginning - but half way through - the plot lost my interest. I kept looking to see how much farther I had to go to finish it. The characters started to grate on my nerves, actually.

No morning routine for janitor Ivan: on his tour around the high school premises he finds the body of Lucinda Hayes, golden girl and now dead. It does not take long to identify possible murders: Ivan first of all, it hasn’t been long since he’s out of prison. Cameron Whitley, the boy from next door who has been stalking Lucinda for quite some time. Jade Dixon-Burns, a slightly overweight outsider who openly hated Lucinda. Mr O. the art teacher who was seen with Lucinda’s diary. Officer Russ Fletcher’s first murder case comes to a very bad moment, his wedding is all but ok and additionally, Ivan is his wife’s brother and Cameron his former partner’s son. How can he objectively investigate this case?

Danya Kukafka has chosen a well-known topic for her debut novel: the murder of the popular teenage girl. Even though many have written about this, she manages to create something new and singular. She provides us with the narrators who tell the story from their point of view and thus slowly unfolds the tragedy of all the three of them – it is not that much the victim herself whom we feel sorry for in the end but much more those three. The author succeeds in creating outstanding characters who really have to tell a story which I found actually from one point on much more interesting than the question who committed the deed.

Let’s start with Jade. From the outside she seems to be the hateful reclusive teenager who is difficult to love due to her negative attitude. Yet, behind this surface, we find a thoughtful girl who has experienced domestic violence, who has to work several jobs in her free time and who lost her best friend Zap to Lucinda. They were really really close, almost could read each other’s thoughts but when they get older and the interest in the opposite sex arises, Zap rejects her mercilessly and in a most offending way which leaves scars forever. Jade has never been popular, often was the victim of bullying, but this rejection breaks something in her. And makes her especially sensitive for other people’s emotions.

Russ, on the other hand, is caught in a conflict. He has a bad conscience for what he has done years before – he always backed his partner, even when he knew that this was not right and when in doing so he was hurting others, especially Cameron and his mother. Is this the point to correct a mistake? However, his mind is also dancing around his wife Inés and how he never really understood her. Do they actually know each other? He doesn’t have a clue about her past in Mexico and doesn’t know how she spends her days. He wanted to make her happy and give her the chance to stay in the USA, but can this, what they have, still be called love? Was it ever love?

Last comes Cameron. He is strange and odd. He is talented in drawing but his obsession with Lucinda is not only weird but morbid. He observes her, spends hours in the evening and night outside her house looking into her window. He even breaks into the Hayes’ house one night and watches her sleeping. He is a bit creepy, but he is also the boy whose police officer father was accused of murder a couple of years back and who has been living only with his mother. As soon as the suspicion falls on him, everybody remembers what his father was suspected of. Cameron does not know what his father has done or hasn’t, but he strongly fears that there is something bad running in his veins. This keeps him from thinking clearly in this situation. And the fact that he has seen the body, doesn’t help to rescue him from being the prime suspect for the reader, too.

The development of those three narrators who tell the story alternatingly gives the novel much more depth than I had expected. Apart from the big question of who is the murder, there are many smaller questions circling around the characters which keep the suspense constantly high. It is not a typical murder novel you cannot put aside due to the high pace and high suspense, no, it rather slowly unfolds and provides you with a complex psychological network of emotions and memories.

This book is supposed to be a murder mystery of a small town where a young teen is murdered at the school playground. However it is more character driven prose about people in the community and how their secrets make them feel responsible for the death. It was beautifully written, but just not for me.

I really was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I read it in almost one sitting, pausing to answer the phone. It told the story of a girl who was murdered, and from various viewpoints such as Cameron, Jade, and a few others. It's writing is phenomenal, and the characters are all impressive. I really am glad to have a copy of this book. Five stars, and I am now a fan of the author!

I thought this books was unfortunately slow. There was nothing that really grabbed at me and it was predictable the story tends to drag out a bit, but at the same time it doesn't have enough details. for example, her death. Either give me details or don't give me anything. It's not supposed to be light, and it felt too safe if that makes any sense. The ending is just what I expected but it also left me wanting more, and not in a good way, more in an incomplete sort of way.

Theoretically a mystery-crime novel, it seemed to me more of a psichological study of strange individuals. The book is wrriten in 3 PoVs, one 1st person, the other two in 3rd. The pacing is rather slow, the characters were interesting in their oddness, and the ending was satisfying, even if predictable.

I had some big discontents during reading, one concerning the typical YA bullshitting/metaphorical writing:

The simple rumble of its engine is a relief, company. And me? I am glass. A bristle. A stutter.

the other about some inconsistencies in the story: characters that know about birthmarks even if they never saw the other naked or close to, or they are looking through the window inside a house and see details that should be impossible to be seen.. ”Lucinda had a birthmark on her right hipbone. It was the shape of a swan and the color of a red pepper gone bad left on the counter too long.” - really?! and she barely spoke to him once..

Overall, a good book, 3+

This was an unusual story about a high school girl, Lucinda, who is found dead on a school playground. Three characters in this book tell us all about Lucinda and her death. Cameron who loved her from afar, Jade who disliked her and Russ, the police officer investigating the murder. Each chapter is narrated by one of these three and slowly the story emerges. I wanted to skip to the end to see who did it but I controlled myself and kept reading. Some parts moved a little slowly but the story was very good overall.

I love me a Gone Girl-esque thriller in which the solution is buried beneath a tangled web of secrets, lies, and unanswered questions. I get an even bigger kick out of trying to figure out the solution, despite my terrible track record with respect to accuracy. STILL, it’s exciting to see how horribly incorrect my entirely plausible predictions are.

My primary complaint with Girl in Snow was the convoluted conclusion, which presented a minor, relatively unmentioned character as the mysterious, unidentified aggressor. Based upon the occasional, one sentence references to this character that would crop up approximately every 75 pages, I would’ve never associated him with the crime. He was merely a nondescript bystander with zero description, characterization, or character development, and he struck me as merely a filler character. While obscurity in thrillers can be a good thing, it didn’t work in this novel’s favor. There was too little reference to this character throughout the book, and an incredibly weak explanation of his motives and rationale for committing the crime was presented within the last twenty pages of the book. He was mentioned considerably more frequently in those last twenty pages than in the preceding 350 pages collectively. That being said, he made for an implausible criminal with a nonexistent backstory and a questionable, hole-riddled motive. It wasn’t exactly the exciting, firework laden ending that I was anticipating.

I was taken aback by the prevalence of adolescent angst rather than more mature themes that I would expect from novels marketed to adult audiences. Two of the three narrators were high school students, and they contributed more of a coming of age aspect to the novel that was reminiscent of the young adult genre. While they dealt with issues such as grief and loss, they also battled with a subset of stereotypical teenage insecurities and issues associated with beginning high school and finding a niche. Needless to say, reading from the perspective of a thirteen-year-old presented an undesirable dichotomy between the adult novel I was expecting and the seemingly young adult narrative with which I was presented.

I was further misled in my belief that this would be a fast-paced, plot-driven book with an abundance of exciting twists and turns to throw off readers. It was quite the opposite, instead reflecting heavily on each of the narrators and their personal mental and physical challenges as they struggled to comprehend what had transpired. Character-driven, contemporary reminiscent novels bore me to tears, and this one had a particularly depressing tone as each of the characters elected to wallow in self pity and utter despair for the entirety of the book. I’m not an emotional person, and I consequently don’t enjoy or have an appreciation for emotion laden reads. I much prefer action driven novels in which the characters put aside their emotions to focus on tackling the issues at hand.

Girl in Snow, unfortunately, was severely lacking a premise, and a very minimal component of the novel actually centered around Lucinda’s death. I thought her untimely demise was supposed to be the central focus of the book??? References to the ongoing investigation into her murder were scarce, and her storyline was readily abandoned in favor of the confused, emotional reactions of each of the narrators. For a small town, it’s inhabitants seemed incredibly nonchalant about a cold-blooded murder, and there seemed to be no incentive to identify the killer.

I adored Kukafka’s writing style - it flowed seamlessly from one scene to the next and possessed an excellent balance between dialogue and description-heavy paragraphs. Furthermore, she excellently sewed together multiple intertwining narratives. I’m generally not a huge fan of books that are told from multiple perspectives, but in this case, they enhanced rather than detracted from the book. Each narrator had a distinct, unique voice which eliminated confusion, and their stories were expertly intertwined, conveying the same events from very different angles.

Overall, Girl in Snow was missing several integral components of an adult thriller, and I was disappointed by the confusing and poorly crafted conclusion. The novel was deceptively slow-paced, and none of the characters seemed particularly alarmed that a murderer was still on the loose. Instead, they frustratingly spent chapters upon chapters dredging up a slew of emotional reactions and recalling old memories rather than acting. I was searching for a heart-pounding read that kept me up until 3am, but unfortunately, Girl in Snow fell fairly short of my expectations.