Cover Image: Girl in Snow

Girl in Snow

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Girl in Snow by Danya Kukafka.
When beloved high school student Lucinda Hayes is found murdered, no one in her sleepy Colorado suburb is untouched – not the boy who loved her too much; not the girl who wanted her perfect life; not the police officer assigned to investigate. In the aftermath of the tragedy, these three unforgettable characters – Cameron, Jade, and Russ – must each confront their darkest secrets in an effort to find solace, the truth, or both.
A good read. Likeable story. 4*.

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Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. I have attempted it on a number of occasions but unfortunately I haven’t been able to get into it.

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There was much to enjoy here, but I found I couldn't connect with it. I'd read more from this author in the future though.

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Really enjoyable read. Good characters and a Good story. Well worth a read. Think others will enjoy.

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This book is billed as a thriller but it’s more of an exploration of three characters, and once I realised that’s what it was I really quite enjoyed this novel. The premise is that a teenage girl, Lucinda, has been found murdered and the novel is told from the perspective of three other characters: Cameron – a teenage boy who is quite obsessed with Lucinda, Jade – a teenage girl who thinks Lucinda has a perfect life and she wants that for herself, and Russ – one of the detectives investigating the murder. I did hope for a bit more depth in these characters but having said that I did get completely invested in wanting to know what had made them the way they were, and how far Cameron and Jade’s fixation with Lucinda might have led them. It’s a book that really looks at what makes us who we are and makes us do the things we do, and what the consequences of that is. I’ll definitely look out for more books by this author and I recommend this one.

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I have loved the opportunity to spend time researching novels to re-stockl our senior bookshelves in the school library that plays a central role in the life of the school. When I first took over the library was filled with dusty tomes that were never borrowed and languished there totally unloved.
Books like this, play a central role in ensuring that the library is stocked with fresh relevant fiction that appeals to the readers. It has a strong voice and a compelling plot that ensures that you speed through its pages, enjoying both its characterisation and dialogue whilst wanting to find out how all of its strands will be resolved by the end.
I have no hesitation in adding this to the 'must buy' list so that the senior students and staff of the school can enjoy it as much as I did. This is a gripping read that will be sure to grip its readers whether they are fans of this genre or coming to it for the first time through our now-thriving school library recommendation system. Thanks so much for allowing me to review it!

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I have already reviewed this previously, I didn't realise at the time it was the same book just re published!

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A thought-provoking and interesting character driven story with a more of a YA feel than thriller but nonetheless a worthy read from a promising new author.

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Unfortunately I did not enjoy this book and so decided not to finish it. Therefore, I do not have a full review.

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Girl In Snow was a brilliant story, I read it in one fell swoop and as soon as I finished I read it again!!

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Struggled with this so I had to abandon as the police procedures whilst handling/questioning a teenager were just wrong - like illegally wrong - and as a consequence I couldd't read further. Sad because it looked and sounded great!

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Schoolgirl Lucinda Hayes is dead. Murdered and left in the snow for the school janitor to find the next morning. Now everyone in this small Colorado town is eyeing each other with suspicion, trying to work out who murdered Lucinda.

The story is told from the point of view of three characters. The shy student Cameron who immediately becomes the prime suspect due to his habit of standing outside Lucinda's house and watching her family through their windows. Cynical teenager Jade, who has a troubled relationship with her abusive mother and is dismissive of the sudden grieving of Lucinda's friends. Cop, Russ who had some dark secrets of his own concerning Cameron's father. Each character is very well written, they all have their own distinctive voices and all are fully fleshed out. I struggled to understand the character of Cameron, though. His nighttime visits to Lucinda's house are supposed to be the actions of a misunderstood child but I found a section where he goes into Lucinda's room after her death quite odd and creepy and I lost any sympathy I had for the character then.

This is a beautifully written book. The author is certainly a skilful writer and created a very dreamy yet sinister atmosphere. Lucinda falls into the background fairly early on and we never really learn much about her character, she acts more as a plot device. There's nothing really wrong with this book but in the end it just left me a little cold.

I received a ARC from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.

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An interesting book, this: with multiple viewpoints and multiple plot threads, it plunges you deep into the lives of its characters- sometimes at the expense of the murder mystery it’s centred around.
One morning in a small Colorado town, Lucinda Hayes, the popular golden girl, is found brutally killed. Linked to the deaths are three people, all of whom have their own secret lives, which play out over the course of the investigation as it forces them to reveal truths they wouldn’t normally admit to. Cameron, the socially-withdrawn boy who can’t remember what happened the day of the murder; Jade, the outcast who was in love with Lucinda’s ex-boyfriend, and Russ, the policeman whose wife doesn’t love him.
So who had the motive to kill Lucinda? As we learn more about the characters, anybody seems likely. Kukafka does a lot of great character work here with her cast: all of the three are well-fleshed out, with believable motivations and very vivid inner lives that we’re thoroughly immersed in. Jade’s inner play ‘Things you want to say but can’t without being a dick’, for instance, is typical of an angry teenager and provides a welcome bit of humour to the proceedings, even as we get into some pretty dark territory. The writer does an excellent job of letting truths bubble to the surface very naturally, making for a really gripping read- even if sometimes its’s a bit hard to stomach.
Man, is it dark. We run the gamut in everything from Cameron’s secret ‘Statue Nights’, where he sits outside Lucinda’s window and watches her, to Russ covering up for his friend’s misdemeanours by stealing evidence. The problem with this is that you can end up disliking the characters you’re supposed to feel invested in.
The book is also rather slow moving, which does make this a problem. It’s not much of a thriller, and has quite a YA feel to it- as two of the main characters are teenagers- which creates a slightly confusing disparity in tone. Nothing much happens in the plot- which is fine, as we’re busy delving deep into what makes Cameron, Russ and Jade tick- but the result is that the ending feels a little disjointed, and falls a bit flat, simply because you forget that you’re supposed to be figuring out who Lucinda’s killer is.
Overall? I’m undecided. The character work is great, and engaging, but overall it’s a little too slow, too meandering, and too dissatisfying to make me feel like the hours I’d spent reading was worth it. If you like slow build-ups and angst, then this is for you- but this wasn’t really my cup of tea.

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Girl in Snow is an interesting examination of people's lives in the wake of the murder of a 15-year-old schoolgirl.

The main themes are of obsession, delusion, loneliness and the distance between people. All of the characters in the novel have some awareness of a chasm between who they believe they are and how they live their lives, there is the sense perhaps that older characters are wearily resigned to this whereas the teenage protagonists are angry or in turmoil.

The story is told by Cameron, Jade and Russ. Cameron is 15, the same age as Lucinda Hayes, the girl who has been killed. He has been an obsessive observer of Lucinda, watching her through glass, drawing her compulsively, and he has secrets even from himself as he suffers from blackouts when he is 'Tangled'. Jade is also a teenager who observes others, including Cameron and Lucinda. Like Cameron, she is overwhelmed by her emotions including her disgust with herself and her yearning for someone with whom she has little meaningful interaction. Russ is older, a policeman who worked with Cameron's long-gone father, but he too is filled with yearning, he too has a secret, needy inner life hidden beneath a very passive outer life.

I was fascinated by the complex narratives that these characters told themselves, they constructed fantasy love relationships based on tiny encounters which may have held potential but they made no real attempt to actually get to know better the objects of their obsessions. Yet there is progress within the novel, as each of the main characters starts to reach out and build real connections with others.

I found this an absorbing story, in which the murder victim and the solution of the crime are subordinate to the drawing of the protagonists' lives.

I received this ebook free in return for an honest review.

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I can see this novel having strong crossover appeal. It is the story of the aftermath of a girl found murdered. The novel follows three people who want to find out what happened to Lucinda. This is very much a story about how those left behind are affected more than a whodunnit, though that is a part of the story. I found myself suspecting most everyone. I look forward to reading what Kukafka writes next. Recommended to readers who enjoy character-driven mysteries.

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“When Lucinda Hayes is found murdered, no one in her sleepy Colorado suburb is untouched—not the boy who loved her too much; not the girl who wanted her perfect life; not the officer assigned to investigate her murder. In the aftermath of the tragedy, these three indelible characters—Cameron, Jade, and Russ—must each confront their darkest secrets in an effort to find solace, the truth, or both.”
I struggled to get into this book as the three main characters are all a bit strange...
I didn’t connect with any of them and found myself not really caring eho had killed Lucinda.
I expected this book to be a gripping crime thriller but for me, it didn’t meet my expectations.
Thanks to NetGalley and Picador.

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There are plenty of great characters in this multi-layered novel, but the storyline itself failed to grab me. I found I didn't really get into it, and so decided not to continue - I think parts were a little slow for me. It's definitely more about character development than I expected, and though this of course is not a bad thing I think I was just waiting for there to be more developments in the murder case, at a quicker pace. I can definitely still appreciate the beautiful writing though.

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Winter in a Broomsville, Colorado and popular high school student, Lucinda Hayes is found dead in the school playground. She has a gash on her head and her neck is broken. As shock waves ripple through the town, the question every wants to know, is who killed her.

As the town tries to come to terms with the crime, its effect on three of its inhabitants is both deep and profound.

Cameron Whitley, product of a broken home, his father a disgraced police officer long gone leaving him in the care of his mother is devastated by her murder. Lucinda was the love of his life though they had rarely spoken, but she knew and so did the town that Cameron watched her, stalking her movements.  As suspicions of his guilt grow so does the intensity and erraticness of his behaviour.

Jade Dixon-Burns, hated Lucinda for taking away good things in her life, wishing Lucinda dead. Was she to blame for an illfated wish come true?

Russ Fletcher is a local police officer called in to help solve Lucinda's murder, ex partner of Cameron's dad forced to confront his past whilst keeping his promise to look after Cameron.

This is not your straightforward crime novel, it is much more and certainly goes deeper  than that. Girl in Snow is totally character driven, told in alternating chapters from each of the characters perspectives. What effect did the murder have on each individual, how do they reconcile their feelings and did one of them commit murder?

Kukafka's characters are complicated and total misfits, unaccepted by community in which they live.

I was particularly drawn to Cameron, this young teenager struggling to make sense of what is happening around him, his emotions and thoughts all over the place. I found myself questioning his innocence or guilt throughout the novel, whilst feeling sorry for him, wishing someone would reach out and help him.

Jade was totally different, your classic goth, overweight, and a victim of an abusive, uncaring mother. Kukafka was brilliant at using her to show how hard it is to be different from your peer group and to not want to conform to the norm. I especially liked the the way Jade's thoughts and story were told as as if she were in a screen play, perhaps the only way Jade could understand and make sense of her circumstances and feelings.

Russ, is important to the story, but I felt somewhat secondary to Cameron and Jade. Russ's story was more about the secrets that dwelt in his past, his marriage and his desire for a better future.

Kukafka's writing is brilliant, the characters emotions and conflict shining through. It is also brilliant at showing the narrow mindedness of a small town, how we are too quick to judge and accuse without looking below the surface.

I did guess who the murderer was and it is not a huge surprise, but it is not the objective of the novel to merely solve the crime but more about how we get there, how the characters evolve and confront their inner demons.

Girl In Snow is not fast paced and it may not suit some readers, but it is superbly written, and deserves to be hugely successful..

It would make a great Netflix series!

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This a dense character driven mystery set in Broomsville, a small town on the outskirts of Denver, Colorado. A 15 year old popular student at Jefferson High School, Lucinda Hayes is discovered murdered, coated in snow. This is less crime fiction, more an insightful look at the repercussions of the death on the people of a small town. We never really get to know Lucinda herself, only how she is perceived through the eyes of others, and opinions of her differ substantially. There a a number of suspects with a motive to kill her from school janitor, Ivan and Cameron. There are short chapters that switch from the perspectives of outsiders Cameron, Jade and Detective Russ Fletcher, all interested in finding out what happened to Lucinda.

Cameron Whitely is a confused, lonely, anxious, odd and troubled student, he is fixated on Lucinda, believing himself to be in love with her with countless sketches of her. Others see him as obsessive and observe what they believe is stalking behaviour. His father, Lee, ran out years ago, and used to be a former police partner of Russ. Cameron's memory is hazy about where he was when Lucinda died, he worries that he could have carried out the killing. Russ ruminates about the nature of his long ago relationship with Lee. Russ's marriage is disintegrating, and he thinks Ivan, his brother-in-law, an ex-con, is responsible for the murder. Friendless, fat, but courageous Jade Dixon-Burns loathed Lucinda, she had everything Jade wanted, including the boy she is interested in. Her homelife leaves a lot to be desired, and Jade wonders if the spell she had cast to rid herself of Lucinda is the reason for the murder. In the story, Jade expresses how she feels things should work out in the form of a script.

The revelation of Lucinda's killer takes second place to the lives affected by her death. This is not a book for those looking for a fast paced crime thriller, it is far too slow paced. This is for those who like a look at the layers of darkness that underly small town living and the unsettled and disturbed characters facing disillusion, disappointment and broken lives. Kukafta has a gift in exposing the rich interior lives of the characters, offering an in depth look at the misfits at the centre of the novel, who find Broomsville reluctant to accommodate them. This is a well written story with beautiful descriptions, that is not really interested in being plot driven. If you are interested in complexity in your reading, with a focus on relationships, then you are likely to enjoy this. Many thanks to Pan Macmillan for an ARC.

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Girl in Snow is market as Literary Fiction/Mystery & Thrillers, but it reads like YA. Now, I’m not saying this as a criticism of YA or as a criticism of this novel, but it’s somewhat disappointing when you’re expecting adult fiction and are hit with YA all the way through. Now, I’m aware that the majority of this novel is narrated by teenagers (Cameron and Jade) but where this younger-tone should have added to the emotional nature of the plot because it was the “voice” of the characters, it didn’t. Instead I felt rather annoyed that I wasn’t getting what I signed up for – remove the sexual content and this is a YA novel.

In a character-driven novel, it’s vital the characters matter to you as, I believe, this is what makes you invested in the novel, whether you like them or not, you need to care about them in some way - whether it’s praying on their downfall or wishing for their success or just plain interested in their lives. But here, I felt nothing, I didn’t like or dislike the characters, I hate to say it, but they just didn’t matter to me at all, there was no aspect to any of them that was able to pull me into the plot. Also, I felt there very little character development.

It's like I know what I was meant to feel, the vibe I was meant to get but it just did not manifest itself - Cameron, the loner, obsessed-turned stalker and Jade, the loner with the troubled home life, who feels Lucinda took everything good in her life. Now, these characters should have created a dark and compelling atmosphere, sucked you into their view of things. The fact that Jade felt no sadness, or the need to fake sadness, at Lucinda's death should have made her interesting by default!

And as for the murder of Lucinda Hayes itself, the investigation took a back seat, like all the way in the back, which I was not expecting. Cameron is obsessed with Jade so we can very much expect his narrative to focus on that fact; Jade feels Lucinda took everything from her and wished her dead, but, like Cameron, she is a fellow pupil, a teenager. So, I was really hoping for the narrative of the detective, Russ, to drive the investigative elements of the plot forward, alas, it didn’t. Girl in Snow is a character-driven novel, a study of the lives of these three characters and I felt the fact that Lucinda was murdered was irrelevant to the plot because each of these narratives could have existed if she was still alive. And when the reveal did come, it was underwhelming, which was so frustrating because wanting to know who killed Lucinda was all that kept me reading this novel.

Girl in Snow moves at a slow-pace so, if like me, you’re not invested in the characters, you’ll likely struggle with this one too. I feel like the balance was off, like this novel needed to be more plot-driven. Sadly, Girl in Snow was not the novel for me.

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