A compelling legal thriller, full of twists and complicated guilt. The story was gripping and I was glued to the page. However, I wish, like other readers, Kim said more about the danger of so-called autism “treatments,” like drinking bleach. These “treatments” are real and kill autistic people regularly and more explicit condemnation could have been educating and important. Couple this book with some research and you have an important and engaging piece of writing. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #netgalley

This was difficult to get through..in a good way? I just felt like screaming the whole time. Big emotional impact. Everything about this story was so hard and heartbreaking. Whoa. Angie Kim is a gifted writer and storyteller, definitely recommend if you can handle the topics in this story.

Miracle Creek has a very intriguing storyline. It is refreshingly different from other suspenseful books. Angie Kim spins a tale with characters that will keep you guessing how this story will end.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free copy, in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded down because it seemed to peter out a bit towards the end. This book started out amazing; I was totally enthralled with the courtroom drama. However, I figured it out about 1/3 of the way through (no shade to Angie Kim, I'm just amazing I guess) and the drama itself seemed to just dragged out as a ploy to throw you off...oh you think this character did it, well guess what!? this other character also has a secret! All that being said, I coudn't put this down and it has given me some major food for thought about motherhood, immigration, children on the autism spectrum, how terrible white guys are, and the legal system. Would recommend.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to more of Kim's work!

This novel isn't quite the legal thriller that I anticipated. It was better. The plot centers around an explosion that occurred at a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, Miracle Creek, about a year ago. The reader is privy to the point of view of several of the characters as they progress through the trial and reflect back on the events that led up to the main event. The characters are complicated and incredibly flawed. The story will keep you guessing up until the end. This is all around an excellent novel and I look forward to reading more of Kim's work.

Miracle Creek unfolds from the perspective of many complicated characters. This stunning story is a beautiful portrayal of family, sacrifices and the lengths we go to protect the ones we love. I loved the character development and the way that I started to like or dislike each character more as the layers were peeled back throughout the book. A touch of heartbreak with a dash of hopefulness, I really loved Miracle Creek.

I loved this book. An expertly crafted courtroom drama woven throughout some deeply troubling and complex character studies. Absolutely incredible.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately, I have tried reading this book on 2 separate occasions and during that 2nd attempt, I have only managed to make it halfway through so I’d rather stop here and state that this book just wasn't for me.

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim is a 2019 Sarah Crichton Books publication.

Fantastic! Lived up to the hype

Everyone knows I love a good courtroom drama, so this book was highly recommended to me by some of my GRs peers. But, try as I might, the book just wasn’t calling out to me when it was first released. So, I waited for the right mood, and I think my instincts paid off this time.

In a small Virginia town, a Korean couple sets up a Hyperbaric chamber on their land, which draws a group of eclectic people, all hoping to find relief from conditions ranging from autism to infertility. However, some people are adamantly opposed to this controversial treatment for children with autism, and have begun protesting.

Then, a tragic explosion leaves two people dead, and severely injures several others, leaving many lingering questions behind.

Was it an accident or was it deliberate? Was it one of the protestors or a member of the group participating in the chamber treatment?

As the investigation proceeds, the mother of an autistic boy is singled out as the prime suspect. Did she, with malice aforethought, set out to murder her own child? There is strong circumstantial evidence that she did, but as the trial begins, the situation leading up to the explosion is revealed, exposing a plethora of secrets, cover-ups, lies, and agonizing guilt, providing more than ample reasonable doubt in the reader's mind. Is the right person on trial?

The premise of this book is a bit unusual, at least in the beginning. I have heard of the hyperbaric chamber, or something like it, probably from some medical drama on television, but I didn’t know its official name or what all it was used for.

Apparently, it is used for numerous health issues ranging from anemia to vision loss, but is questionable when it comes to certain other conditions. Interesting. I learn something new every time I read a book!

The downside, of course, was the uptick in the number of characters I had to keep track of. Again, I found myself reading slower to make sure I was understanding everything that was going on. I listened to portions of this book on audio as well, and thought it was very well done considering the amount of characters involved.

It feels like I have been waiting for decades for a riveting courtroom drama. The well is so dry, I soaked this one up like a sponge! As popular as this book became, I hoped it would prompt a legal thriller comeback- just so long as it didn’t turn into a ‘trend’ or oversaturation. (Doesn’t anyone know how to practice moderation?)

However, this story goes much deeper than the murder trial. It also takes a hard look at what it means to be a parent- the desire to shelter and protect our children and the strong urge to give them a better life and a brighter future, providing them with the best advantages possible. Yet, the moral example one sets is equally important, as well as instilling a strong level of accountability, from both parent and child, building true character.

Parenting is difficult under the best of circumstances, but raising a child with special needs is an all- consuming effort, the challenges constant, and this novel provides some very realistic examples of that, measuring the exhausting toll it can take on even the most resilient and dedicated parents.

Overall, this is a well-rounded novel that could just as easily have relied on one dimension of the story- the trial,or the behind the scenes drama that revealed all those stunning secrets and resentments. To have adeptly combined the two aspects of the story, with balance, and near perfect pacing, is what really made this novel stand out.

Obviously, I am very impressed with this debut novel. Can’t wait to see what Angie Kim comes up with next.

I'm not much of a thriller person, but this suspense/court room drama cleverly discusses the immigrant experience and what it means to raise a special needs child, so this debut novel ends up being interesting for multiple reasons and appealing to different audiences. The novel starts with a fire in a chamber for hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) which kills a mother and an autistic kid and injures other occupants as well as people outside the facility - cut to one year later: Did Elizabeth, the mother of the deceased child, really set the fire in order to get rid of her special needs son, as the prosecutor tries to prove? The story unfolds day by day over the course of the trial and provides numerous viewpoints, twists as well as flashbacks to the events the court aims to reconstruct.

What appealed to me most was how Kim slowly elaborates on the individual stories of the people involved in and affected by the fire: The HBOT-business is run by a Korean immigrant family, the Yoos, who is facing various struggles in their chosen home; five of the people in the chamber were special needs kids with mothers who try to do what's best for their children - but how much treatment is too much? What about neurodiversity? And who do these mums talk to when their responsibilities start to become too much, when they feel sad and angry and overwhelmed, but there's clearly a stigma attached to that?; and then there's the doctor whose marriage is under duress because he and his wife can't conceive a child.

This is Angie Kim's debut novel - she is a Korean-born lawyer who came to the States as a preteen (like the child of the Yoos), so she writes what she knows, which gives the story a degree of authenticity. Still, some twists seem a little contrived, but that's not much of an issue as the intended effect is served: It's hard to foretell who the arsonist was and why he/she did it. On the way to this revelation, we learn a lot about the life of the Korean immigrant community and the struggles of women who take care of kids who need special care.

This book is super readable and shines with emotional intelligence - the way Kim draws her characters is what really impressed me here. This is a popular thriller that dares to tackle complex societal issues - I'm curious what Angie Kim will write next.

It took me a long time to get ‘into’ this novel, mostly because I didn’t find many of the characters sympathetic or likeable. However by the end I was racing through it, looking forward to seeing how all the stories tied together.

I really liked Kim’s use of multiple narrators to tell the story of the explosion of ‘Miracle Submarine’ through the murder trial of the mother accused of having caused it. The different perspectives worked well to reveal the truth, but also fitted the story and themes - each character had different views on parenthood, disability and personal responsibility.

I think this will be a great book to discuss in my book group!

A fascinating story about a family that owns a facility that offers treatments via hyperbaric chambers for those suffering with autism and other conditions. It is also about the parents of those children, their relationships with their children and each other.

The parents get to know each other well, and jealousies and resentments arise over the course of the story. The drama among the characters becomes second in importance to a horrendous event that occurs near the end of the book, affecting everyone.

I enjoyed this book almost completely, as it was interesting and different from anything else I've read, but I was unable to give it 5 stars based on a serious sexual situation that I felt was treated too lightly.

Other than that situation, the book was a great read and I recommend it.

(ARC Received from Netgalley)

Pak Yoo runs the “Miracle Submarine”, a medical treatment which simulates scuba diving. It’s thought that the exposure to oxygen has healing benefits. But then there is a tragic accident during one of the sessions. The rest of the book deals with the aftermath, taking place during the trial and trying to determine what exactly happened to cause the accident and why.

I don’t remember what first drew me to this book, but I was quickly engrossed in it. It was a genuine pleasure to read, following the twists and turns of the story. I admire how it deals with difficult subjects, especially its portrayal of motherhood; “I wish more moms would talk like this. We need to tell each other the ugly stuff, the stuff we’re ashamed of.“

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in stories about family connections and the secrets we keep from one another.

A riveting courtroom story that deals with parental guilt, attempts to provide a better life for your children and how that can twist your moral compass.

The characters are given life by having the viewpoint switch between characters frequently, although this can sometimes end up in the story becoming a bit muddled. Much like in real-life court situations, the witnesses do not always agree on what happened in the exact same instance; their personal opinion/bias always bleeds in a little (or a lot in some cases).

I’m absolutely kicking myself for waiting this long to read this book. Miracle Creek is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time and I’m already looking forward to pre-ordering whatever Kim writes next.

Kim knows how to PLOT. From the opening chapter, readers know that they don’t know everything about the deadly Miracle Submarine accident. Kim switches POVs deftly. As sympathetic as you might be to individual characters, it’s clear that no one is telling the full truth, not even to themselves. There are a lot of storylines within this book but Kim does a great job balancing them all and making them believable.

The biggest strength of this book, for me, fell in the characterization of motherhood and parenthood. Each POV parent is deeply relatable - in how they love their children and how those same kids can drive them crazy. Even Elizabeth’s motives seem understandable (to her) during her POV chapters. I felt, I understood, I rallied behind these women.

10/10. My only gripe is that one character didn’t seem to get what was coming to him. But it’s a spoiler, so I’ll let it go.

The story took place in small town Virginia following the trial of the murder of a patient and mother of an autism treatment center. Between the trial and the real mystery of this story I was hooked from the beginning. The drama each character faces from lies told by everyone. Kim takes us down every option to make each character feel guilty and ashamed of something. Every man for themselves. The story is compelling and I was eager to find out who did what, where, and with who.

I hope you get a chance to read this one!

I thought this book was interesting, but could not find my footing nor was I really engaged. Perhaps it's just a consequence of the time, but I have to DNF this one all the same. Nevertheless, thanks for allowing me to read in advance — I really love the cover!

Thank you Netgalley for the privilege of reading this book. I loved the story AND the writing. The author revealed more as you read.
A horrific ‘accident’ changes the worlds of many, many who were trying to ‘change’ their own or their children’s lives. The miracle submarine was created by a couple trying to create a better world for their own child. When something goes terribly wrong, a trial takes place and individuals have to decide how far they will stretch or omit the truth, in order to see justice done. Is it more important to tell the truth or protect yourself, or your family. How far is too far? When we jump to conclusions do we fall off our own pedestals. This reminded me a little of Defending Jacob. What is a parent? What defines love?

Angie Kim's debut is a suspenseful courtroom thriller that reveals the secrets and domestic strife at the heart of a deadly explosion.

I was first wanted to say thank you NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book for an honest opinion.
This interesting story gripped me right from the start. I’ve read quite a few courtroom dramas and sometimes they can really drag on, but I didn’t find that with “Miracle Creek”. At times it was emotional and uncomfortable but it had me hooked! I was constantly wondering what I would do if I was in any of these characters positions. I highly recommend this book