A fabulous debut. It took awhile to read as every word was important to me. The similes used and other descriptions of clues and events were powerful. The characters and humanity expressed were well written. More as little and ethics were I. This book too. It really had so much in it and the way it was written made it so I hated to put it down as I wanted the next page and event to come.
What a great job on a first novel. I hope to see a new one from Angie Kim I. The future.

An engrossing novel that I found extremely hard to put down. While it can get complicated at times, stick with it for a gorgeous and heartbreaking ending, one that also wraps up any loose ends or questions you may have. This is a staggering work of art by a debut novelist.

The story was gripping right from the start, I honestly can't remember the last time I read a thriller or crime novel and was this invested from page one. I mean, the first line alone hooks you in!

'My husband asked me to lie. Not a big lie. He probably didn’t even consider it a lie, and neither did I, at first . . .'

The book centres around the explosion which results in the death of a number of patients seeking treatment in the 'Miracle Submarine'. Due to the suspicious nature of the explosion, everyone becomes a suspect, but the leading suspect is Elizabeth, the mother of a child with Autism, named Henry, one of the boys who tragically died. The novel follows the court proceedings and jumps backwards and forwards in time to unravel what really happened.

As part of their efforts to establish themselves and send their daughter Mary to college, Pak and Young create the 'Miracle Submarine', which offers HBOT (Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy) to a variety of patients, some of which suffer from Autism, Infertility as well as Cerebral Palsy. I had no idea what this therapy was before reading this book, but it's certainly a very interesting idea.

The novel deals with Autism, and explores the stigma that individuals with Autism face. It also goes into what parents or caregivers of children with Autism experience and the effects that has on them emotionally. It's really touching to read how the parents in the novel devote themselves so entirely to their children and how hard they fight for them.

The suspense and the 'who dunnit' was so well executed, with the perfect amount of back and forth between different characters. Just like in the court procedure, we as readers get to act as jurors and make our own judgement on these characters.

I really enjoyed reading through all the different characters perspectives, sometimes this can be confusing but in this book, I think Angie Kim does an amazing job of switching between them and making them well developed and interesting.

Some of favourite characters would have to be the Yoo family; Pak, Young and Mary. They are a South Korean immigrant family who have a tenuous relationship and  are adjusting to life in the states. You get to read through each of their eyes, read about their hopes, struggles and disappointments and I really felt for each of them. While the novel is primarily a murder mystery, this portrayal of the Asian immigrant experience is also very interesting to read.

The conclusion / ending was PERFECT. Now I'm not a person who throws that word around lightly when it comes to endings but the way it all unfolded was so true to life. It wasn't all neatly tied up and every action had a consequence, in some cases, some irreversible ones. I cried when I came to the end as I was so emotionally invested, I wish there was more but I believe Miracle Creek ended very fittingly.

Overall, this book is definitely one of my favourites of the year and I am a huge fan of Angie Kims writing. I will definitely be keeping a lookout for what she writes next because she is a truly gifted and special writer.

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim. Just a great book, hard to believe this a debut author. Every character is reliable, likeable or not. The reader just feels the pain, anxiety, tension, love of the person highlighted in the individual chapters. At the end of a chapter you think you have it figured out but Ms Kim pulls the rug out from under you every time. Highly recommended.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

This was a bit of an odd one for me, I liked the unique concept but it seemed designed to be a tearjerker. I am not one who cries at books so that was a bit off putting to me.

** I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. **

Being a law graduate, court room drama is always welcomed automatically in my comfort reading zone.So requesting for Miracle Creek by reading its synopsis is not a surprising fact for me.

Synopsis:

In rural Virginia, Young and Pak Yoo run an experimental medical treatment device known as the Miracle Submarine—a pressurized oxygen chamber that patients enter for therapeutic “dives” with the hopes of curing issues like autism or infertility. But when the Miracle Submarine mysteriously explodes, killing two people, a dramatic murder trial upends the Yoos’ small community.

Who or what caused the explosion? Was it the mother of one of the patients, who claimed to be sick that day but was smoking down by the creek? Or was it Young and Pak themselves, hoping to cash in on a big insurance payment and send their daughter to college? The ensuing trial uncovers unimaginable secrets from that night—trysts in the woods, mysterious notes, child-abuse charges—as well as tense rivalries and alliances among a group of people driven to extraordinary degrees of desperation and sacrifice.

Review:

It’s twisty page turner and hold the power of grabbing the readers to its last page. That’s all I can say about this book confidently. I think this is one of the best ARC copies I have got my hands on. Miracle Creek is actually a court room drama where a woman is accused of murdering her autistic son using a Korean couple’s business tool but there are so many persons involved with the incidents and so many questions arise with their involvement. The author very carefully unfolds the wrappings of the day and

Before this book I have never heard of the HBOT but it seems very interesting to me. It’s an oxygen based therapy which cured autism and infertility. The device which gives the treatment looks like a submarine shell and the plot of the book turns around whens a devastated fire broke out from a cigarette to this tank which resulted two deaths and other severe injuries. Here comes Elizabeth who has an autistic son named Henry. Henry died in that fire and everybody accused Elizabeth to plot the fire to get rid of her son. Slowly in flashbacks from the court room and others, many events and secrets unfold behind that tragic incident.

I love how the author wrote the story that we , the readers are unable to guess who actually did that. The character of Elizabeth is so honest like at some point she actually seems to have so many reasons to plan murdering her own son and then you realize how the motherhood works. The clashes of mentality of a mother and a human is beautifully portrayed and one cannot deny the process of thoughts of Elizabeth. It was so honest. In my opinion Elizabeth is one of the best written characters.

The characters are the candies of the book. Angie Kim pretty sweetly showed the immigrant family – Pak, Young and Mary’s struggle to adopt the new life in a new country. Mary’s struggle in a new environment I think somewhere shows Kim’s own life.

The cover is mesmerizing. I have requested the book for its cover. After finishing it I get to realize that the cover holds a deeper scene from the book. It’s like someone who is lying down beside the submarine rescued from the fire and spreading his sight at the upper sky hiding behind trees where fires from the submarine are peeking from the right side.

Other main characters like Matt, Janine, Rose, Teresa TJ everybody seems to be played in a very well play. I like how every single character is got to be introduced with importance. Even lawyers like Abe and Sujanne. The new insight we get to see is the autism community. The struggle of the mothers of the autistic children and their clashes among themselves holds a new hierarchy depends on the behaviour ability of the autistic children is showed in a great way. I really like Kim, one of the autistic child’s mother and her highlights about how the society views the autism and to cope up with that how the parents get isolated in the whole process. Kim & Elizabeth are the perfect example as devoted mothers in this regard.

The dramas in the courtroom and beyond it is really tense and tight. The bond shows in the family and between every characters are also very perfect to show the complex human behavior.

“But that was the way life worked. Every human being was the result of a million different factors mixing together – one of a million sperm arriving at the egg at exactly a certain time; even a millisecond off, and another entirely different person would result. Good things and bad – every friendship and romance formed, every accident, every illness – resulted from the conspiracy of hundreds of little things, in and of themselves inconsequential.”

The narrative is capable to hold the readers’ attention and fit to be announced as a worth read of suspense/ court room Drama. It opens so many doors for thoughts where you disagree with so many behavior and acts of human and suddenly agree with some major facts. It’s a book which I think will let you believe in fate where an event or small act of yours can change the course of your life. It will teach us to grab the moment because there is no surety of showing love tomorrow or the very next second.

Recommended highly for those who wants to be kept at the edge of their seats.

Ratings: * * * * *

Publication date: April, 2019

available for pre-ordering so take your action first

I have never cried reading a book as much as I cried reading this one. Not cute, single tear drop down my face cry, but full on ugly-snot-whining cry (at the 80%+ mark of reading I was an entire emotional wreck).

This book starts out kind of slow, you slowly get introduced to the characters and their backgrounds. Can I drop in and say that Angie Kim does PERFECT characterization in this story. You don’t understand... I officially stan her and her writing for the rest of my life solely based on the characterization in this book.

These characters felt and acted human. Not the factitious how we <I>want</I> humans to act, but how we <i>really do act</i> behind closed doors. With every single character in this book I could relate their characteristics, the good & the bad & the slightly sadistic, back to real people I knew and also back to myself.

I love authors who don’t shy away from every human’s (yes even the “good” humans) sadistic thoughts. We’ve all had them at varying degrees, and Angie Kim’s incorporation that it doesn’t make us <I>bad</I> people was actually beautiful and a reminder I really needed to hear.

This was like a therapy session & a good ass story all wrapped into one for me.

Not only did I finish this book with a lot of self reflection to do, but I also left the story with a lot of new knowledge on my plate. The incorporation of Korean culture was riveting for me, and honestly a fresh new perspective to the family roles that were key in every aspect of this story.

And the mentally disabled children, who were the stars of this book, were also very educational in a sense that Angie didn’t become victim of political correctness. Yes, she made clear that the moms loved their children, but she also made very clear the emotional and physical toll that the mothers went through. The darker thoughts, the darker moments where they aren’t in control, they were educational to me. I was able to feel not only the love & dedication but also just the burden they carried on their shoulders because they loved their children. It made the story so much richer and more complex.

I could honestly go on and on about all the complicated human interactions and relationships that happen within this enthralling murder mystery. Matt & Janine’s wedding and biracial relationship, Mary & Matt, Pak & Young, Elizabeth & Henry, Teresa & Rosa, Elizabeth & Kitt...but I’ll summarize by saying this; Angie knows what the fuck she’s doing. These were real people in my head; these were real, unfiltered relationships going on. And they were all perfectly weaved into a kick ass murder mystery that’ll have you saying “Who the fuck lit that fire” the entire time.

I loved this book. It’s an all time favorite of mine. If I could give it 50000 stars out of 5 I would. Pick it up, read it. You won’t be disappointed.

When I got to know that this is the debut book of Angie, I was astonished. The vivid detailed picture she has painted of a Korean immigrant family in the States, their life per se, and the internal conflicts of always being an outsider, is mesmerizing.

To be honest, I picked up this book expecting a full-fledged courtroom drama. I was disappointed in the beginning, but that feeling changed to one of excitement later in the book when the court sessions began in full swing.

Being a Korean immigrant and a lawyer herself. the author has done justice to the book and its lead characters by putting down her experiences on paper in beautiful, descriptive instances. She touched upon the racism bit, but it was missing to an extent.

The book reflects the view-point of its major characters in various situations, analyzing each situation from the point of view of the persons involved. The result is that of a combined 360-degree picture one gets by combining various shots taken at different angles, each adding important information to the final result.

Then there are illustrations, which aid in providing a better understanding of the argument being presented in the courtroom. Even though the ARC did not have clear illustrations, the accompanying text was detailed enough for them to make sense, even in their distorted form.

One complain is regarding the grammatical mistakes that have seeped in even after a rigorous process of editing and proof-reading over-and-over again. No harm in repeating the same before publishing, isn't it? Also, I am confused with the title. Is it "Miracle Creek" or "Miracle Submarine"? The copy I received is titled the latter, while Goodreads and other online portals are referring to it as the former! While both fit the story, sticking to one would stop the confusion from spreading.

If reading a debut book is on your list, this one is a no-brainer.

Thanks to the author and the publisher for the ARC.

Verdict: Highly recommended.

Short version: This book was AMAZING. Go read it. Now. Or ASAP. :)

Long version: I did not know that novelized courtroom dramas is a genre. How did I not know this?! I am now in love with Angie Kim for opening up this world of fiction to me. Five stars everyone, "Miracle Creek" was an amazing ride of a novel.

When I requested this novel as an ARC, it was more because I noticed that it was about two Korean immigrants, Young and Pak Yoo. My Korean mom immigrated to the United States when I was a baby. As an adult, I moved to Korea for 6 years and loved living there. I really wanted to see how Kim wrote about Koreans in America. The way that Kim wrote her characters, I felt like I knew the main characters personally. Reading about Korean food, customs, and even linguistics was also nostalgic and really made the novel come to life. When the teenage daughter of Young and Pak, Mary, struggled with her relationship with her parents, I struggled with her. I could see many Korean-Americans, especially children of Korean immigrants in the United States, think and feel the same way as Mary often did.

But you don't have to have any Korean heritage to enjoy this book. The book focuses on the trial after the explosion of Young and Pak's privately owned medical treatment center called "Miracle Submarine." This book is told from the perspective of many different people involved in a trial- each character is believable, complex, and interesting. Kim covers a variety of topics, including the justice system, parenting autistic children (her observations about parenting were SO on-point), and life as an ethnic minority.

I LOVED this book and wish the author continued success in (hopefully) writing more books. Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus, and Giroux for an advanced reading copy of this book.

This is a court room drama/thriller that deals with immigration, infertility, autism, parenthood and family. Kim handles these subjects exceptionally well all while creating tension and keeping the reader guessing.

Wonderful book. I really loved it. Blending what amounts to three different cultures: Korean, American and Parents of Autistic Children. The families were woven through the book, starting out with a horrible accident and leading up to a fulfilling ending. I related to almost all the characters, and felt that the story captured the difficulty of blending a stranger in a strange land experience, the difficulty of understanding these strangers and coping with assorted prejudices and the heavy hope of parents trying against the odds to make life better for their handicapped children while also dealing with their partners inability to make such a sacrifice. It is a great book..

I received this ARC from the publisher and netgalley for my honest review.

This books has been described as a courtroom drama similar to a Jodi Picoult novel. Of course that piqued my interest as a big Jodi Picoult fan. This book definitely held its own in the courtroom novel world. The author moved from the courtroom to the past to the present in a seamless and very follow-able way. The use of a medical hyperbaric chamber as the backdrop to a mystery is very creative and the plot kept me guessing almost to the end.

Published on Goodreads 9/21/18 (link below)

Miracle Creek is a gripping, psychologically complex novel about the unintended consequences of a good person's mistakes.

I could not put this book down.

Miracle Creek, Virginia is an idyllic D.C. suburb where a family of recent Korean immigrants have founded a small business in the family barn: Miracle Submarine, which offers hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) to patients seeking relief from diverse ailments such as infertility and autism.

"'This,' Pak said, looking proud, 'is Miracle Submarine. Pure oxygen. Deep pressure. Healing. Together.'"

I had never heard of HBOT before reading this book; it's a treatment for decompression sickness that nowadays is also used as a controversial alternative treatment for autism, chronic pain, migraines, etc. (You can read more about HBOT here). The central event that this book turns around is a devastating fire during a "dive" (the patients' term for a treatment session) that resulted in two deaths and several injuries. We know what happened that night, but not why. The rest of the book answers that question by untangling the complex relationships, inner thoughts, lies, and secrets of the characters. I'm usually pretty good at figuring out "who done it," but not this time - I did not see the ending coming!

Kim frames the narrative around the trial itself, filling in the gaps with flashback scenes in between witnesses. Kim treats her readers like jurors: we are introduced to the characters and learn the "facts" of the case in the claustrophobic, humid courtroom. And like jurors, we are ultimately forced to judge and evaluate the characters' actions in black-and-white legal terms, despite the human complexity of their actions and inactions.

The best part of this book are the characters. Young, Pak, and Mary are recent immigrants from South Korea, struggling to start a business and reconcile how their family dynamic has changed since moving to the United States. The other main characters are a close-knit group of patients who visit Miracle Submarine twice a day for a "double dive." We are introduced to Matt first because he is called as the first witness at trial. Matt is a M.D. whose wife, a medical adviser for Miracle Submarine, has pressured (no pun intended) him into trying HBOT as a possible cure for infertility. And then there are three mother/child pairs - Elizabeth and Henry, Kitt and TJ, and Teresa and Rosa. Henry and TJ both have autism, although the severity is drastically different; Rosa has cerebral palsy and mental retardation. The mothers are trying HBOT as an alternative cure. This group spends hours a day, every day, stuck together in Miracle Submarine, and are consequently very close.

Something that really stands out is how well Kim describes autism and the autism community. The mothers are oddly competitive, constantly rearranging their hierarchy based on whose child has the most severe form of autism, whose child has "improved" the most, who follows the meticulous diets (i.e. gluten free and casein free) the best, who tries the most therapies and treatments. Despite the constant competition, members of this exclusive group are the only people who can really understand the experience of parenting a child with autism. "Autism was different. There was a stigma to it." Autism isn't like cancer, which elicits sympathy from others. Autism makes people stare and then turn away with shame and embarrassment, "as if Henry's behavior were so deviant that they had to cover it up." The kids in this book stand out - Henry rocks and stares up at the ceiling, and TJ bangs his head when overwhelmed. Elizabeth and Kitt have rearranged their lives to devote themselves as full-time caretakers, losing friends, even their spouses, in the process. It's devastating, and Kim highlights what's wrong with how society views autism and how both the children and the parents are isolated as a result.

Elizabeth, Henry's mother, is arguably the best written character in the book: she's on trial for allegedly setting the fire at Miracle Submarine, but Kim slowly unpacks her character and causes the reader to second-guess her guilt, which seemed so sure at the beginning of the book. Before the fire, she spent so much time driving her son, Henry, to various therapies, meticulously following his special diets, researching and planning her next steps. In the book, Henry gets better (touching on a controversy in the autism community - is autism really a disease that we are trying to cure? Or are these kids just different, and therefore there is nothing wrong to fix?). Regardless, Henry gets better as a result of these therapies and diets, but Elizabeth is so focused on the day-to-day efforts of Henry's care, that she misses the big picture. She gets frustrated by her son, but she loves him. Elizabeth and Henry's relationship is heartbreaking and complicated, and Kim takes the entire book to fully develop the picture of this relationship. I was in tears by the end.

All of the relationships in this book are tightly wound and tense in the presence of lies. Kim takes her time resolving these issues, and I was left breathless by the time I finished the book, marveling at the complexity of human behavior. This book is about causal chains - how "the fates conspired to manipulate that day's events in just such a way... So many pieces had to fit." Ultimately, because the legal system is involved, the resolution is black and white, which leaves the reader reeling at the conclusion. "But that was the way life worked. Every human being was the result of a million different factors mixing together - one of a million sperm arriving at the egg at exactly a certain time; even a millisecond off, and another entirely different person would result. Good things and bad - every friendship and romance formed, every accident, every illness - resulted from the conspiracy of hundreds of little things, in and of themselves inconsequential."

I cannot recommend this book highly enough! Release date April 2019, available for pre-order now.

Korean immigrants Park and Young Yoo opened the Miracle Submarine, a hyperbaric oxygen chamber large enough for six, in the small town of Miracle Creek, Virginia. They offered this experimental therapy to clients with autism, cerebral palsy, Crohn’s disease, and even infertility. Only open about a month, one August day challenged the new business owners. Protestors against using the 100% oxygen therapy on autism patients picketed and blocked the driveway. Mylar balloons released into the power lines cut electricity to the property, leaving them to operate solely on generator power.

And then tragedy struck: a fire ignited the highly flammable oxygen in the chamber and spread to the barn housing the “submarine.” Henry Ward, an eight-year-old with autism and Kitt Kozlowski, mother of another autistic boy receiving treatment, were killed. Dr. Matt Thompson, a patient with infertility, who had a mysterious relationship with Mary Yoo, was afflicted with serious burns on his hands and lost two fingers. Pak was paralyzed, and his daughter, Mary, was in a coma for eight weeks.

A year later, Henry’s mom, Elizabeth, was on trial for arson, attempted murder, and murder. Abe Patterley, district attorney, and Shannon Haug, Elizabeth’s defense lawyer, were skilled adversaries. As Abe carefully made his case and Shannon eviscerated his witnesses, it became clear that Elizabeth was guilty–but was she guilty of the charges against her?

Shifting perspective between a handful of characters, Angie Kim provides a number of viable suspects who had opportunity and motive to commit the crime. The secrets and lies perpetuated by the primary characters began for each as a means of protection but become virtual prisons. How the characters grappled with the truth and resolved to handle their deception played significant roles in their ultimate fate.

Miracle Creek has the structure of a courtroom drama but offers a number of innovations, primarily the diversity of the characters. With the Yoos as Korean immigrants, the novel offers a window into Korean culture and the difficulty of managing a dual identity based on the author’s own experiences as an immigrant from Seoul. The book also considers the unique challenges and rewards of raising special needs children and provides a difficult and honest perspective.

While less central, Kim also introduces debate on the efficacy and legitimacy of alternative therapies. I can’t remember reading any other novel recently that so thoroughly describes the physical responses of characters, often as sensations that radiate throughout the body. I’m wondering if this is a commentary on the mind-body connection or a quirk of the author.

Although I enjoyed Miracle Creek, at times I found the writing cumbersome. Additionally, as a character, Young was central but in some ways underdeveloped, and some of her beliefs seem unrealistic. At the same time, it was a quick, engrossing read, and I welcomed the unusual context and diverse characters.

A superior crime novel/courtroom drama.



I was pleasantly surprised by this crime novel. The narrative is exceptional, the subject matter, Autism, well handled.

From beginning to end the narrative held my attention. Nothing appears as it seems, the author handles the courtroom drama extraordinarily well in this respect.

If you are looking for a crime novel which will have you sit on the edge of your seat, Miracle Submarine will not disappoint.



Highly recommended



Thank you to Farrar, STRAUS and Giroux for this advance copy.

Thank you NetGalley

If you love courtroom drama with enough twists and turns to keep you on your toes guessing who and why, this is the book for you. A five star suspense novel. I’m looking forward to reading more from this author.

I think this book will be a smash, it has all the right ingredients. A privately run hyperbaric oxygen chamber explodes and a mother stands accused of killing her child. During the trial details surface and that's all I am going to say, so I give nothing away.

Fans of Jodi Picoult rejoice!

A Jodi Picoult-esque legal thriller with a neat concept; when a hyperbaric oxygen chamber intended to treat children with autism and other conditions catches on fire, killing two people, it at first seems obvious who's to blame, but things get more complicated as the trial continues. Pak, Young, and Mary, the Korean immigrant family at the centre of the novel who have made a business out of providing hyperbaric oxygen therapy, or HBOT, still struggle with a sense of otherness; two mothers of disabled or autistic children try to cope with the difficulties of their lives; meanwhile, Matt, one of the few adults who were in the chamber when it burnt, is hiding something from everyone.

Miracle Submarine is readable and interesting, but the writing is clunky and it struggles with too many points of view. The things Kim is trying to say are often spelt out too tidily, reminding me of Celeste Ng's simplistic Little Fires Everywhere. Nevertheless, Kim makes good use of her legal experience to give the courtroom scenes a sense of realism.

Full review to be posted to my blog and social media nearer the publication date.

Thankyou @netgalley and @fsgbooks for this ARC. 'Miracle Submarine' by Angie Kim is a contemporary legal court room drama. It is a debut novel which is well narrated and it is an exciting new voice in the contemporary genre in the view of Google reviews.
Although the plot is somewhere slow, the writing is awesome which includes so many twists and secrets in those character's lives. This book shows us people will struggle to take any risk to keep their family safe. This is good novel and I recommend all booklovers to read this amazing book.

Miracle Submarine is a very enjoyable mystery story, told from the perspectives of all the protagonists. A Korean family has moved to the United States at great personal cost. Young and Pak have started up a therapeutic business called Miracle Submarine. After years of struggle their lives are on the right track.
One evening, an explosion kills and injures their clients, and their business is ruined. A year has passed, and a murder trial is underway. So begins an enjoyable whodunnit. Many people have a motive, and not everyone is who they seem. Angie Kim draws on her Korean heritage to add an interesting flavour to a story that Agatha Christie would have been proud of.