I enjoyed reading this this book and found the story engaging for the first two thirds but by the end it began to feel a little drawn out, however I did like the writing style and on the whole found it an engaging novel.

This is such a complex, heartbreaking story. The whodunit is almost an afterthought.

I don’t always feel moved by stories with multiple POVs but I don’t think there was a single character that I didn’t feel for. Even those we only spent a little with are developed so well that they tug at the heartstrings. Especially the women; the men are a little harder to root for.

There is not a happy story, but it is a good one.

@thebookishbanker on Instagram
"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 . . ." 📚
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And thus starts an absolutely brilliant debut novel. It's a mystery/courtroom drama where there are many suspects and you will be keep guessing till the end WHO DID IT!!! 📚
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This is the link from an article in Jan 2019, where the author herself talks about the personal experience of HBOT. Kim is in an Korean Immigrant and a former trial lawyer ( that's why the courtroom scenes are so good)

https://www.vogue.com/article/angie-kim-hbot-treatment 📚
📚 In rural Virginia, Young and Pak Yoo run an experimental medical treatment device known as the Miracle Submarine - a pressurised oxygen chamber that patients enter for "dives", used as an alternative therapy for conditions including autism and 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.

Thank you @netgalley for the review copy

@hodderbooks @HodderPublicity

How to describe this book and its effect on me? A courtroom drama, a study of mother love and the demands and sacrifices of bringing up a child with severe autism, a cleverly plotted who-dunnit that twists and turns and defies your every preconception - you think you know and recognise the character and their motivation, but then a switch of pov and you realise you were oh so wrong. Beautiful, descriptive prose that elevates the storyline and complete control over a complex multi-layered plot, delineates the storytelling.
Even the currently obligatory use of the f-word is so perceptively justified:

"there was something so satisfying about saying it, the aggressive percussiveness of the f and k sounds spitting from her mouth"

A challenging, thought-provoking read, highly recommended.

4.0 out of 5 starsGreat debut!
June 11, 2019
Format: Kindle Edition
I found this to be a most interesting novel. A thrilling drama with elements of psychological thriller, family relationships, courtroom drama and mystery. I highly recommend this book! I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher and this is my honest opinion

Miracle Creek is a compelling thriller, a sort of oblique legal thriller in that we learn the facts from the witnesses and the defendant, not the lawyers. We never see the viewpoint of the prosecutor or the defense attorney. Elizabeth is on trial for murder, killing her developmentally disabled son and the mother of another boy receiving the controversial hyperbaric treatment at Miracle Submarine. Miracle Submarine is owned by Pak and Young, Korean immigrants who live on-site with their daughter Mary. Matt is the main witness at the trial. He is a doctor himself and was taking the treatment for infertility. There were protesters on site and Elizabeth argues that one of them set the fire that caused the explosion of the hyperbaric tank. However, her own careless words about wishing her son were dead are haunting her as are her many forays into questionable medical therapies such as chelation and bleach to treat Henry’s autism.

There are subplots that suggest it may have been someone else. A call, for example, to the insurance company about arson coverage. A possible affair or sexual assault between Mary and Matt. Matt’s wife Janine showing up at the site that day and not telling anybody. If it’s not Elizabeth, who could it be? This is all well done.


Miracle Creek is an interesting story and asks important questions. I understand the desire of parents with autistic children to seek all sorts of treatments to see what may work. I can understand <a href="https://asatonline.org/for-parents/becoming-a-savvy-consumer/hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy/">hyperbaric treatment,</a> especially as it’s not painful or debilitating like some of the other alternative therapies like <a href="https://asatonline.org/research-treatment/resources/topical-articles/chelation-treatment-for-children-with-autism/">chelation</a> or <a href="https://asatonline.org/for-parents/learn-more-about-specific-treatments/bleach-therapy/">MMS/bleach therapy. </a>Of course, there can be side effects, but Pak was operating his chamber correctly and <a href="https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/complications-of-hyperbaric-oxygen-treatment">within safe guidelines.</a> The anti-HBOT protesters were the folks who discourage people from seeking a cure or treatment because they think children should be accepted just as they are.

I think it’s possible to love children as they are while wishing they could be closer to neurotypical. Not just because caring for a developmentally disabled child is incredibly difficult, but also because their children are likely to be happier if they can communicate and connect with other people.

But then the defense lawyer throws in arguments about <a href="https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/safety-availability-biologics/thimerosal-and-vaccines#bib">Thimerosal and vaccines</a> and suddenly I am disgusted. I don’t want anti-vaccine conspiracies in my books, no matter how interesting they may be otherwise. There once was a fraudulent doctor who faked a research study that was published and is now withdrawn. Said doctor has lost his medical license but that kind of conspiracist lie lives forever on the internet and grifters and cons have made fortunes pushing the anti-vaccine lie and children are dying thanks to them.

Kim could write Nobel-worth literature, but if she spreads anti-vaccine conspiracies, she is abetting <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-return-of-whooping-cough">the evolution of viruses</a> so vaccines lose their efficacy and helping bring about a world pandemic. There’s a measles outbreak in <a href="https://multco.us/measles2019">my community</a> thanks to these anti-vaxxer grifters. That’s inexcusable. I cannot recommend a book that advances anti-vaccine lies.

I received an e-galley of Miracle Creek from the publisher through NetGalley

The book begins with an explosion in a hyperbaric chamber, a so called"Miracle Submarine". It was used in the hope that it would cure a multitude of ailments. A mother of one of the patients and a young boy with Autism were killed in the explosion. Many more were left with life changing injuries. Pak Yoo and his family had emigrated from Korea to Miracle Creek, Virginia. Pak owned the hyperbaric chamber that exploded. What then follows is a courtroom thriller and mystery.

Oh wow! I really do not know where to start reviewing this book. I had to double check a couple of times that this was a debut novel as its so well written. There are no loose ends to the story as they are all woven together seamlessly. There are plenty of twists in this evenly paced read. I found myself second guessing this story, but I had to stop it as I was getting nowhere. There is a fabulous set of characters all with a story to tell. There has been no stone left unturned stage author did a great job not only in writing this book but she must have put the hours in researching as well. I highly recommend this book.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Hodder &Stoughton and the author Angie Kim for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Yoo family originated in Seoul. Yoo Young and her daughter Meh-hee came on ahead of the father of the family, Yoo Pak, as a couple in Baltimore offered to provide accommodation for Young and Meh-hee in exchange for assistance in their grocery store. What Young had not appreciated was that she was to work from 6 a.m. until midnight, seven days a week. For years she hardly saw her daughter except when the Kangs brought Meh-hee to see her at the store. Meh-hee became Mary and struggled at school: her fellow pupils were no exceptions to the rule that children can be cruel and Mary was an easy target.

Eventually they were joined by Pak, a traditional Korean man who expected absolute obedience from his wife and daughter. Neither had wanted to leave Seoul, but he had made his decision and that was that. Now he made another. They were to leave Baltimore and move to Miracle Creek where he planned to set up a business which provided hyperbaric oxygenation, or HBOT, to people who thought that they would benefit from receiving 100% oxygen at three times normal pressure. It provided a service (or pandered, depending on your point of view) to those desperate to find a solution to their problems. Amongst these were mothers of children with autism and a doctor with fertility problems.

On a day in late August 2008 Pak asked his wife to lie for him. It wasn't a big lie, just being at the controls for him whilst he checked that some protesters weren't doing any damage, but to say that he was actually there. It wasn't a big lie, was it? Pak didn't even really think of it as a lie, just a sensible thing to do, but it came at the end of a disruptive day and that was when the fire started. Would it have had a better outcome if Pak had been at the controls? He persuaded Young that it wouldn't: two people would still be dead.

In the event is wasn't Pak who was arrested but the mother of one of the victims. There was a lot of circumstantial evidence against Elizabeth: she'd not been in the chamber when the fire started but she'd deliberately placed her son in what was the worst position should a fire start. She'd (unwisely) admitted that there were occasions when she wished Henry dead. But did Elizabeth start the fire?

This could have been a courtroom thriller like so many that we've seen recently, but it's a great deal more than that. There's a sensitive exploration of what it's like to bring up a special needs child, the unrelenting day-in, day-out of it all, the constant need to be finding something else which could be the answer, the therapies which just might work the miracle. You might begin by wondering why a mother would put this strain on her child, why she's quite so driven but you'll finish by wondering if you could cope in that situation and thanking whatever god you worship if you haven't had to.

There is, too, a great deal of insight into what it's like to leave your homeland and come to another country, particularly if you don't understand the language. Even some of the sounds used in English don't exist in Korean. The other problem which the Yoo family faced was the blatant, unapologetic sexism in Korean culture which travelled well as it moved halfway round the world. Back in Seoul this might have been acceptable: in 21st century USA, Pak is going to find himself challenged.

It's a good plot too: discovering who the arsonist really is was a real puzzle and I swung this way and that. Was it really Elizabeth? What was the doctor doing, meeting teenager Mary Yoo secretly in the woods? Would the protesters actually go to such lengths to make their point about such treatments for autistic children? What effect did the insurance policy which would pay out $1.3m have on Pak's thinking?

I read the book over a couple of days, with real pleasure. Angie Kim is a debut author but she delivers great characters, a good plot and something for you to think about long after you've turned the final page. I look forward to what she writes next and I'd like to thank the publishers for making a copy available to the Bookbag.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC of this book in exchange for a honest review.

I was really intrigued by the blurb of this book and there were so many rave reviews. I was thrilled to be approved for this one.

I will be honest in saying that I did not love this book. It was a good book. It kept me entertained and I learnt a great deal about Autism and the struggles that parents with Autistic children face.

It is definitely a book worth reading.

Genre: General Fiction/Murder-Mystery
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Pub. Date: April 16, 2019

The novel begins with a tossed cigarette causing a fatal explosion which kills two people in a possible permeated murder. Still, the story can read more sci-fi than murder- mystery. This is because mothers seeking a miracle cure for their autistic children go into a large chamber that looks like a submarine. The families take ‘dives’ where they are exposed to high levels of pressurized oxygen. However, it turns out that “hyperbaric oxygen therapy” (HBOT) is an actual treatment. (This reviewer needed to google to learn that fact). You can even buy a chamber on-line. Learning the truth took some of the fun out of the story. Turns out, the author is not mixing the genres. The book is a murder-mystery courtroom drama. Indeed, a very good one that will keep the reader guessing till the very end. The author has real-life experience as a former litigator which makes the court scenes believable.

A Korean couple and their teenage daughter own and run a small HBOT facility. A mother and a child, not her own, both die in the chamber due to the explosion. The mother of the deceased child was taking a break and she remained outside for that fatal session. She becomes the murder suspect on trial. But, the author keeps us guessing. Was it really this particular mom or the owners or even a protesting mom who does not believe in the therapy? All the twists make for an entertaining read. However, Kim shines when writing on the dynamics of all the families: The difficulty of the immigrant experience, the frustration of having an unhappy teen who wants to go back to Korea and yet she is more American in her speech and mannerisms than her parents will ever be. You will meet a couple in marital discords. A Caucasian American doctor married to a Korean woman participates in the dives because his wife says it will help them conceive. It turns out that HBOT can also help with low sperm count. He personally believes the treatments are nonsense but appeases his wife, putting himself in what he considers a humiliating position—Great tensions.

This is a legal thriller at its best. The story is so good because it combines a murder-mystery with family issues, the immigrant experience, and most strongly the heart-wrenching emotions of the parents who have daily superhuman caregiving demands. (Example?) There is also an emphasis on the social drama provoked by different parenting beliefs. The group of protesting moms feels those who put their kids in these chambers (which can on rare occasions, really be dangerous) do not accept their children as they are, and want to ‘fix’ them. They hold signs reading “I’m a child not a lab rat.” The author’s own son received HBOT treatments. Once again, Kim uses her personal experience to create authentic scenarios. This courtroom drama is so good it will pose threat to any other in the genre.

This is a character-driven story told from several POV. Everyone has a secret and is lying. Mostly with best intentions in mind but everything somehow comes together on one particular day when a terrible thing happens and left two people dead. What lead to this horrible event and the dreadful death of an eight year old boy with special needs and a mother of 5 is told in this intense book.

It begins with Young, a Korean woman who came to America with her daughter to aim for a better life for her child. She was sent by her husband who stayed behind for several years. Young hat to work hard within her first years and had hardly time for her daughter. Now the family is reunited and making a living in the States. They are running a facility for a special treatment with oxygen. There is a group of people who a doing this kind of treatment for several reasons. One of them is Elizabeth who has an autistic son, Henry, and is doing everything to make her son more “normal”. On this particular day everything started with a small lie. At the end two people are dead and Elizabeth is facing a trial for murdering her son.

The story is quite complex and reveals its secrets very slowly. Everybody is keeping something hidden. The book is at its best when it shows us the scenes in court. Then it really gets interesting and gripping. When it is close to its characters it is sometimes is a bit too slow and over-explaining. It is a tragic story and when it gets to its final revelations my heart really broke for poor little Henry. And also for Elizabeth. The book is a slow-burner but after a while it burned itself into my mind and the story will stay with me for a while. Its intensity compensates the sometimes lengthy over-explaining. It is a unique book and definitely worth reading.

We follow a large cast of characters that all have their reasons for being at Miracle Submarine. The character development slowly unfolds as we learn more about each person's reason. The explosions has uncovered so many things that were meant to stay hidden. I really had no idea who caused the explosion or why they did it. As soon as I thought I knew someone else's secret would be explained leaving another person looking suspicious.

I really enjoyed the writing style. Even though I am not a fan of a slow paced book like this the story was always progressing which kept me intrigued the entire time. I would not call this a thriller. This is more a heavy contemporary with a who done it foundation. For that reason I think there are a lot of people out there that will really enjoy this book.

Absolutely loved this book. The only downside was I didn’t have enough time to read it as quickly as I’d liked! A truly compelling courtroom drama that grips the reader.

Many thanks to the publishers and netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book made me angry and sad, and then just sad. But I couldn’t stop reading it, and it took me three days to finish.

Thanks to Netgalley for the chance to read this book, and I look forward to more from Angie Kim.

4.25 Stars.

Actions always have consequences. Their impact is everlasting. The characters in Angie Kim’s “Miracle Creek” are reeling from them.

Pak is new the proprietor of Miracle Submarine, an HBOT facility providing hyperbaric oxygenation to those with serious health issues (such as infertility and autism) for which it has been proven to provide speed healing.

One day during a night session with protesters outside, the submarine ignites and explodes. Tragedy strikes. Neither Pak or his wife Young, were where they were supposed to be. Not that they would admit it.

Elizabeth, mother to one of the children in the chamber, left her child in the care of someone else and now she is on trial. Matt, a doctor, and his wife Janine, keep secrets from each other, day in, day out.

In fact, secrets are par for the course in this small community and no one is immune from the after effects.

Told from several perspectives, and timelines (before, the day of the accident and during the trial), “Miracle Creek” is a fascinating character driven novel. The author did an amazing job portraying the anguish of so many of the characters, including the parents of special needs children and the difficulties they face every day. The trial was brilliantly done and I was glued to the edge of my seat throughout the duration.

“Miracle Creek” is a devastating and heart wrenching novel. Admittedly, it made me think a lot about marriage and the importance of communication. It is a wholly important, beautifully written novel that I read very thoughtfully and its impact is overreaching.

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Hodder and Stoughton and Angie Kim for an arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Published on Goodreads, NetGalley, Amazon and Twitter on 6.9.19.

Miracle Creek was a courtroom drama that kept me turning the pages and asking questions and I really wanted to know who was guilty and what secrets everyone was hiding. The story centres around a Korean family and their move to the USA and it really packed a punch. There's mystery, murder, grief, disability, and so much packed into the story that once you reach the end, you may need a little time to digest everything.

The story begins a year after the arson attack at HBOT an oxygen treatment facility that is said to improve everything. The patients are mothers with their children who are on the autism spectrum and a male doctor with infertility issues. The trial begins and Elizabeth (one of the mother's whose son died in the explosion) is accused of the murder. This begins the questions and the story and the who really did do it, as the story unfolds and each character has their own story to tell about that night and the lead up to the incident.

This is a really well-written courtroom drama that you won't want to miss out on. the writing was excellent, the characters well developed, and there wasn't anything I disliked.

Miracle Creek is the story of families with autistic children and the depths and heights they will go to get help and a cure.
Angie Kim writes this riveting storyline with the anguish, love and desperation each family goes through. But when someone sabotages their trials and people die! Who could possibly hurt the weakest among up. You’d be shocked. Excellent story itself

This storyline got repetitive and boring to me, and I found myself skipping pages already covered in another chapter.
That was the reason for the3 stars.

This book is receiving a lot of hype, and trust me, it is well deserved. I try not to read reviews on Goodreads or Amazon until after I have finished a book. When I did, I noticed that the reviewers on this one went to extremes (even by Goodreads' standards) in providing lengthy detailed summaries, so I'll skip that and keep it to a minimum.

As is detailed in the book's summary, this is a literary courtroom drama about a Korean immigrant family and a single mother accused of murdering her 8 year old autistic son. The boy was killed in a fire involving an experimental medical treatment known as the Miracle Submarine. But it is by no means a standard courtroom drama, like those written by John Grisham or Richard North Patterson. Instead it goes deep into the minds and souls of everyone associated with the trial -- each of the Yoos (the family at the heart of the story), the defendant, another mother of a special needs child, and another man who survived the fire. It is a book about the butterfly effect or about what-ifs or if-onlys. Since it's been published, I can quote a passage that for me described the book perfectly.

But that was the way life worked. Every human being was the result of a million differenc 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 thigs, in and of themselves inconsequential.

The writing in Miracle Creek is absolutely beautiful, and I am in awe that this is Ms. Kim's debut novel. It is so sad that you'll feel deeply for so many characters, and you'll want to hug somebody tightly when you finish. It is poignant and passionate and emotional. It is also eminently readable. And after reading the Acknowledgments, I wished I could meet Angie Kim for a few glasses of wine. I can't give enough praise.to Miracle Creek. Read it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing me a digital ARC in return for an honest review, and thank you Angie Kim for writing Miracle Creek.

I liked Angie Kim's writing but after a while I found myself getting confused as to who was who and where they fitted in to the storyline.
Ultimately I felt I was caught in the middle of an Agatha Christie novel on a train going round on a loop but never stopping at my station.
So, somewhat good but not good enough for me.

This is essentially a murder mystery- but with a difference. The context and setting are original and make the book intriguing. The story is about a Korean family trying to set up a new business in the United States. The business is a building dedicated to treatments of children with special needs and the occasional adult. The author's understanding of the nature of these needs such as autism and the effect on families is impressive. The challenges facing the Korean family are well used too in the story. The main part of the book concerns the court case trying to convict a murderer and that is done with considerable detail. The ending is unexpected in more ways than one. The book is well written and the characters well drawn. It is deeply analytical and sensitive.