I think I may have enjoyed the story more if presented straight forward with a more conclusive rationale for the murder as opposed to all the reactions and backstories of the characters.

In Girl in Snow, Lucinda is a high school student who is found dead on the playground by the janitor. The plot revolves around figuring out who murdered Lucinda, and there are multiple suspects who have their own secrets. The story follows three perspectives - Cameron, Jade, and Russ. I did not like Cameron because he went to high school with Lucinda and is known by everyone as her stalker. As the story went on, I found him more and more creepy and unlikable. As far as Jade, she also went to school with Lucinda, and Jade's younger sister and Lucinda's younger sister were friends. Jade hated Lucinda and wanted her dead because she felt that Lucinda took everything from her, so she was also unlikable. Russ is one of the officers assigned to Lucinda's case, and he worked with Cameron's father and his wife's brother is the janitor who found Lucinda. He also believes the janitor is the prime suspect. You learn more about Russ' wife and her brother, and I did not like Russ' character either. For Lucinda herself the story starts out with Lucinda dead, so I did not feel any connection to her. Since the book was filled with unlikable characters or characters you do not get to know, it was difficult to connect to them. I also felt like the story dragged on, and I just wanted to finish the book to find out who killed Lucinda. I did not expect the ending, so at least there is that. To sum up, I did not like the book because the story was slow, and all the characters were unlikable and difficult to connect with.

This novel starts with the discovery of high school student Lucinda dead in the snow at the local elementary school playground. The book is told from the perspectives of three characters, both before and after Lucinda’s death. Cameron is a troubled teenage boy and neighbor harboring an obsession with Lucinda. Jade is a teenage girl who harbors resentment and jealousy of Lucinda. And Russ is a kind of sad adult who is also one of the police officers working on the case.

From that description, you might think this one is more of a psychological thriller, but it’s not. It’s a quiet literary mystery, with not just a plot propelled with the question of who killed Lucinda, but just as much a character-based novel exploring the inner lives of the three characters. And the writing is really good, so good that it took me a long time to notice that there are no quotation marks which is usually a pet peeve of mine.

This book came out in 2017, and I got it from Netgalley but never got around to reading it. Then last year Kukafka published her second novel, Notes on an Execution, which was a 5 star masterpiece for me and one of my top books of the year. So I finally circled back to this one, and I’m glad I did! It’s not quite as amazing as Notes, but I didn’t expect to be, and I thought it was very good and worth reading. Can’t wait to see what she writes next!

I love this original cover. The new cover with the tree on the front is not nearly as unique. This was an average read for me. I thought the plot was a little slow and the ending was a bit unexpected. It seemed a little random to me. Most of the book the writing was fantastic I just wasn't a fan of the end. I would describe this as a mystery not a thriller due to the speed at which everything unfolds.

Thank you, NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Girl in the Snow has an intriguing premise and setting—a Colorado suburb. However, despite the threads of love and obsession that run through this murder plot, I found the pace to be too slow for what I was expecting.

I feel like this was mis-marketed. What was supposed to be an interesting mystery/thriller ended up being a very slow-paced character study. I didn't enjoy this one and ended up DNF'ing it. I don't give ratings to DNFs.

What an odd book! The beginning of Girl in Snow, by Danya Kukafka, had me captivated and drawn in. A teenage girl is found murdered in a playground, with no evidence left behind. There's a few top suspects right away - Cameron, who's been in love with the victim and watching her, almost or actually, stalking her for quite some time now. Then there's the janitor who found her. You also have the art teacher who was found with her journal. The story is told from multiple viewpoints - Cameron's, who was there that night but can't remember what happened to Lucina; Jade's, another of Lucinda's classmates who quite actually hates Lucinda; and Russ, the detective on the case in a declining marriage and harboring secrets about his past with Cameron's father. The novel goes into MANY tangents, so much so that Lucinda and her case gets lost. I enjoyed the author's writing but I had to push through to finish this one.

Girl in snow is a slow but steady read, i loved it because its not like all the other thrillers ive read where youre just finding out who killed or hurt the victum. I feel like its a new and realistic point of veiw, from three different charaters. Jade, camron and russ. It had me invested in the story and ive not liked a book this much in a while. I recommend it.

I was not sure what to expect, after hearing a lot of good reviews, but unfortunately I struggled to get into the story and after three attempts gave up on the book.

Slow moving with a good story line. I wish the pace would have been picked up just a little bit. Over all I really enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I put this one off for way too long! A girl is murdered and we found on a playground. Described by classmates and investigators we slowly unravel the truth of who the killer is.
I found this well written, keeping my interest while the story developed and had me guessing close to the end as to who killed the beloved Lucinda Hayes.
Good read for fans of mystery and crime stories. A solid 4 stars.

I loved reading mysteries and thrillers and this one is no different. I live how descriptive the writer can get. It feels like I’m playing a part or like eavesdropping on certain time when I read. It wasn’t as good as the other books I have read but it’s bearable.

Girl in Snow by Danya Kukafka got off to a slow start and kind of stayed that way. A good mystery story caught up in slow pacing and just too much to wade through.

I tried this one more than several times and just could not get into it! Maybe I will give the physical format a try.

This was a decent thriller, but it did move along fairly slowly. The book shows the connectedness of the crime and how each character relates to it. Every character was not super exciting, and the twist at the end was a bit of a letdown.

The story is similar to many other murder mysteries, but in a very different way. First of all, Danya Kukafka is a much better than average writer. It took me a bit to adapt to her writing style because it is unusual, but in a very good way. The writing flows and I found the book to be page turning. I love character driven novels and that's just what this was. There were a few surprises along the way to keep me interested.
Thank you to NetGalley for the gift of this book in return for an honest review.

The hype is REAL for this book. Don't believe me? Go buy it asap. I wasn't entirely sure what I was getting myself into but I'm glad I took the plunge.

When Lucinda, a gorgeous and popular girl, is found murdered, the police must find the real culprit. A lot of people point the finger at Cameron, her stalker, but it might not be as simple as that.

There was an interesting mix of characters. The book has two teenage narrators (Jade and Cameron) and the police detective in charge of the case (Russ). The author tried to do something with Cameron but it failed. I don’t really know what the author was trying to do but what came out was a whiny stalker who thought highly of himself. Not even an interesting one. Characters like these can be well done but this was definitely not.

This book also has a lot of internal dialogue. There’s not a lot of stuff happening but the characters sure like to think and reflect on life, I guess.

A murder mystery in Colorado and the secret connections to her. Sounds so good, so intriguing, but it was just soooo slow. The writing was lovely, but I think there was too much time spent on describing these unlikable characters.

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. (Also I really love the cover!)