Disclaimer: Special thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the free digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed below are my own.

It’s early in the morning, and a fresh blanket of snow has just covered a sleepy suburb in Colorado. All is calm until the body of high school student Lucinda Hayes is found on the playground. When the popular and beloved girl is found murdered on school grounds, her entire community is shaken to its core. In the days following Lucinda’s death, we follow the aftermath through the alternating perspectives of three specific people: the boy that loved her from afar, the girl that was jealous of her, and the officer investigating her murder. Through their collective eyes, we learn more about how Lucinda has forever connected them together.

The narrators are unreliable, the perspective shifts, and the ending hits you out of nowhere. I have a lot of thoughts on Danya Kukafka’s debut novel, Girl in Snow (out today!), and I’ll tell you all about this chilling novel as you read more.

I first picked Girl in Snow up thinking it was a murder-mystery, but instead found myself diving deeper into the lives of the three narrators. Character-driven, this novel focuses on the unrequited love, the forgotten friendships, and a past that seems to haunt each and every person. Lucinda is not the center of the story, but she is the connecting thread among each storyline. It’s not until the very end that you find out exactly how deep the connection is and what happened to Lucinda.

This wasn’t my most favorite read in the thriller/mystery genre. Dividing the narrative into three separate perspectives was distracting. I had to go back several times to see who was narrating the section I was reading so I could keep the characters and their stories straight. I never knew until the last moment who Lucinda’s killer was, and I think you’ll be shocked as well. There were some details about characters that were shared that left me questioning exactly why it was included as I read it, but once I finished reading all of the pieces fell into place. I finally understood. This is one of those books you just have to wait until the end to find out if you like it or not. My only wish is that we would get more information about Lucinda to be a bit more invested in her connection with the rest of the characters.

While the narrative structure may not be my forte, I fell in love with Kukafka’s turn of phrase. She is another author I would add to the Wordsmith Club (you know, that club I just created…) for some of her lines that I just had to highlight to save for later. Her attention to detail does not go unnoticed.

“Photography was about capturing moments other people had missed. Photography never worked on Lucinda. She couldn’t be reduced to a single second.”

I think the same sentiment could be applied to Kufafka’s attitude toward writing. She uses her writing to capture moments other people have missed, and I’d like to think that those details I mentioned earlier are reworked into her writing as fiction based in reality.

Girl in Snow will give you plenty of mystery and just enough of a thrill to keep you engaged and entertained. This read is not for everyone, but I think those that like to get “the rest of the story” rather than just the story of the crime itself will enjoy it.

TL/DR: Girl in Snow is a murder-mystery that is not so much about the murder and is more about the relationships surrounding the murdered girl.
Rating: ⅗ stars

You have done something wrong, it said to him. You have done something very wrong.

This isn't a mystery. By the strictest definition, yes, it absolutely is a mystery. But this isn't the whodunnit it seems to be. Yes, the story begins with the death of a young girl. Beautiful and popular, liked well enough.

Who Killed the Girl in the Snow?

Well, we have the most obvious candidate. Cameron, her "stalker". A very troubled young man, with an equally troubling family history.

Then there's Jade, a girl with her own subscription full of issues, with her personal reasons for not being sad at the loss of Lucinda Hayes.

The story is told from these two teenaged perspectives, along with Russ Fletcher, the police officer reluctantly pulled into the investigation into Lucinda's death. Russ Fletcher, who has too many connections to this case, too many skeletons he's desperately trying to keep in his closet.

Who Killed the Girl in the Snow?

Does it matter? Not really.

People who enjoy mysteries can often develop the ability to find the whodunnit very quickly. For a lot of us, we stub our toes on the red herring, but rarely ever fall for them. It's based on reading experience. It's clearly not this one, because of this. It's definitely not that one, because of that. Now, this character here has literally no reason to be the Big Bad, except for this.

I was just under 50% done when I realized whodunnit. And as it turns out, it really doesn't matter. There's no build up in this book, no mustache twirling, no hint of danger that the killer is going to realize the game is up and they have to kill to protect themselves.

This is a character study. This book isn't about Lucinda Hayes. She's just the vehicle, the catalyst. She's the universe these characters are encircling, the reason their personal demons have come out to dance. The reason crossed paths are uncovered.

It's actually very interesting, it's just not quite what's offered on the tin.

I find Cameron to be the least compelling character in the book. In fact, his father is far more interesting, and we get more of him in Russ's storyline. Cameron is hard to get through because he is such a damaged creature. You feel for him, deeply. But the stalker angle is disturbing. There's no getting around that. There's a certain creep factor that can't be ignored.

Jade is your typical teenager, with forced cynicism and deep personal pain. We get a few trope throw-ins, but the most attention getting part, for me, was her relationship with Zap. Zap, who was Lucinda's boyfriend when Jade was still desperately in love with him. Zap, whose origin story is so sweet and lovely, but who broke Jade's heart in just the worst way possible.

Jade's chapters were more interesting than Cameron's. Her interstitials, "What you want to say but can't without being a dick" screenplays, say everything about her, and about her very real pain. She was stereotypical and unique all folded into one. So, actually, a pretty well written teenager.

Russ was, for me, the most interesting of the characters. Does that say something about my age? I read YA, get off my back. He's in a marriage that is not loveless, but passionless. He and his wife Ines, it's sad because they're both good people. There's no blame in this failing, flailing, drowning marriage. It was doomed from the start, for more reasons than one. It's extremely hard to read, because it's real, and it's painful.

Russ has secrets. And they're tearing him apart. And I found the ending to his story the satisfying part, not the reveal, or the take down.

There's so much in here about how these lives are intertwined. Lucinda is barely a two-dimensional character. She's dead. She's remembered by those left behind how they want to remember her, saint or whore. Ni santas, ni putas, solo mujeres. We don't know her. But we know all of these people.

We know that Russ promised Cameron's father he would keep him safe. We know he didn't protect Cameron's mother, as he wanted to and should have. We know Jade met Querida, a woman who didn't realize she was in love until it was pointed out to her. We know Cameron's only friend is a night janitor, a flawed man who loves his sister and preaches a religion about love, not evil.

Seriously, there's so much beauty in this book, but it's a hard book to pin down, to define. It makes for a read that's hard to find satisfying.

Do I think people should give it a try? Absolutely. Just know what you're getting into ahead of time. This is a mystery in name only.

Received via Netgalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review

This is a dark, moody novel about a popular teenage girl found murdered on a playground. In the days following the discovery of her body, three narrators offer a glimpse into her life and (mostly) their own. This is an interesting debut by a very young author and it shows promise. The tone is appropriately brooding and the characters are interesting, but the story drifts off a bit too often and loses focus on the main mystery. The ending seems rushed and sudden, and not as original as the ideas that came before. Overall, I'm interested in seeing what comes next from Kukafka.

Without question, Danya Kukafka is a talented writer. I was constantly highlighting different section of the text and reflecting on just how perfect certain passages were. Bravo!

Girl in Snow tells many stories. It tells the story of Russ, who doesn't quite realize why he is unhappy or what he needs to do to get his life back on track. It tells the story of Cameron, who obviously has some sort of mental illness, but is trying to fit in with his peers. It tells the story of Jade, the most self-aware teenager I've ever read. Jade is the girl that I wish I could go back to high school to be best friends with. This is a story of friendships and love and that grey area in between the two.

Yes, this book has a hero. And yes, this book has at least one villain. Personally, I never guessed the murderer. I think I was so totally enraptured by the writing that I was caught off guard when we found out what had happened. I was involved with the character development and by the time the murderer was revealed, I felt like it no longer mattered to the me.

Overall, I rate this 4 very high stars out of 5. I think had I been in a different mindset, it would have rated even higher. This read as a character-driven novel and I was anticipating something in the mystery/thriller/suspense genre. Yes, there was a murder and we are set along the course to find out who did it, but this book is all about the characters with a side-plot of murder. If you come to this book with the right kind of reading in mind, I think this could easily be a favorite read.

3.75 Stars* (rounded up).

Girl In Snow is a character study of three individuals whose lives are torn apart by the death of a young girl (Lucinda Hayes) they all knew. A boy named Cameron, because he loved her from afar; a girl named Jade, because Lucinda coveted the boy she loved; and a man named Russ, because he is a police officer investigating Lucinda’s death and because his brother-in-law, Ivan, is suspected of committing the crime.

At the onset of the novel, Lucinda's body is found on the school playground. There are only a few suspects. Cameron - because he is a social outcast - a freak if you will - and because he was in love with her; her art teacher Mr. O - who also happens to date Cameron's mom; her ex-boyfriend Zap - who used to be Jade's closest friend, as well as the boy she loved; and Ivan – (Russ' brother-in-law), who is the school janitor and who has had some trouble with the law in the past.

Jade, being a misfit herself, befriends Cameron. She has always been invisible. To her parents, to her classmates, and to Zap. No one sees the real Jade. It is because of this that she has pretend conversations with everyone. Things she wishes she said, v. the things she actually says. It’s this play that she is writing - for someone her age, it’s kind of brilliant. And Cameron? He tries to untangle his thoughts of Lucinda from everything else that has happened in his life. And that is not an easy thing. For his life has not been an easy one. His father took off years ago. His dad was accused of this crime, and well everyone knew he was guilty, but he was acquitted. And then he took off. And now everyone just assumes, that Cameron is guilty of killing Lucinda. Because of his dad, and because Cameron is strange.. and because he used to watch Lucinda. Constantly. As for Russ - he works to find out who is responsible for Lucinda's death and ends up opening up wounds of his own. Wounds he thought he had buried a long time ago.

Dayna Kukafka a does an exceptional job of allowing the characters’ to dig deep, and in doing so, gets to the heart of the story, and the heart of the crime.

Girl in Snow is an easy to read novel, with strong, well-written characters. Cameron and Jade, made this book. There were however, several extraneous characters that were not needed, and could have been extracted completely. Overall, the novel had more of a YA feel, though it was still quite enjoyable. I will say however, that the ending didn’t quite “do it” – everything leading up to that was really quite good and then the ending was just kind of, well, less than stellar. That said, for a debut novel, I think Ms. Kukafka, did an incredible job and I look forward to seeing what she has in store next.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster and Danya Kukafka for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Published on NetGalley and Goodreads on 7.31.17.

*Will be published on Amazon on 8.1.17.

A good debut by first time author Danya Kukafka told from different perspectives. Kukafka has a clear understanding of her distinct characters, people with personal struggles who in some way relate to a murdered teenage girl. I only wish that this slow burner had more action related to the murder and less character study.

Girl in Snow is an intriguing and creepy [in a good way] novel about a girl named Lucinda who is found murdered and trying to find out who did this to her. There are three people who are the book focuses on Cameron who is obsessed with Lucinda, Jade who lost her childhood friend to Lucinda when he fell in her love with her and Russ who is one of the officers on the case who may be related to someone who might be evolved.

Told in alternating chapters we see how each one is touched by Lucinda in some way, shape or form. As we get to know each character we find these dark secrets that each holds and how it is possible that any of them could know something about Lucinda’s past and her murder.

I found this story original and yes creepy! But creepy in the way that’s so suspenseful and definitely keeps you on your toes. There was never a dull moment and you kept getting secrets and twist and turns thrown at you that you couldn’t keep up. I love that you didn’t find out the truth until the very end and I was surprised, which is nice since most of the time I can figure out things rather quickly! This is one novel that I think is worth the read!

I was disappointed with this book as it was not a thriller at all. It was more a character study of three individuals .The book was about unrequited love and friendships, rather than a murder mystery, and I found it all just a bit tedious at times. Sorry to say, I gave up reading it halfway through. On the plus side, it was well written with some eloquent prose but I found it all too slow and boring. Thank you Net Galley for my copy.

I read a lot of thrillers and mysteries; it is very hard for me to find any originality in texts. Enter, Girl in Snow by Danya Kukafka, which felt like a breath of fresh air for me. From the character development to the POV, I felt like this novel had something that others are lacking for me lately.

The plot opens with the discovery of a young girl (Lucinda), neck snapped, buried in the snow. From here, everything changes. Small town cop, Russ, begins to investigate while dealing with his own personal issues. Social pariah, Jade, is irritated with the hype; she hated Lucinda. Cameron, struggling with her death, and what he knows about it, is forced to face parts of himself that he longs to keep buried. Each character with a secret, each character seeking solace, Kukafka’s tale is weaved creating an unnerving story of love, loss and obsession.

The characters are 100% what made this novel for me; most mystery suspense titles have multiple POVs and characters, but they have similar MOs. You get the mother of the deceased or the boyfriend; someone who cares deeply about the deceased and who will stop at nothing to find a resolution. However, in Girl in Snow, Kukafka gives a narrative voice to a whole set of misfit characters. From Cameron, the boy next door, turned stalker with psychopathic tendencies to Jade, the magic practicing outcast who wished Lucinda dead, I was completely compelled as I turned the pages to see how they would all fit together and what role they played in her death.
Cameron was amazingly developed and by far my favourite player in the entire story. I was so impressed with his complexity and how it showed across the pages.

A majority of the plot is narrated through the eyes of the teenagers, giving this one a YA feel (which I usually have a major issue with), however, I didn’t find that an issue in this text and found it added to the ambience instead of taking away. Kukafka seemed to find the perfect balance.

As much as I loved the characters and the development of them throughout the text, I did find the actual plot to be underwhelming and was left wanting a bit more by the end of the novel; however, my love for the characters completely beat out any of this nitpicking and I ended up loving the book overall.

If you want a mystery suspense that feels completely different, then you will love Girl in Snow!

A well-developed, interesting mystery. The interweaving of the well-defined main characters is well done, though it leads to some painful reading at times.

3.25-3.5 STARS

If I’m being totally honest, “Girl in Snow” is without a doubt, the most bizarre story that I have read in a very long time. And yet, once I shook past my initial wariness, I found parts of this story strangely appealing.

Although “Girl in Snow” begins with the discovery of the murdered high schooler, Lucinda Hayes, the story that follows is less about the young girl’s mysterious death and more about the inner musings of those individuals closest to the case. And while the author shines a spotlight on several potential suspects in Lucinda’s murder, this savvy reader had no trouble deducing the true culprit’s identity early on.

Despite its oddities, “Girl in Snow” does have an intriguing appeal. So, if you’re looking for something a little bit “outside the box,” then “Girl in Snow” just might be the story for you.

"Unrequited love is the infinite curse of a lonely heart." - Christina Westover

This was not the book I was expecting it to be. I expected a murder mystery that involved a teenager. Instead the murder was almost buried underneath a depressing character study.

Also, one reason I chose this book was because it takes place in suburban Colorado, which is where I grew up (mostly). There really isn't a good description of the setting of the novel. It's generic and could happen almost anywhere.

The story takes place in 2005. The story is told from the points-of-view of three characters: teenage stalker Cameron; dark, misfit teen Jade; and police officer Russ. These main characters all have their own secrets and there are plenty of other secrets running throughout the book.

This book was slow going, at least for me. I did finish it but will never pick it up to read again. I understand this is the first published work of this young author. Technically it is sound but next time around, somehow breathe some life into the pages.

I received this book from Simon & Schuster through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.

**Thank you to NetGalley for providing a complimentary copy of GIRL IN SNOW in exchange for my honest review**

In the dark of night, somebody murders Lucinda Hayes. Russ, a downtrodden cop with a complicated history hopes one suspect is innocent, Cameron, the son of his former partner and Lucinda's stalker. Jade, who hated Lucinda and just about everyone else, knows more than she's saying. Told from Russ and Cameron's third person points of view and Jade's first person POV, the mystery unfolds until the suspect is arrested.

Based on the blurb, I expected GIRL IN SNOW to be a heart-thumping thriller/mystery. Instead Danya Kukafka's debut novel is more a character study about the three characters whose points of view are written. Kukafka's crisp, clear writing jumps off the pages in a manner that made reading GIRL IN SNOW pleasurable. The drawback was slow pacing and extraneous detail about characters' families that had nothing to do with Lucinda's murder or the investigation. The most interesting part of Russ's backstory, his former partner's past was given far less attention than Russ's wife. Whenever I wanted to sympathize with Cameron his Very Creepy stalking dashed those feelings. I tried to root for Jade, but her unlikability factor kept pulling me back. She treated others terribly.

I didn't guess the murderer or the reason. I liked that Kukafka didn't go for a predictable suspect. Unfortunately, the person and reasoning left me unimpressed, partially because the manner of the reveal.

GIRL IN SNOW is an interesting character study, but lackluster mystery.

Told from multiple points of view, this story of a young girl's murder in a seemingly idyllic small Colorado town is a haunting look into the character's secrets and fears.

I love psychological Thrillers--sometimes to the point that it creeps my husband out. So when I was given the chance to read this, I was excited and started right away. It took me so long to get through--I was forcing myself to keep reading in order to write this review. I didn't like, or relate to, any of the characters and easily predicted the ending. Not a seller for me.

This book held my interest all the way through. I enjoy this particular format when each chapter is from another character's point of view. The interaction of all these diametrically different protagonists is what makes this novel special. Thanks for letting me read it.

I wanted to like this book! I was engaged in the beginning - but half way through - the plot lost my interest. I kept looking to see how much farther I had to go to finish it. The characters started to grate on my nerves, actually.

No morning routine for janitor Ivan: on his tour around the high school premises he finds the body of Lucinda Hayes, golden girl and now dead. It does not take long to identify possible murders: Ivan first of all, it hasn’t been long since he’s out of prison. Cameron Whitley, the boy from next door who has been stalking Lucinda for quite some time. Jade Dixon-Burns, a slightly overweight outsider who openly hated Lucinda. Mr O. the art teacher who was seen with Lucinda’s diary. Officer Russ Fletcher’s first murder case comes to a very bad moment, his wedding is all but ok and additionally, Ivan is his wife’s brother and Cameron his former partner’s son. How can he objectively investigate this case?

Danya Kukafka has chosen a well-known topic for her debut novel: the murder of the popular teenage girl. Even though many have written about this, she manages to create something new and singular. She provides us with the narrators who tell the story from their point of view and thus slowly unfolds the tragedy of all the three of them – it is not that much the victim herself whom we feel sorry for in the end but much more those three. The author succeeds in creating outstanding characters who really have to tell a story which I found actually from one point on much more interesting than the question who committed the deed.

Let’s start with Jade. From the outside she seems to be the hateful reclusive teenager who is difficult to love due to her negative attitude. Yet, behind this surface, we find a thoughtful girl who has experienced domestic violence, who has to work several jobs in her free time and who lost her best friend Zap to Lucinda. They were really really close, almost could read each other’s thoughts but when they get older and the interest in the opposite sex arises, Zap rejects her mercilessly and in a most offending way which leaves scars forever. Jade has never been popular, often was the victim of bullying, but this rejection breaks something in her. And makes her especially sensitive for other people’s emotions.

Russ, on the other hand, is caught in a conflict. He has a bad conscience for what he has done years before – he always backed his partner, even when he knew that this was not right and when in doing so he was hurting others, especially Cameron and his mother. Is this the point to correct a mistake? However, his mind is also dancing around his wife Inés and how he never really understood her. Do they actually know each other? He doesn’t have a clue about her past in Mexico and doesn’t know how she spends her days. He wanted to make her happy and give her the chance to stay in the USA, but can this, what they have, still be called love? Was it ever love?

Last comes Cameron. He is strange and odd. He is talented in drawing but his obsession with Lucinda is not only weird but morbid. He observes her, spends hours in the evening and night outside her house looking into her window. He even breaks into the Hayes’ house one night and watches her sleeping. He is a bit creepy, but he is also the boy whose police officer father was accused of murder a couple of years back and who has been living only with his mother. As soon as the suspicion falls on him, everybody remembers what his father was suspected of. Cameron does not know what his father has done or hasn’t, but he strongly fears that there is something bad running in his veins. This keeps him from thinking clearly in this situation. And the fact that he has seen the body, doesn’t help to rescue him from being the prime suspect for the reader, too.

The development of those three narrators who tell the story alternatingly gives the novel much more depth than I had expected. Apart from the big question of who is the murder, there are many smaller questions circling around the characters which keep the suspense constantly high. It is not a typical murder novel you cannot put aside due to the high pace and high suspense, no, it rather slowly unfolds and provides you with a complex psychological network of emotions and memories.

This book is supposed to be a murder mystery of a small town where a young teen is murdered at the school playground. However it is more character driven prose about people in the community and how their secrets make them feel responsible for the death. It was beautifully written, but just not for me.

I really was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I read it in almost one sitting, pausing to answer the phone. It told the story of a girl who was murdered, and from various viewpoints such as Cameron, Jade, and a few others. It's writing is phenomenal, and the characters are all impressive. I really am glad to have a copy of this book. Five stars, and I am now a fan of the author!