I thought this books was unfortunately slow. There was nothing that really grabbed at me and it was predictable the story tends to drag out a bit, but at the same time it doesn't have enough details. for example, her death. Either give me details or don't give me anything. It's not supposed to be light, and it felt too safe if that makes any sense. The ending is just what I expected but it also left me wanting more, and not in a good way, more in an incomplete sort of way.

Theoretically a mystery-crime novel, it seemed to me more of a psichological study of strange individuals. The book is wrriten in 3 PoVs, one 1st person, the other two in 3rd. The pacing is rather slow, the characters were interesting in their oddness, and the ending was satisfying, even if predictable.

I had some big discontents during reading, one concerning the typical YA bullshitting/metaphorical writing:

The simple rumble of its engine is a relief, company. And me? I am glass. A bristle. A stutter.

the other about some inconsistencies in the story: characters that know about birthmarks even if they never saw the other naked or close to, or they are looking through the window inside a house and see details that should be impossible to be seen.. ”Lucinda had a birthmark on her right hipbone. It was the shape of a swan and the color of a red pepper gone bad left on the counter too long.” - really?! and she barely spoke to him once..

Overall, a good book, 3+

A mystery this is not. It is, but not really. Finding out who killed Lucinda Hayes serves as a backdrop in a three person character study. While I originally thought I was going into a whodunit novel, I wasn't disappointed by what I read instead.

The story moves at an unrushed pace, taking place over just a few days. Told in expressive prose, the writing was the most enjoyable part of the novel for me. I'd love to read more from Danya Kukafka in the future.

The murder falls into the background and Lucinda seems to just be a thread that holds the story together rather than the focus. As such, I didn't feel much about the killer's reveal (or Lucinda in general).

I think if you go into Girl in Snow knowing that you're getting a character study more so than a mystery, you'll be more inclined to enjoy it. As such, I've rated it 4 stars (whereas my rating would be much different, i.e. lower, if I rated it viewed as a mystery novel).

This was an unusual story about a high school girl, Lucinda, who is found dead on a school playground. Three characters in this book tell us all about Lucinda and her death. Cameron who loved her from afar, Jade who disliked her and Russ, the police officer investigating the murder. Each chapter is narrated by one of these three and slowly the story emerges. I wanted to skip to the end to see who did it but I controlled myself and kept reading. Some parts moved a little slowly but the story was very good overall.

I love me a Gone Girl-esque thriller in which the solution is buried beneath a tangled web of secrets, lies, and unanswered questions. I get an even bigger kick out of trying to figure out the solution, despite my terrible track record with respect to accuracy. STILL, it’s exciting to see how horribly incorrect my entirely plausible predictions are.

My primary complaint with Girl in Snow was the convoluted conclusion, which presented a minor, relatively unmentioned character as the mysterious, unidentified aggressor. Based upon the occasional, one sentence references to this character that would crop up approximately every 75 pages, I would’ve never associated him with the crime. He was merely a nondescript bystander with zero description, characterization, or character development, and he struck me as merely a filler character. While obscurity in thrillers can be a good thing, it didn’t work in this novel’s favor. There was too little reference to this character throughout the book, and an incredibly weak explanation of his motives and rationale for committing the crime was presented within the last twenty pages of the book. He was mentioned considerably more frequently in those last twenty pages than in the preceding 350 pages collectively. That being said, he made for an implausible criminal with a nonexistent backstory and a questionable, hole-riddled motive. It wasn’t exactly the exciting, firework laden ending that I was anticipating.

I was taken aback by the prevalence of adolescent angst rather than more mature themes that I would expect from novels marketed to adult audiences. Two of the three narrators were high school students, and they contributed more of a coming of age aspect to the novel that was reminiscent of the young adult genre. While they dealt with issues such as grief and loss, they also battled with a subset of stereotypical teenage insecurities and issues associated with beginning high school and finding a niche. Needless to say, reading from the perspective of a thirteen-year-old presented an undesirable dichotomy between the adult novel I was expecting and the seemingly young adult narrative with which I was presented.

I was further misled in my belief that this would be a fast-paced, plot-driven book with an abundance of exciting twists and turns to throw off readers. It was quite the opposite, instead reflecting heavily on each of the narrators and their personal mental and physical challenges as they struggled to comprehend what had transpired. Character-driven, contemporary reminiscent novels bore me to tears, and this one had a particularly depressing tone as each of the characters elected to wallow in self pity and utter despair for the entirety of the book. I’m not an emotional person, and I consequently don’t enjoy or have an appreciation for emotion laden reads. I much prefer action driven novels in which the characters put aside their emotions to focus on tackling the issues at hand.

Girl in Snow, unfortunately, was severely lacking a premise, and a very minimal component of the novel actually centered around Lucinda’s death. I thought her untimely demise was supposed to be the central focus of the book??? References to the ongoing investigation into her murder were scarce, and her storyline was readily abandoned in favor of the confused, emotional reactions of each of the narrators. For a small town, it’s inhabitants seemed incredibly nonchalant about a cold-blooded murder, and there seemed to be no incentive to identify the killer.

I adored Kukafka’s writing style - it flowed seamlessly from one scene to the next and possessed an excellent balance between dialogue and description-heavy paragraphs. Furthermore, she excellently sewed together multiple intertwining narratives. I’m generally not a huge fan of books that are told from multiple perspectives, but in this case, they enhanced rather than detracted from the book. Each narrator had a distinct, unique voice which eliminated confusion, and their stories were expertly intertwined, conveying the same events from very different angles.

Overall, Girl in Snow was missing several integral components of an adult thriller, and I was disappointed by the confusing and poorly crafted conclusion. The novel was deceptively slow-paced, and none of the characters seemed particularly alarmed that a murderer was still on the loose. Instead, they frustratingly spent chapters upon chapters dredging up a slew of emotional reactions and recalling old memories rather than acting. I was searching for a heart-pounding read that kept me up until 3am, but unfortunately, Girl in Snow fell fairly short of my expectations.

First I’d like to thank Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Girl In Snow. Although the writing was very good, I just could not get into the story. After a young high school girl is found dead in a neighborhood park, we are introduced to those who knew her and those who will be solving this crime. Each chapter is told by a different character, both in the present and in their pasts. This seemed to jumble the flow for me. It was hard to see how they would all come together. I realize that I’m not one for YA titles or very dark and troubled characters. In my opinion, quite frankly, the teenagers in this book appalled me by their behaviors, and the parents who enabled these behaviors were no better. I gave this book up to 32% before calling it quits and finding out who the murderer was.

Unfortunately not my kind of read. Couldn't hold my attention.

More mystery than thriller, Girl in the Snow was a decent debut from new novelist Danya Kukafka. When it comes to writing this review I feel torn in what direction I should go. I found the plot to be mildly intriguing, and the whodunnit aspect did keep me guessing until the author's big reveal. Yet, outside of that, I absolutely despised all of the characters. So much so that I felt it impossible to connect with them on any level. Each character, young and old, had their own demons, and that's fine. That's what usually helps endear them to the reader, but not here. Not for this reader anyways. The police were a complete joke. Their approach towards solving the murder was all about looking good and letting it solve itself. There was no real investigation evident. And every character relationship seemed strained, pained, and built on lies which was incredibly frustrating. I liked seeing how the author built the mystery into her story; I just wish I could have felt more invested overall. I'd give this a firm 3 stars out of 5.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley.

I really did not care for this book. The story was dreadfully boring.

When a beloved high schooler named Lucinda Hayes is found murdered, no one in her sleepy Colorado suburb is untouched—not the boy who loved her too much; not the girl who wanted her perfect life; not the officer assigned to investigate her murder. In the aftermath of the tragedy, these three indelible characters—Cameron, Jade, and Russ—must each confront their darkest secrets in an effort to find solace, the truth, or both. In crystalline prose, Danya Kukafka offers a brilliant exploration of identity and of the razor-sharp line between love and obsession, between watching and seeing, between truth and memory.

My Thoughts: Flowing back and forth in time, via alternating narrators, the life and death of a young teenager living in a small Colorado town is shown through the eyes of her watchers; and then we follow their meandering and introspective thoughts about their own lives.

Who were these watchers, and which of them could have taken her life? Or could the perpetrator be someone completely different, someone not on our radar at all?

Cameron was described by other students as a stalker and a boy most likely to bring a gun to school. Actually, he was a budding artist and loved drawing what he could see.

Jade is an abused girl, someone unafraid to push her way into the inner circles, only to be ignored or taunted. She believes that Lucinda stole her boyfriend. Throughout, we see snippets of her writing in the form of a screenplay.

Russ, a police officer, has some secrets from the past. He once had a partner named Lee Whitley, Cameron’s dad, whose actions led to an arrest and his disappearance from town. What had Russ been willing to do to cover for his partner?

Girl in Snow kept me engaged throughout, although it was sometimes difficult to connect with the characters; we saw them only in bits and pieces, and sometimes, like a shift in a kaleidoscope, we watched them morph abruptly into the past.

I was surprised by the reveal at the end, and while it made sense, there were no hints of this person’s culpability ahead of time. After the revelations, there were moments in which we saw the lives of the other characters as they started to move on. I did like knowing what was ahead for them. 4 stars.
***My e-ARC came from the publisher via NetGalley.

Let me tell you something about my reading taste, I thirst after thrillers, but when one is a flop I spare no mercy on my many criticisms. With this book, I don't even know where to start telling you much of a flop it was in my eyes. The story starts out with Lucinda Hayes, a beloved and popular high schooler being murdered at the local school playground.

From the premise that the summary described, it sounds like it has the potential to be a whodunit, especially since there is a POV from the local police officer thrown in there. In reality, this story is about three individuals, the boy who stalked her, the police officer that had personal ties, and the girl who wanted a perfect life. It was the most boring life stories, as dull as the dishwater in your sink. Seriously, if you want to write character driven stories (which are my favorite usually) you should take some time into putting some personality and distinction between every person so that there's actually some substance.

There was an overuse of sex in this book, and so throughout it I couldn't stop cringing and skimming throughout those passages. During the actual reading time of this book, I had 0 inclination to go and pick it up, usually the experience of not being able to put down a quality thriller, this was definitively a red light.

Another thing that got on my nerves was how juvenile and not well done the writing was. I do understand that this author is a debut novelist, however her writing not at all what I had expected from a thriller, and I think that has to do that it seems she can't pull off writing from a young adult's perspective. For most of the book, there was much oversimplification because I felt like the author didn't understand and couldn't get into the headspace of the main teenagers in this story, which just detracted from the general intent of the story.

If there was more focus on the murder investigation, if we had known the dead girl better, if I was invested in the three main characters lives, this would have been a much better story. As it stands, I would say that this book was one of my least favorites that I have read this year, and I would not recommend it to anyone because of the way that it lacked character development, an exciting plot-line, and the bad writing found within it.

**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.**

I was invited to review Girl in Snow by Danya Kukafka because I had read similar books such as All the Missing Girls, yet this was unlike any book I've read recently. I'm not sure if this difference is a good thing or not.

What I loved about the book was the mystery. Who killed Lucinda Hayes? We are sent on twists and turns as alibis and motives are doled out in pieces. The focus on each member of this small community slightly different depending on whose chapter it is. You will at one point think 'that is who did it' only to wonder 'maybe not' a chapter later. Even as the murderer is revealed part of you will be thinking, no that isn't really the murderer.

If impossible to solve 'who done its' are your cup of tea, then definitely add Girl in Snow to your reading list.

What I really didn't like about the novel were the three main characters who tell the story. I love character driven stories and with the deep dive into the lives and minds of these characters, I should have been wanting to turn pages faster than I could read. But characters themselves rubbed me the wrong way. They are all outskirts of what is probably considered the social norm. Maybe it is because of the close look into their thoughts that made it more difficult to like them.

Russ, the cop, gave me the creeps. I couldn't tell for sure if he was in love with Cameron's dad or just wanted his life - a life with Cameron and his mom. I felt bad for Russ's wife. I almost think that if Russ had been a secondary character, there only to provide insight into the investigation, I would have liked the book more.

Cameron, the anti-social kid, is also a bit creepy, but not in the same sense as Russ. It is never explicitly stated but I wonder if he is on the autism spectrum. It would explain some of his anti-social behavior and obsessions. He is a gifted artist, but he only really seems to want to draw Lucinda. He is in love with her and he thinks in a secret way she is in love with him too. He sneaks out at night to spy on her and her family (and sometimes other neighbors). If he is autistic, I don't think he is getting the support he needs at home. His dad is gone (fled after being arrested for the murder of a young woman, conveniently evidence that would have convicted him disappeared) and his mom is dealing not with the abandonment of her husband (both in terms of being absent as well as having cheated on her with the young woman). Towards the end, I kind of warmed up to him.

Jade, the goth girl who knows more than she is saying, is the only one I kind of liked. Her sarcasm and refusal to be part of the mainstream are largely due to the abuse at home and the rejection by her best friend, I think. Unfortunately, it seemed like less of the story was focused on her - that even as a main character she is in the shadows.

What I'm undecided on about the story is how it is told. Kukafka is clearly a talented writer, but I don't think the method in which the story is told worked well for me.

There is often attention to details, like crusty toothbrushes and descriptions of condiment bottles, that weighed the story down.

Also, the deep dive into the thoughts of Russ, Cameron, and Jade left the mystery of Lucinda's death feeling like it was more a subplot instead of the focus of the story. Therefore, the character's storylines sometimes veered off into tangents that had little to do with the murder. And I was clearly drawn to the murder and wanted to keep the focus there.

There is also little direct dialogue. At one point I even flipped back through a few pages because I was starting to wonder if there was actually any direct dialogue; it is that sparsely used. Instead, conversations are often told through the lens of whoever's chapter it is. While the unreliableness of it increased the mystery element, I wonder if it isn't also what made the novel feel dense and slow to me. I wasn't sure if I would be able to finish it, but I did want to know who murdered Lucinda.

If I were to compare Kukafka to another writer I've read, I think her writing is similar to Tana French.

I'm still as undecided on how I really feel about this novel as I was when I turned the last page on July 1. I loved the mystery; Kukafka definitely has a knack for keeping the reader guessing. I think the elements I didn't like in the story are a matter of personal taste or perhaps I just wasn't in the mood for this type of story. It did feel like it should be read on a cold, winter day instead of in the sunshine of summer.

I liked this book only to the point of being willing to finish it. I was on a long flight and decided to power through. The characters were so unlikable that I didn't even feel invested in what happened to them.

I really want to thank Netgalley for giving me a copy of the ebook for an honest review. I finished this book late last night and I really wanted to just get it done. I can't say that I didn't like the book, but I felt parts were repetitious and I didn't really like any of the three main characters. It was a quick read and I guess I just kept waiting for something, not sure what, but it never came.

Unfortunately this book just wasn't for me. I did like Kukafka's writing style overall and would certainly consider reading something else written by her, but I found the pacing of this book too slow for my liking and I just couldn't connect with or relate to any of the characters.

Is there anything better than a well written mystery novel? While this isn't exactly the typical "whodunnit" you're still left guessing who the murderer is until nearly the end of the book and, personally, I love trying to see if I can guess who the murderer is.

Girl in Snow tells the story of a teenage girl named Lucinda, how she died, and how her death and the search for her murderer affected three people. The story alternates point of views between those three people; Cameron, who was in love with Lucinda, Jade, who hated Lucinda, and Russ, who is one of the detectives looking for who killed her. Each of these characters is broken is someway. As a mark of some of my favorite books there aren't any truly good people in here. Everyone is flawed, horribly flawed. And I greatly enjoyed it.

Although alternating point of views can get tiring in some books, this isn't one of them. Each of the characters had a distinct style of thought and the chapters were concise enough so that they didn't start to bleed into each other. While I found one or two of the plot points/twists to be a bit on the predictable side, I was stunned by more than a few things. The main aspect being that I didn't guess the killer, at all. Several scenes didn't play out how I thought they would and I'm glad. When a book becomes too predictable it can get boring and at no point while reading Girl in Snow was I bored.

Even though I love flawed characters, there was something brutal about the fact that most of these characters are so young. The majority of the characters are still in high school and it can be horrifying to realize that the people going through such traumatic times can sometimes be children. Kukafka handled these situations realistically and wrote the scenes from the point of view of teenagers remarkably well and in an engaging manner.

Kukafka did a remarkable job creating a debut novel that I won't soon forget and I look forward to reading her future works.

Heavy, complex, and deeply human.

I'd like to thank Simon and Schuster Publishing and Netgalley for the chance to review Girl in Snow by Danya Kukafka. This novel was written with such a vivid realism that I felt as if I was intruding on the thoughts of the characters. At times, I found myself struggling to deal with the depth of feeling portrayed. Through multiple perspectives, we are taken to the fictional Broomville, Colorado nestled at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains (much like real-life Broomfield, CO). After returning from a vacation to the Denver area a week ago, the descriptions of this area felt exceptionally authentic.

"Colorado had this specific smell in summer, like pine needles recovering from a miserable winter and hot, red dirt sliding down steep mountainsides."

Being given a firsthand look into the lives of characters who existed in a fictional place, based on somewhere I had recently come from was a pretty cool experience.

The story begins with a school assembly to inform students one of their peers has been murdered -- the body of a fifteen year old girl has been found. Immediately readers are immersed into the psyches of some of the most complex characters I have ever read, as they cope with the aftershocks of an untimely and tragic death. Instead of the traditional "who-dunnit" feel, we are led on what feels like a study of humanity. How do the characters react? What motive may lie in their past? Who was the victim hiding connections to? How do the characters feel?

"Emotions shouldn't have names. I don't know why we bother talking about them, because emotions are never what they're supposed to be."

We are taken into the minds of Cameron and Jade, two of the murder victim's fellow students, and Russ, a patrol officer in the town of Broomville. Cameron, a social outcast, obsessively stalks Lucinda during her short life, and Jade loathes her for her carefree nature and easy life. Their experiences following the death of Lucinda shed light on her life, and why she may have been killed. This leads readers to suspect numerous people could have been the culprit, but only one knows the full story.

As I read, at times the novel felt slightly tedious and slow, but was so rich with characterization I was unable to stop reading. I wanted to continue getting to know the inner workings of each character on a higher level. However, the changing voices and varying timelines within the perspectives sometimes made forming a bond with the story more challenging than I would have liked. Preferably, it would have been nice to learn a little more about Lucinda's life to feel more of a connection to the sting of her death. In the end, I was less concerned about who killed her, instead I was eager to learn how Cameron, Jade, and Russ would connect. Despite this, I still felt the story was interesting enough with the intertwining characters and their unique psychologies. 

Overall, I am highly impressed by the writing style of Danya Kukafka, a 24-year-old, first-time published author. The vividity she uses to describe thoughts, emotions, and feelings; with such a clear understanding of the human condition from each gender and perspective was truly mind-boggling. I have never encountered such a uniquely talented writer. For that reason alone, I felt compelled to give this novel 4 hard-earned stars and would recommend this to fans of a good mystery or psychological thriller. I will be keeping up with Kukafka's career and look forward to reading more of her work in the future. I'd love for you to enjoy the exceptional writing of Danya Kukafka with Girl in Snow, releasing August 1st!

K Honsharuk's review Jul 24, 2017 · edit
liked it

Beautifully written, language wise, I could hear, smell and feel the characters' angst so acutely. I wanted to know more - about Lee Whitley and Russ, about Jade's abusive mother and Cameron...I wanted to know so much more about Cameron. Overall, though, I finished the book feeling sort of...blah, eh, flat...didn't really connect with any of them. I did, however, feel some satisfaction in their redemption.

P.S. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Here is a review by A. D.: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2047161555

Girl in Snow was a book I was really looking forward to reading. This was a book that wasn't on my radar but was sent to me by the publisher because of previous books I had requested on Netgalley. So I knew nothing going into this book. I'm sad to say this book was unable to hold my interest.

This book is told from three different character's perspectives. I usually love that in books. In this book I felt it fell completely flat for me. I didn't like any of our main characters so I never was looking forward to anyone's point of view. We have Cameron who was obsessed with the girl that died. He would stalk her all the time. I just found him a bit creepy. Then there was Jade who hated the girl that died. She was okay. She was always going on about her ex-boyfriend which I found uninteresting. Then there was Russ who was the cop investigating the crime. He was a very bland character. Majority of the time these characters would talk it just wouldn't hold my interest. They kept going on about stuff from that past that I found myself not caring about. I was hoping they would talk more about the investigation and go more in depth about it. That was not the case at all with this book. I like mysteries for the suspense but this book didn't have any.

Another thing that didn't help was the writing. I know this is a young adult novel but it was very juvenile with the writing. After a bit of reading I felt myself mainly skimming through the book. I was determined to finish this book because I had to write a review for it. If I didn't I most likely wouldn't have finished this book. It's such a shame that I ended up not enjoying it at all. I feel I could have read the beginning of the book and then went straight to the part when the murder was discovered and probably would have given it a higher rating.

Overall this book just wasn't what I was looking for. I really didn't enjoy the story or any of the characters. I ended up skimming through it so I could get it over with faster. It's such a shame because the cover intrigued me a lot. Plus this was a book recommended to me so I couldn't wait to dive into this it. Sadly it didn't have the mystery element I was hoping for.