It's so hard to believe this is Angie's debut novel. I LOVED this story so much! Angie managed to write a thriller and at the same time have me so invested in the relationships of all the main characters. There was a mother/daughter relationship which I feel was just so crucial to this story. But, she also gave us an amazing story about husbands and wives which centered on trust and love. The cover is amazing and the story is even better!!

I was disappointed by this book. I had high hopes. Like the author, I am a trained trial attorney. I think that maybe my background led me to want more from this book than it was able to give. The character development was a bit lacking, and some of the trial and legal scenes weren’t accurate.

However, the weighty subject matter does give way to depiction of a really interesting dilemma of: how far would you go to protect your child and what does that protection look like to you? This resonated with me. Ultimately I thought the book had a good message and a satisfying ending, but it was quite slow.

Miracle Submarine offers alternative therapies for a range of chronic conditions. But is the family who runs it to be trusted? Are the patients? We know there has been a terrible accident, 1 parent and a child dead. The mother of the dead boy is on trial for his murder in what seems to be such a clear-cut case. And yet, as the story unfolds bouncing from character to character, it becomes more and more difficult to say who's to blame.

My Thoughts: Everyone has been buzzing about Angie Kim’s remarkable debut, Miracle Creek. It’s not often that an author can plot her story in a completely unique situation, but Kim did just that. The entire idea of this therapeutic submarine device is something few readers would have heard of and yet, Kim built an intriguing mystery around such a device and the people both operating and using it. When a fiery explosion at a rural facility kills two and injures others, everything and everyone associated with the “Miracle Submarine” comes into question.

I always love a book told from many perspectives and Miracle Creek did that beautifully. We hear from the three members of the Yoo family, operators of the device, Matt and Theresa, clients, from Elizabeth who lost her son in the fire and has herself become the chief suspect, and many more. The book centers around the trial of Elizabeth Ward, charged with causing the explosion in theory to end the drudgery of caring for her special needs son. But, as the courtroom drama unfolds, Kim takes the reader back in time and bit by bit unveils tiny facts that keep the reader constantly guessing as to what really happened. I liked this book very much, yet occasionally felt it went too deep into backstory that didn’t really matter. Still, if you’re a fan of courtroom dramas Miracle Creek is a must read! Grade: B+

Note: I received a copy of this book from Sarah Crichton Books (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review.

My reading experience can be divided in two phases: 1st phases was "I MUST read this book because I have to review it", 2nd phase was "OMG this book is amazing, I can't stop reading".
As a matter of fact I had to stop reading from time to time but I was back as soon as I could.
That said I can start listing a long series of adjectives or description but at the end of the day there's just one thing: this is an amazing book and you have to read to understand the beauty and how thought provoking it can be.
The plot, the style of writing, the cast of characters, the different POV: everything is very good and well written.
I liked how the author faces different social issues without turning this book into an essay or something boring.
A very good book, I will surely read others by this author.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I loved this book! This is a fascinating murder mystery/courtroom drama/immigrant story that is unlike any other I have read. Along with being a riveting page-turner the author explores tough questions that have no easy answers.

The book opens with an explosion in a hyperbaric chamber, the so-called “Miracle Submarine”, a medical treatment used in the hope of a cure for conditions ranging from autism to infertility. The resulting fire took the life of two people: an 8-year-old boy with autism, and the young mother of one of the patients. Several others were left with devastating injuries.

Elizabeth, the mother of the young boy who died, is charged with wanting her son dead and orchestrating his murder. Is Elizabeth guilty, or, as the defense suggests, is someone else the guilty party? Told from alternating perspectives, there are little lies, big lies, and lies of omission. Everybody is hiding something and everyone has a possible motive for the crime.

The courtroom drama was riveting. Depending on which piece of evidence is explored, the suspicion leans strongly toward one person or another. No one has the full picture but each reveal draws us closer to the truth and keeps the reader guessing.

I think one of the strengths of this book is allowing the reader a peek into the minds and hearts of parents of disabled children. Parenting is a tough job, even more so when faced with the overwhelming exhaustion, grief, and fear of parenting a child with special needs, and the worry of what will happen to your child when they outlive you. The dynamics of the group of mothers who have children with varying degrees of autism was especially interesting.

Despite a great love for your child, shameful, but all-too-human, thoughts can creep in. Thoughts that could never be voiced out loud to anyone. I hope this book gives parents in similar circumstances reassurance and validation that they aren’t awful people, just flawed humans. Like all of us.

The immigrant experience is also explored, specifically the clashes between the old ways and the new, and the sacrifices immigrant parents make for their children, which don’t always lead to the expected outcome.

The author is Korean-American, a trial lawyer, and has a child who received hyperbaric treatments for a health condition. She writes with authenticity based on personal experience. This is an amazing debut and I can’t wait to see what she writes next!

Highly recommended for fans of thoughtful character-driven mystery/courtroom dramas. For those in a book club this would be an excellent pick.

**I received a free copy of the book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

It's hard to find something to say about a book that's already received so much buzz and high praise.

Miracle Creek is a courtroom drama following the explosion of a hyperbaric oxygen chamber in Miracle Creek, Virginia. The "miracle submarine" was a hyperbaric chamber that allowed for multiple individuals to sit inside the vessel for treatment at the same time. Although the "miracle submarine" is touted to help with ailments, such as autism and infertility, it is considered to a controversial treatment.

Miracle Creek follows alternating chapters of individuals who are directly affected by the explosion. Matt is a patient who was injured during the explosion and his wife is also a stakeholder in the "miracle submarine". Pak Yoo owned and operated the treatment along with his wife, Young, and his teenage daughter, Mary. Readers are also given points of view from the accused and other parents who used this treatment for their children. As with most courtroom dramas, not everything is what it seems.

Although I found the outcome predictable I did enjoy Angie Kim's writing style. It's also interesting to hear Kim's inspiration for writing this novel. I look forward to seeing what Kim writes next. Thank you to Netgalley and FSG for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Parenting is hard work and every parent knows that. It's a time of fun, frustration, happiness, anger, love and even twinges of hate. However, as hard as this job is being a parent to a normal child, it is incredibly more difficult, more trying, and more heart breaking being the parent of a handicapped child. In the book, Miracle Creek, Angie Kim tries to point out how very difficult that job is.

As a parent, you would do anything to make life and its many pitfalls easier for your child. You would go to any lengths to guarantee their safety, happiness, and always be there to provide a cushion to the ills of the world your child is traveling through. However for a parent of a handicapped child, this road they must travel is so often fraught with frustration, pain, and the incredible loss of concern for self. It's a time of never resting, never sleeping well, always on guard for the next disaster, the next time of unhappiness, the next case of looking for cures that can allay the situation and offer the hope of making your child normal.

So it is not that surprising that the parents of severely handicapped children have come to the facility run by Young and Pak Yoo. This miracle submarine as they call ii, is a hyperbolic chamber that offers remedies for autism, infertility and other maladies. It seems to be somewhat successful but tragedy is on approach and as the submarine once known as a miracle becomes a nightmare, killing two people. The Yoo's life is thrown into turmoil and the lives of the parents who are left behind becomes one of recriminations and guilt. A trial ensues in which one parent, Elizabeth, is accused of setting this disaster in motion and being the cause of the explosion that killed two people, one of whom was her son.

The strength of this book comes from the true picture that is painted of parents who struggle with their children who are disabled. It so well portrays the road that these people travel, one often filled with frustration, anger, and of course hope. It allowed for feelings of hate, hate for the cards dealt to them and the children who made their lives ever so difficult. It showed true human emotion, not always kind or loving, but exhausted, sleepless, and embarrassed.

Everyone in this story is lying, lying to protect their assets, lying to protect their marriage, lying to deny their part in a scenario that was both tragic and fated. It is a story of deceit, a story of tragedy, a story of how far a parent will go to make their child normal.

Jan and I read this book together and came away with a keen understanding of the pitfalls one often falls into in their zeal to make their offspring perfect, to fit a norm, to be normal.
Thank you to Angie Kim, Farrar Straus and Giroux for a copy of this story.

I cannot believe this is a debut novel!

This story has the most perfect mix of mystery/thriller, complicated family issues, immigrant story, courtroom drama, and beautifully written literary fiction. It never felt like it was changing genres; everything just worked so well together to produce a story that I didn't want to put down.

The way the story was structured added so much to the anticipation and intrigue. Because each character shared only a small bit of information at a time, (and because some of that information contradicted what the reader had already been told) it was difficult to determine who had been responsible for the tragedy and what their motivations could have been. It seemed like each main character had a secret that could have made them guilty and any one of them could have done the unthinkable to ease the burdens they felt.

So much of this story reminded me of Everything I Never Told You. While the content was very different, the deeper issues explored were so similar: assimilating to a new a culture, (and how that is different for adults and children) secrets that family members keep from one another, and the way that what someone's life appears to be on the surface may be nothing like the reality. I didn't make this connection until the book was almost over, but once I did, it made it more obvious why this was such an enjoyable read for me.

This was also one of those stories that I ended up rating higher after thinking on it for a few days. It is definitely one that will leave an impassion and a lot to dissect and ruminate on. These are my absolute favorite type of stories, so readers with similar tastes will probably fall in love with this book the same way I did.

I cannot wait to see what Angie Kim writes in the future!

A compelling, outstanding debut!
Available Now!

"My husband told me to lie"......

"From her direction, I heard a noise. It sounded like crackling, but softer and muffled, the way a flock of geese might sound taking off for flight, hundreds of wings flapping at once to scamper skyward. I thought I saw them, a curtain of gray rippling in the wind and rising higher and higher in the dusky violet sky, but I blinked, and the sky was empty. I ran toward the sound, and I saw it then, what she’d seen but I hadn’t, what she’d run toward.
Flames.
Smoke.
The back wall of the barn—on fire. I don’t know why I didn’t run or scream, why Mary didn’t, either. I wanted to. But I could only walk slowly, carefully, one step at a time, getting closer, my eyes transfixed by the flames in orange and red—fluttering, leaping, and switching places like partners in a step dance.
When the boom sounded, my knees buckled and I fell. But I never took my eyes off my daughter. Every night, when I turn off the light and close my eyes for sleep, I see her, my Meh-hee, in that moment. Her body flings up like a rag doll and arcs through the air. Gracefully. Delicately. Just before she lands on the ground with a soft thud, I see her ponytail, bouncing high. The way it used to when she was a little girl, jumping rope."

********
Angie Kim's debut novel, Miracle Creek, is a compelling, thrilling, fast paced read from beginning to end!
I enjoyed the unique storyline, interesting and believable characters, and the addictive courtroom drama that played out in this book. I've never read a book quite like this one and I was completely drawn in and entertained all the way through!

Thanks to NetGalley, Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Straus & Giroux publishing, and Angie Kim for this advanced digital copy for me to read and review.

A beautifully written book, testing a a group of people’s struggle with the truth, values, ethics and doing what’s right.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC

It's been a long time since I have read a novel that is so highly readable. What do I mean by this? The writing is so completely fluid, the characters so believable and relatable, the story so original. As a mother the feelings expressed are unbearably honest. I highly recommend this novel.

Korean immigrants Pak and Young Yoo are living in the small town of Miracle Creek, Virginia, with their teenage daughter Mary.
They run a business with a hyperbaric oxygen therapy tank or "submarine" used in the treatment of autism and male infertility.
When a fire and explosion kills two, and paralyzes and maims two others, the mother of the autistic boy who was killed, is charged with murder.
The story follows the different points of view of the characters, and the courtroom drama of the trial.
I don't want to give too much of the plot away, it is better to go into the book knowing less.
This is a dark and powerful tale of mystery, drama and heartbreak.
It covers the loneliness of feeling like an outsider, and the struggles and rewards of having a child with autism. Emotional and intense, full of pain and beauty. With characters that touch you and frustrate you!
A beautiful and soulful debut novel, not to be missed!
I loved that this is so different than anything else out right now.
Thank you to FSG Books and Netgalley for the free ebook in exchange for the honest review.

ARC/Netgalley

I had a hard time rating this because I couldn't decide exactly how I felt. Usually the sign of a great book club pick! Miracle Creek has some pretty challenging content (child death etc.) that makes it hard to ENJOY but I also could not put it down. The pacing is excellent and the court room scenes felt very real. A compelling story that covers a lot of debates I've seen play out in parenting circles.

This book completely gutted me. It was heartbreaking and horrifying and mesmerizing at once. I didn't want to stop reading but I had to take breaks to let my mind rest and process everything that was happening. The characters were so real. Uncomfortably real. I loved it and I hated it at the same time. The writing was beautiful, the characters expertly created and drawn, and the plot was solid. But the heartbreaking reality of it just floored me. I hated how mad and sad and horrified and uncomfortable it made me feel but at the same time, I loved it. Excellent story.


*Thank you to Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

Miracle Creek takes place in a small Virginia town of the same name. Young and Pak Yoo are the owners of an experimental treatment called the Miracle Submarine, which is a pressurized oxygen chamber. Its dives are believed to be therapeutic for autism among other disabilities or conditions.

The Miracle Submarine mysteriously exploded, and two people are killed. This small town is transformed forever.

At first, it’s unclear who the suspect or suspects are. Could it be the mother of one of the patients? Or the Yoos? Both may have probable motives.

The courtroom drama plays out with BIG intrigue and lots of emotion. This aspect of this story was extraordinary and authentic.

The author is a Korean immigrant and former trial lawyer, so that certainly adds to the authenticity of her characterization and subsequent unraveling of the courtroom plot. She is also the mother of a “submarine” patient, so the genuine emotion is firmly there.

Ok, friends, don’t miss this one. If you enjoy emotional reads, this book is for you. If courtroom dramas are your bag, definitely don’t miss this. And everyone else? Well, this one is for you all, too. It’s just too good to pass up! It’s a twisty, dynamite page-turner with smooth writing and a compelling plot. Miracle Creek is an all-around fresh and refreshing read.

I received a complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

Miracle Creek is a family drama, a courtroom drama, a mystery, a whodunit, and a compelling look at the struggles faced by immigrant families - all at once. It’s not confusing or too much - instead, it’s done perfectly.

Young, one of our narrators, is a Korean woman who came to the USA five years previously with her young daughter Mary in tow. Finally, her husband Park was able to join his family, and the trio has moved from Baltimore to the rural DC area town of Miracle Creek. It is here that Park sets up “Miracle Submarine,” his name for a therapeutic compression chamber that happens to look a bit like a submarine. Patients go in and receive pure oxygen that is supposed to help “cure” various things, including autism.

A terrible accident at Miracle Submarine thrusts Young’s family into a court case. The book opens during the proceedings, and through multiple viewpoints and flashbacks we are able to learn about the year of events that led up to this point.

Each voice in the book is distinct and I had no trouble with the point of view changing by chapter. The story is woven together amazingly well and I found it really enjoyable to read.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for a chance to read this book! It is available for sale now and is also a Book of The Month Club selection for the month of April.

This book was worth all of the hype! Everyone is loving this book for a reason. It was so excellent. This book is a difficult read, so one should know that going into it. It deals with very difficult issues, but it is done in a way that is not manipulative to the reader - it feels very natural. Highly recommend all around!

a hybrid noir which exploits the classic plot of a legal thriller to make some clever points on acceptance and on what it means to be immigrants, with an interesting parallel between immigrants and children in need of a special care. The plot is too long and somewhat weakish (with little effort you can guess the villain halfway), but the subtext is very smart and deep.

I can easily say from the get go, I've never read a book quite like Miracle Creek! I wasn't sure I would like that the book was set during the trial in the courthouse and with the multiple different point of views each chapter, but I can honestly say I love it in this book! I couldn't imagine it not being in this format with this plot. It's definitely a book that needs a lot of concentrating and processing, just because of how heavy the themes and the book overall is.

Miracle Creek absolutely ripped my heart out, in more than one way. Just when I thought I had figured it out who committed the murder, new evidence was found and then I was back to being at square one with thinking about who lit the fire. The court case was absolutely thrilling and a roller coaster of emotions, evidence, and confessions. However, although majority of the book is set in the court, the book is so much more than just the court case. It honestly had everything.

I can easily say there was not one character I loved or hated more than others. However, all the characters are wonderfully written and completely different in their own way. They all had their own views and opinions on what happened that night, but they were also carrying their own secrets about that night a year ago.

The writing is so freaking wonderful and beautiful, and SO descriptive! Kim hit the nail on the head throughout the book and I spent majority of the book being in awe of the writing, with this being Angie Kim's debut book!

I can't wait to get my hands on Angie Kim's future work, because she's got me hooked for her next book after this wonderful masterpiece!

Thank you very much to Farrar, Straus & Giroux for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.