Miracle Creek: Surprise! A Thriller I Highly Recommend

Miracle Creek piqued my interest based on cover and title alone. When I found out it was a court room thriller, I kicked myself for requesting it from the publisher. I don’t like thrillers! What was I doing with this book?! After I was approved for a e-book of the novel, I perused the reviews to mentally prepare myself. So many said it was a fantastic book that I decided to give it a try. It turned out to be a decision I don’t regret at all.

A literary courtroom drama about a Korean immigrant family and a young, single mother accused of murdering her eight-year-old autistic sonMy husband asked me to lie. Not a big lie. He probably didn’t even consider it a lie, and neither did I, at first . . .

In the small town of Miracle Creek, Virginia, Young and Pak Yoo run an experimental medical treatment device known as the Miracle Submarine—a pressurized oxygen chamber that patients enter for therapeutic “dives” with the hopes of curing issues like autism or 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.

Angie Kim’s Miracle Creek is a thoroughly contemporary take on the courtroom drama, drawing on the author’s own life as a Korean immigrant, former trial lawyer, and mother of a real-life “submarine” patient. An addictive debut novel for fans of Liane Moriarty and Celeste Ng, Miracle Creek is both a twisty page-turner and a deeply moving story about the way inconsequential lies and secrets can add up—with tragic consequences.

I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Reasons you should read Miracle Creek:

1. It’s a court-room thriller, so the book spans a week-long trial via different perspectives of the players involved. There are a number of flashbacks that are perfectly timed to slowly piece the “who dunnit” together. The book is never boring, and you find yourself quickly turning the pages.

2. The further I got into the book, the less I actually cared about who committed the crime. I simply wanted to know what happened with each character during the explosion and what their inner dialogue and motives were for the events that took place before and after. In other words, I really cared about the characters. That’s pretty impressive to do in a 300-page book with a bunch of different perspectives!

3. The author clearly knows her stuff: the entire trial felt authentic (…which it should, the author was a lawyer!) and all of the autism discussion was thorough, interesting, and again, felt real (the author has personal experience with hyperbaric oxygen chambers and their use with autism). It made the read not only exciting, because I wanted to solve the mystery, but also interesting, because I learned something. 

4. There is a raw honesty to the perspectives in this book, and I loved it. Thoughts we all have had (or thoughts I can believe people would have) are explored and laid bare. And the best part is that you can’t hate the characters for their flaws. They’re just too human. Instead, you feel a strong sympathy for them.

The only reason it’s not 5 stars is because thriller/mystery isn’t my genre. I will never love a thriller as much as my favorite genres. That being said, this is by far one of the best thrillers I have ever read and would HIGHLY recommend to anyone who enjoys thrillers.

What’s a mystery/thriller you have read recently that you loved?

A.S. Thornton

A.S. Thornton has evolved from book blogger to author with a particular fondness for writing forbidden love in ancient deserts. When not writing, she’s caring for dogs and cats as a veterinarian. You’ll never find animals at the center of her writing, though, because those fictional worlds don’t have veterinarians and her literal brain can’t accept that the poor critters would be without parasite prevention. Thornton’s debut, DAUGHTER OF THE SALT KING is available wherever books are sold.