Miracle Creek: Book Review

Thrillers make for great reads because they have you sitting at the end of your sofa or bed wondering what is going on? A novel that had me doing just that is Miracle Creek by Angie Kim. It’s a classic whodunit with a great story in between.

Miracle Creek: Summary

The novel revolves around an explosion of a submarine that is used to help treat kids with autism. Two people are dead and a mother of one the kids being treated is arrested and we heat testimony from many people that were at the site. Did she cause the explosion or was it the Yoo’s, the family who ran the treatment center

We also learn a lot about the Yoo family, a Korean family that has recently moved from South Korea and how life has changed for them since moving to Virginia. And how racism and identity play a part in these mystery novel.

Commentary

Angie Kim was a trial lawyer and she uses her experience in the court to write the novel. The court scenes are fluid and work great in telling the story and revealing certain key moments to the reader. The novel went on to win the award for The Edger Award for the Best Novel by an American Author.

Besides the great writing by Kim, the book also does a great job of covering the immigrant experience of a family starting a new life. We get to see first hand how it has uprooted the Yoo family and the smallest things play a big role. On top of that issue, Kim does a wonderful job writing about autism and brings an awareness that many people don’t know about or never come across in the mainstream media.

Conclusion

When reading this novel, I would never have been able to tell it was the first novel by the author. It was written very meticulously and comes across as just that. Kim does a wonderful job and I recommend it to anyone who loves a good mystery with a different take on the genre.