** NATIONAL BESTSELLER ** “From its startling opening line right through to its stunning conclusion, Girl in Snow is a perfectly paced and tautly plotted thriller. Danya Kukafka’s misfit characters are richly drawn, her prose is both elegant and eerie–this is an incredibly accomplished debut.” –Paula Hawkins, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Girl on the Train and Into the Water … The Girl on the Train and Into the Water
WHO ARE YOU WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING?
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.
Compulsively readable and powerfully moving, Girl in Snow offers an unforgettable reading experience and introduces a singular new talent in Danya Kukafka.more
The story gives a lot of detail into the personal lives and how they are all interwoven together. There is a lot of suspense throughout the book making one wonder who killed this teenage girl. The book leaves you wishing it wasn’t one person and wishing another person is the murderer and then surprises you at the end with the truth. Quite an interesting tale that one could see in real life.
Girl in Snow drew me in with its premise and beautiful writing and did not disappoint.
Unlike some suspense novels, I felt myself caring about and searching for the answers to all of the mysterious plots, both main and sub.
And there were plenty of them.
The main mystery, as the title implies, is finding out who killed Lucinda Hayes, who was found in the snow of a small Colorado town’s school playground.
There are many people who could have done it, including a couple of narrators. But somewhere along the way, I almost stopped caring about whether or not one of them did it. Getting to know teenagers Cameron Whitley, who may or may not be a budding sociopath, and Jade, a girl who envied Lucinda but had worse problems than a romantic rivalry.
Then there is the cop, Russ, who is on the outskirts of the investigation, so we get a glimpse into that process. But, more than that, we get background on Whitley’s father, a disgraced former police officer in that same small town.
If I had one complaint about Girl in Snow, it’s this: There may have been a bit too much of a focus on writing, and perhaps not enough on keeping the plots moving.
Take Russ’ subplot concerning Whitley’s father. Without giving anything away, I can tell you the punch line was not relevant to much of the rest of the novel and could have been completed earlier, leading to a bit more investigation/procedure writing. There are other soft spots in the novel that, had I been the editor, would have been shortened or cut completely. But Kaufka is a young writer, and I expect her future works to get tighter and shine even more.
But those are finer points to discuss. Overall, I really enjoyed reading Girl in Snow and was pleased with both the beautiful writing and the overall plot.
Lucinda Hayes is found dead one day, lying in the snow on the playground carousel. But who did it? Lucinda was a popular, well-liked girl, so it is a tremendous shock to the small town in Colorado. Could it be the boy who stalks her… and loves her? Could it be the “big boned” girl at her school? How about the school janitor, the foreign man who discovered her body? Or is it the sensitive, well-liked art teacher? You won’t be able to put down this book until you discover who murdered Lucinda Hayes!
Told by three misfit characters, Cameron, Jade and Russ, the reader is fed details little-by-tantalizing-little. Talk about suspense! And Danya Kukafka’s prose along the way paints some unforgettable imagery for the reader. This one can’t be missed!
I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.
3.5 out of 5 stars to Girl in Snow, a new mystery and suspense novel written by Danya Kukafka and set to be released on August 1st, 2017. Many thanks to Simon & Schuster, NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to review an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this novel. I enjoyed it and would be interested in reading more by this author.
Why This Book
This is slightly embarrassing, but I’m not one hundred percent certain how I came to read this book. I was awarded the novel on NetGalley in May, but I believe someone recommended it to me, or maybe the publisher reached out to me to take a look at it. I can’t find any emails, which I normally save, or any comments that might refresh my memory… so bottom-line, it was part of a NetGalley list of books I wanted to read.
Plot, Characters & Setting
Lucinda is a teenager in a small Colorado town who is found dead in the snow on a school playground by a custodian. She was hit in the head with a blunt object and left to die. The story follows several people in the town who either knew the girl or knew of her, each having different opinions about whether Lucinda was a good person or a bad girl.
Cameron is the boy who loved her from afar, except someone knows he was stalking the girl and watching through her windows. He’s had mini-breakdowns after his father left town years ago under very bad circumstances. He doesn’t remember doing anything, but people close to him know he was missing, saw him talking to her and believe he’s guilty.
Jade is a fellow schoolmate who did not like Lucinda. Lucinda stole the boy Jade loved, but the boy never really loved Jade. Jade is not upset that Lucinda is dead, but her younger sister is angry. Jade’s mother treats her daughter poorly and seems to be hiding some sort of a secret.
Russ is the cop assigned to investigate Lucinda’s death. He’s harboring a secret about his friendship with Cameron’s father, as well as the reasons Cameron’s father disappeared. He’s also certain the school custodian, who happens to be Russ’s wife’s brother, is guilty. He tries to navigate the situation, but finds himself stuck on the past.
A few other characters intersect, e.g. a couple with a young child that both Lucinda and Jade babysat for. A young school teacher accused of flirting inappropriately with his female students. And the friends and family members of all 3 main characters.
One of these people is guilty. But the question is who… and you’ll need to read the book to find out.
Approach & Style
I read the novel on my iPad through Kindle Reader. It was about 4500 lines, which is about a 300 page hardcover — not that long. Chapters are relatively short and alternate perspective from the 3 main characters: Cameron, Jade and Russ. The language and writing are absolutely beautiful. So much background and description are revealed in the narration and prose. There are limited amounts of dialogue.
Jade tells 2 sides of every conversation — what she wishes she said (through a play she is writing) and what she actually said. For a young and new writer, the author has a firm grip on flourishing language. On occasion, it fell a little too simple, but it balanced out from the lengthy details of everything else going on in the background.
Strengths
The best part of the story is the absolutely beautiful descriptions of the characters and the scenery. Everything feels authentic. The plot is complex in that there are different levels of relationships happening behind the scenes, which readers only see when certain characters happen to stumble on the supporting cast. It’s a good approach to hold interest in the story. The plot has many interesting sub-components, which help reveal who people really are on the inside versus who they appear to be on the outside.
Concerns
I didn’t know enough about nor care much for Lucinda. A lot of details were revealed about her, but she’s dead when the story starts. As a result, I felt like she could have been anyone as opposed to having a real strong desire inside me to want to know who killed her. I felt less of an attachment to her, but if it were written a little differently, I think it would have been an easy 4 rating for me. Also, once the killer is revealed, there is no scene explaining how/why it happened. You have a hint at the reason for the murder, but you never actually watch or hear the scene played out from either the narrator or a confession from the killer. It felt like a bit of a letdown.
Author & Other Similar Books
This is a very typical story about 3 seemingly disconnected characters where you have to figure out how everyone knew each other. There are a lot of similar type stories on the market right now, as it’s a popular genre and sub-genre. In a way, it was similar to “Beartown” in the structure, focus on teenagers and the mystery portion. But it was also like “I Found You” where the 3 stories will intersect somehow, but you just don’t know until the end, but also that this this was about teenagers and “I Found You” was not only about teenagers.
This is the author’s first book. She definitely has writing talent and storytelling abilities. I think with more experience, she’ll flush out some of the areas that felt a bit weak to me and become a fantastic and creative author in this genre. I’m glad I read it and will chance her next book.
Girl in Snow is an interesting story that follows the investigation of Lucinda’s murder from three distinctly unique points of views. Kukafka does an excellent job in portraying the personality differences between Cameron, Russ, and Jade with her writing. I truly wasn’t able to guess who was actually responsible for Lucinda’s death until it was revealed. I did wish this story had more of a thriller aspect to it to add a little extra excitement and anticipation to it, but I still thoroughly enjoyed Kukafka’s realistic small town mystery.
I voluntarily received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Girl in Snow looked like the perfect thriller to get lost in. When a girl, Lucinda Hayes, is found dead on an elementary school playground, her small town is shaken. The book is told from three perspectives: Russ, the officer on the case, Cameron, the misfit who loved Lucinda from afar, and Jade, the other misfit who hates everyone.
The writing on this one just didn’t click for me, and it read like poorly written YA. I think a book like this would have worked much better had it been written by someone like Megan Abbott, who gets really believably into the mindset of teen characters. There was just something missing for me, and I just wanted to finish, but I didn’t necessarily care about the characters.
The ending was extremely anticlimactic and fell extremely flat for me. I think this one could have been great, but didn’t strike a chord with me!