A thrilling debut novel for fans of Liane Moriarty and Celeste Ng about how far we’ll go to protect our families—and our deepest secretsMy 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 rural Virginia, Young and Pak Yoo run an experimental medical treatment device known as the Miracle Submarine—a pressurized oxygen chamber … 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. Both a compelling page-turner and an excavation of identity and the desire for connection, Miracle Creek is a brilliant, empathetic debut from an exciting new voice.
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I absolutely loved this book. One of my favorites of the year so far. The characters are so well written and believable.
Angie Kim’s debut novel is a genre-breaking combination of courtroom drama, thriller, mystery, and family drama. Kim deftly blends these myriad elements, a cast of complex characters, and a fascinating plot.
Miracle Creek starts—literally—with a bang as a hyperbaric oxygen chamber filled with autistic children and their parents explodes. The ensuing pages pieces together lives, lies, half-truths, and lies by omission, all recounted by seven unreliable narrators, as the arson/murder trial progresses. No one is innocent. No one is who they seem to be. Layer by layer, everyone’s flaws are revealed and events unravelled as the body count rises. Kim writes with exquisite nuances of the differences between right and wrong, slowly deconstructing each situation and the inner struggles the seven narrators undergo.
But Miracle Creek is more than a courtroom drama. It blends the lives of Korean immigrants, children with cerebral palsy or autism, and their parents with interesting twists: Munchausen by proxy syndrome, sexual assault, and the moral and ethical questions involved as, one by one, characters obstruct justice to serve their own ends or to protect their children.
Kim writes with gut-wrenching detail of life with a child on the spectrum, and is spot-on in capturing the joys and tribulations of having such a child.
I really did NOT like this book. I thought it was boring and over-hyped. I am tired of Book of the Month’s choice of books so have canceled my membership. I find later that some of their books are much better reviewed by other reviewers, e g Kirkus.
Just when you think you know who did it, the story twists to another guilty character. Great read!
Where do I even begin with this AMAZING book?
My parents were lucky enough to have lots of family and friends to help them adjust. So their journey to the states wasn’t as hard as Pak, Young and Mary- but they said they had similar experiences. Safe to say I was enlightened.
The characters are flawed all with motives of their own. She depicts all of them in a way that makes you empathize with their plight.
Kim really paints the ups and downs of parenting. The lengths parents will go for their child is extraordinary. I’m told this on a daily basis, but this book really put it into perspective.
The writing is HEAVY. Like you really can’t ‘skim’ over parts. Well you can, but I think you’ll regret it. It’s also not a beach read-it’s heartbreaking, makes you think and has some intense scenes.
Short review: It’s a moving portrait of parenthood, family dramas and a heartbreaking courtroom thriller!
Kept my attention from first page!
I can hardly believe this is Angie Kim’s first novel. The hype is not exaggerated; it’s an amazing book. The court room scenes were bang-on perfect. How did Kim do that? The innermost thoughts of a mother who cares for a disabled child – or any mother dealing with a teen – or everyone whose private thoughts sometimes cause him/her to be ashamed…this novel confronts it all. Lying….everyone was lying about something. What should we believe? And in addition, it is also a mystery (and a good one)! I will definitely follow Angie Kim. And I highly recommend this book! I cannot stop thinking about it. Easily 5 stars.
I know this story but have never seen it in a novel ― the struggles of the Korean immigrant entrepreneur in America, with a technology that seems like magic, who can go from hero to villain in an instant, now at the center of what is possibly a murder ― a bright seam of crisis, mystery, and love emerges in these pages. Kim has written a bold debut novel about science and immigration and the hopes and fears each engenders ― unforgettable and true.
I never like to say too much in my reviews but I will say I know for a fact that I will be thinking about this novel for a very long time. It was hard seeing the words through my tears in several parts throughout the novel, tears because this book was absolutely heartbreaking and tears because it was so beautifully realistically human. The character development and courtroom drama were masterfully done, I felt like I was in that courtroom with everyone. Truly a haunting examination of how everything we do has consequences and sometimes those consequences can drastically change your life as well as so many others lives. I think the biggest thing I got from this was no matter how cut and dry something looks, no matter how unequivocally we think we know something, we can be so unbelievably wrong. I’ve always said that the most dangerous thing we can do as people is to assume, it can cause a chain reaction so powerful that it can destroy friendships, love and lives forever. I feel blessed to have read this novel and I want to give everyone I know a copy of it. Brilliantly done Angie Kim!!! I will be eagerly awaiting your next novel.