Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

The “gripping… page-turner” (Time) hitting all the best of summer reading lists, Miracle Creek is perfect for book clubs and fans of Liane Moriarty and Celeste Ng

How far will you go to protect your family? Will you keep their secrets? Ignore their lies?

In a small town in Virginia, a group of people know each other because they’re part of a special treatment center, a hyperbaric chamber that may cure a range of conditions from infertility to autism. But then the chamber explodes, two people die, and it’s clear the explosion wasn’t an accident.

A powerful showdown unfolds as the story moves across characters who are all maybe keeping secrets, hiding betrayals. Chapter by chapter, we shift alliances and gather evidence: Was it the careless mother of a patient? Was it the owners, hoping to cash in on a big insurance payment and send their daughter to college? Could it have been a protester, trying to prove the treatment isn’t safe?

Perhaps closer to a 3 but rounding up. I think the author graciously maneuvered with her writing on having emotional elements but without going over in terms of clear manipulation in pulling on your heart strings. I felt invested in the outcomes. This book would be easy to recommend to many people, especially people who don't read a lot or are newer to reading.

Recensie van audioboek (via Scribd)
Goh, deze was wel ok, maar blijft niet echt nazinderen. Het verloor wat aan stoom naar het einde toe en de ontknoping is een beetje meh. Toch 3 sterren voor de schrijfstijl.

Good mystery, but I felt there was not enough dialog from the book's characters. It got a bit boring at
times and really tested my patience. It was much better for me toward the last 20% of the book. This was my opinion and I'm sure others will disagree! David N.

Fascinating mystery thriller, a real page-turner. An arson murder investigation is conducted and a tight group of people involved in the accident and their actions are being examined and analysed. As each layer of lies is shed we are shocked at what we find, but feel like being closer than ever to solving the mystery. But all what was revealed turns out to be lies as well with the next shocking revelation.

Angie Kim demonstrates how subjective the truth can be, how each fact taken out of context can be twisted in any amount of ways, how biased we are as people. The lawyers manage to present the same set of facts in such contradicting ways they make the same person look in turn like a villain and like a saint.

A lot of difficult emotions and complicated family situations give depth to the story. There's unconditional love for one's children, but this love has it's limits and boundaries. There's the pain of not fitting in, loneliness, jealousy, obedience, loyalty.

I wonder how realistically the American judicial system is portrayed here. After reading this book I got the illusion they gather just enough evidence to make a case and sit on it for a year-while the rest of the evidence rots away. When each party finds new evidence, which might be part of a bigger puzzle and lead to more evidence, it is kept silent about so it can be thrown into the other party's face in court at an unexpected moment. I sure hope it is not always like that.