Format: ARC, eBook
Enjoyed it but have mixed thoughts….
I loved Miracle Creek and had very high hopes for this book. Angie Kim is a brilliant writer, and I was intrigued by the synopsis but also feel a little tricked by it. Why? This book, for me, was more about Eugene who has autism and mosaic Angelman syndrome. What I thought was going to be a missing person case became something quite else. Yes, the dad did go missing while out with his fourteen-year-old, Eugene.
The family doesn’t call the police at first as they are not quite sure what happened. Eugene is home and very upset. They know he was with his father but can’t imagine that he could make it home by himself.
Mia is the narrator in this book and is home from college along with her twin brother, John. Readers get to know Mia as well as her highly analytical mind. She goes on and on about explanations for things. I’ll be honest, she annoyed me to a degree. Her brother comes home alone with bloody clothing and no dad, and her first instinct is to wash Eugene’s clothing just in case.
As the investigation into the missing father follows, readers learn more about the family, their history, trials and tribulations, their connection and family connections.
I enjoyed her writing and enjoyed the parts about communication and how Eugene shaped their family dynamics. These were very strong parts of the book. What didn’t work was the family is described as tight knit, but I never got the feeling that they were overly worried out about the dad’s disappearance.
Like other reviewers, I couldn’t help but wonder why even have the dad disappear at all? This part plays second fiddle to everything else in the book. I get that this was used as a tool to explore other issues in the book, but it just bothered me.
Although I didn’t enjoy this as much as I thought I would, I still enjoyed it, despite my issues with it.
Thank you to Random House and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.