Series: Standalone
Release Date: April 16, 2019
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 showdown unfolds as the story moves across characters who are all maybe keeping secrets, hiding betrayals. 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?
• Korean side characters
• POC side characters
• Autistic side-characters
• Side-character with cerebral palsy
• Sexual assault
• Child abuse
• Suicide
• Discusses fears of what happens to special-needs children when their parents can no longer take care of them
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.
Format: Paperback
Rating: 4.25/5 stars
Trigger Warning: This review discusses topics that can be triggering for some. Please read the ‘Possible Triggers’ tab above for details.•••
Miracle Creek is a nail-biting courtroom drama that accentuates how malleable the truth can be, especially when all the witnesses and victims in the case aren’t forthcoming with their version of the events.
Miracle Creek tells the story of a fire at the Yoo’s–an immigrant family from Korea–wellness facility, Miracle Submarine, a hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) centre. HBOT is thought to be an effective treatment for conditions including autism, cerebral palsy and infertility. Elizabeth Ward is on trial for the murder of her 9-year-old autistic son, Henry (a patient of Miracle Submarine) and her friend, Kitt (mother of the other 9-year-old autistic boy at the session). The investigators believe that Elizabeth purposely set a fire underneath the oxygen tank, killing Henry and Kitt (who were in the middle of an HBOT session, meaning they were connected to the oxygen tank that blew up).
The resulting story flashes back and forth to the events leading up to the fire/explosion and present-day trial. While the narrators (the victims and witnesses to the explosion) initially believe that Elizabeth is a murderer, it quickly becomes apparent that each of them is hiding not so innocuous truths about the day of the explosion. And, as the trial continues, these truths slowly start to come to light, making everyone–the characters and the reader–question what exactly happened that day?
Not Just a Courtroom Drama: Exploring Important Topics
I enjoyed Miracle Creek because the trail scenes were so strong and entertaining. It felt like I was watching a legal drama on TV, cheering on whenever the lawyers had a particularly good examination. I felt so apprehensive reading those scenes because I couldn’t make up my mind who I believed! As the story unfolded, it became evident how susceptible I was to pretty much every character’s faulty narrative. To illustrate, Dr. Matt Thompson was the only adult patient (for infertility) during the sessions Elizabeth, Henry, and Kitt frequented. Matt was quite sure that Elizabeth was, if not a murderer, a horribly abusive parent. And, I found myself nodding along! (That’s not to say Matt wasn’t correct, but I never questioned his opinion initially.)
However, the best part of Miracle Creek was the exploration of so many important topics, including the rarely discussed tribulations of being a parent of a special-needs child. Of course, being a parent to any child is straight-up hard. Still, I think–and what Miracle Creek echoes–that parenting special-needs children is made more difficult by doctors, society and random people (with “good intentions”) who feel like they have the right to critique the parenting of special-needs children. A significant portion of Miracle Creek is exploring how difficult it is for parents of special-needs kids–and in the case of this book, single mothers–to find support.
Miracle Creek also acknowledges the unvoiced realities of familial relationships: parents and children can become exasperated with each other, resulting in mean things being said or thought (wishing they were never born, or that you hate them). People are human, and understanding the nuances of emotions–frustration and love–is very difficult. I liked how the author explored the nuances of their familial relationships: their connections and their tribulations.
Elizabeth’s perspectives were of particular interest because they touch upon how the competitive mother stereotype of the suburbs was taken to the extreme in the special-needs circle. As Elizabeth points out, though, the competitive spirit (my kid did X) is more intense because the parents are competing about accomplishments that can make all the difference in their child being able to independently take care of themself. It was honestly so upsetting seeing how this competition–Elizabeth’s son getting “better” while Kitt’s son staying the same–caused an irreparable rift in Elizabeth and Kitt’s friendship, especially since Kitt seemed to be Elizabeth’s only friend.
I also liked how the author added a foil to Elizabeth–who did every medical treatment for her son–in the protesting mother who is part of a group of mom-activists fighting to make parents aware that autism is not something you can “fix” because that is the child’s normal. The book explores how both mothers can be right and wrong as their behaviour and intentions shift.
Finally, Miracle Creek expounds on the realities of another important subject: consent. I talk about it in length in the spoiler because it reveals information that isn’t known until halfway through the book.
The author did such a great job with Matt’s perspective as he slowly admits to himself what he did. The denial was intense (obviously, since the reader doesn’t discover what happened until mid-way through the book and we only find out the definitive truth from Mary’s POV).
Aside from Matt being so preoccupied with getting away with his crime (and ensuring his wife, Janine, doesn’t find out), the part that angered me the most was Janine confronting Mary about a possible affair between Mary and Matt. It was outrageously irresponsible to me! Why wasn’t Janine’s first thought: was what happened consensual? Even if Mary pursued him, it’s still ILLEGAL and STATUTORY RAPE… Mary couldn’t consent given her age.
And the fact that Matt knew (in hindsight) it was sexual assault demonstrates how horrible the situation was. Mary trusted Matt and then was assaulted by him and then gets called a whore by his wife. I can’t even imagine the emotions Mary felt when Janine confronted her.
At the end of the book, I was in a rage that Matt wasn’t prosecuted for sexual assault.
Also, if Janine had been a decent human being (you know, blaming the man who broke his VOWS instead of the “other woman” or girl, in this case, who owes you nothing), things would’ve been so much different.
The US Immigrant Story
Exploration of the Yoo family was a significant driver throughout Miracle Creek. Pak Yoo decided to uproot his family from South Korea and move to the US to give his and Young’s daughter, Mary, access to better opportunities than they had. The toil Young and Pak had to go through to make this a reality–Young working 12-hour shifts in a convenience store for four years (never seeing her daughter) and Pak staying behind in South Korea until he saved up enough money to join his family–went unacknowledged by Mary. All Mary knew was that she used to have two close parents, and then she moved to the US and (seemingly) had none.
The culture shock of moving to a new country with a completely different language and culture was also put into stark relief. For the Yoo’s, their family dynamic drastically changed in some ways, while in other ways, the new culture emphasized pre-existing asymmetry in their relationships. To illustrate, Mary is distant towards her mother as she hasn’t forgiven Young for essentially abandoning her when they arrived in the US. But Mary has forgiven her father for being in South Korea all that time and seems to favour his attention.
The author also navigates how frustrating immigrating to a country with a different language can be. Back home in Korea, Pak was the head of the family, worthy of respect and quite dignified. However, in the US, his daughter’s grasp of the English language supersedes his, which gives the illusion that Mary has more authority in English speaking conversations. The impact this has on the relationship between parent and child and Pak and Young’s own insecurities illuminates the US immigration experience’s dichotomy. The Yoos went to the US to give their daughter better opportunities but perhaps limited theirs as a result.
In Conclusion
Miracle Creek is another character-driven book that I loved–the author’s decisive handling of her characterizations and her ability to unflinchingly navigate the harder truths of parenting made the story unique and engrossing.
The book’s theme, though, expounds on the unreliability of perspective, the lies we tell ourselves, and the facts we convince ourselves don’t matter. What results is a skewed version of the truth. Part of the courtroom drama that I found so alarming was how each lawyer seemed more concerned with making sure the “facts” fit their narrative rather than determining what really happened.
The book also touches upon the very relatable feeling of if only. There are so many things that happen in this book that, at the moment, seem completely inconsequential but then turn out to be the most important decision of their life. If only Elizabeth hadn’t decided to take Henry to his session. If only the protestors didn’t show up. If only there was no power outage. If only a certain person acted like a responsible adult (see the spoiler tab). And it goes on. If only, if only, if only. Henry and Kitt wouldn’t be dead.
Buy Miracle Creek
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