MIRACLE CREEK by Angie Kim

The author is a former trial lawyer, and it shows.  This courtroom drama takes place one year after an arsonist killed a woman and a child in a hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber (HBOT), owned and operated by the Yoo family.  Elizabeth, the mother of the dead child, is on trial for the crime, as circumstantial evidence points her way, and her son had previously been diagnosed as autistic, complicating Elizabeth’s life tremendously.  We soon learn that Elizabeth’s conviction is not a slam dunk, particularly since the Yoo family stands to collect over a million dollars in insurance reparation.  Not only are there multiple suspects, but all of the characters are lying about something, and the author takes us on a roller-coaster ride as we conjecture as to who did the deed.  The Yoo family, in particular, is engaged in a cover-up, as Pak, the father/husband, was not supervising the HBOT session at the time of the fire.  His wife Young was, but then where was Pak?  Young got distracted when a DVD player’s batteries went dead, and now she replays in her mind all of the things that went wrong that day, leading to the tragedy.  Mary, their teenage daughter, has secrets of her own that may or may not be related to the blast.  The pacing of this book is fantastic, and the characters are very distinctive, but their behavior renders all of them unlikable  to varying degrees.  The identity of the culprit is not revealed until close to the end of the book, and by that time, the collateral damage is heartbreaking.  The big question that hangs over the entire novel is whether or not any of the characters will come clean about their role in the tragedy.  And, if they do, will they suffer any consequences?