What readers think of Miracle Creek, plus links to write your own review.

The book grabbed my interest from the first page. An explosion of a hyperbaric chamber killing some of the patients. A mystery of who set the fire that caused the explosion. It seemed a cautionary tale for how quickly people judge one another based on their own experiences and prejudices with little knowledge of truth or understanding of others and what they may be enduring.

I realize that I am among those in the bottom quarter of overall ratings of this book. I did like the book - so gave it 3 stars = I liked it. However it just did not blow me away like it did so many others.

The story of a Miracle Submarine - aka a hyperbaric chamber - used for autism, infertility and a few other medical conditions. During one "dive" two people are killed due to a fire. In trying to solve how the fire started a number of people are looked at. There are protesters involved trying to shut the process down. There is a mother who for the first time did not accompany her son during the dive. There is the wife, of the only adult male in the chamber, who believes her husband is cheating on her. There are the owners of the operation who would stand to make a fortune in insurance money. One of these is put on trial - but is it the right person? Will the real person come to light? And if they do, will they admit to their wrong doing?

This was a debut novel. A good story for a debut and well thought out and written. For as many characters, and the way they each lead chapters, the author did a good job in their development. They all had a part to play in this novel. As I said, I liked the book, I just did not find it amazing. But I liked it well enough to pick up Kim's next book.

Very early in this book a trial begins regarding an explosion in an HBOT pure oxygen chamber. Throughout the rest of the book the chapters were woven together leading to the revelation of an unknowing murderer. For me there was no avid page turning. It seemed each pick up and put down of the book revealed only more of the same descriptions of character perspectives without building depth of the character. I found no attachment to any of the characters in this book with the exception of Elizabeth who happened to mirror a family member in my life. While there was nothing wrong with the writing per se it failed to intrigue or inspire. The HBOT centering of the novel did not develop into a centering for the characters nor into a reader’s conclusion of such a treatment as beneficial or fraudulent. I continued reading based on my obligation to my Book Club. For these reasons I can only rate this an average read.