[REVIEW] Girl in Snow

title: Girl in Snow
author: Danya Kukafka
genre: adult fiction, mystery, thriller
published: August 1, 2017 by Simon & Schuster
format: hardcover, 368 pages
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 2 / 5 stars
goodreads

Who Are You When No One Is Watching? 

When a beloved high schooler named Lucinda Hayes is found murdered, no one in her sleepy Colorado suburb is untouched—not the boy who loved her too much; not the girl who wanted her perfect life; not the officer assigned to investigate her murder. In the aftermath of the tragedy, these three indelible characters—Cameron, Jade, and Russ—must each confront their darkest secrets in an effort to find solace, the truth, or both.  

In crystalline prose, Danya Kukafka offers a brilliant exploration of identity and of the razor-sharp line between love and obsession, between watching and seeing, between truth and memory. Compulsively readable and powerfully moving, Girl in Snow offers an unforgettable reading experience and introduces a singular new talent in Danya Kukafka.

Girl in Snow tried but failed. *shakes head*

Mystery thrillers are a thing, ya know? Cheating husbands are a thing, ya know? Unreliable main characters with memory loss are a thing, ya know? And this just combined that but ya know what? It failed. It failed so much I can't even believe I finished it. I  finish it because I was curious as to who actually killed the girl and why and how it will be revealed. Mysteries keep me going, you see. And when it's poorly done, I get sad and disappointed af.

Girl in Snow is about the death of 15-yr old, Lucinda Hayes, a well-loved high school student. This is told in three points of view -- Cameron, Lucinda's stalker; Jude, a girl who hates Lucinda; and Russ, one of the investigator assigned to Lucinda's case. These three POVs tell not only the events leading to Lucinda's death and the investigation that comes after. These POVs also tells the things they observe as by-standers in the life of other people.

As a psychological thriller fan (but this statement might be a bit too much for me. lol.), Girl in Snow was an insta-read for me. Death of a teenager, narrators with their very own issues, an unrealiable point of view? Count me in, please! However, as I said, Girl in Snow disappointed me. It tried to carry the Girl on the Train vibes with one of the narrators, Cameron, who stalks Lucinda, found himself unsure of the events that happened the night she died. He's not even sure if he was home or not, if he has anything to do with her death or not. It's all a crazy blur to him.

What pushed me to keep on reading: (1) the NEED to know who actually killed Lucinda, and (2) how will things be revealed. Let me go through my first NEED. This is a psychological mystery. So you see, it's a MYSTERY. I NEED to know the answer. When there's a mystery there has to be answers and theory-making, and all that fun things. I analyzed the characters. I read and tried to analyzed them and understand them and their involvement in the Lucinda's death. And that really motivated me to finish this.

In relation to my first motivation, I'm really intrigued by the revelations in psychological thrillers. Usually there's tension and a thrilling surprise once things were revealed. However, Girl in Snow majorly fails in this department for me. Instead of going into that heightened tension, the revelation was just so plain and anticlimactic. It was a real let down. I was like: that's it?

OVERALL, Girl in Snow is a mystery thriller that tried to ride the thriller-hype but failed to stay on board. It has an interesting premise and nice story-telling. The multiple POV is certainly a great mystery thriller drive but the execution of the story itself just didn't work out well for me. I would still be interested to give Danya Kukafka another go though since this is her debut novel.

I read this book in exchange for an honest review.

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