Girl in Snow by Danya Kukafka Review

WARNING: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS BELOW

“Nostalgia is my favorite emotion. It’s like, you think you know how to deal with the passage of time, but nostalgia will prove you wrong. You’ll press your fact into an old sweat shirt, or you’ll look at a familiar shade of paint on a front door, and you’ll be reminded of all the time that got away from you.”- Girl in Snow, Danya Kukafka

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.

It's no secret that I haven't been impressed with my "most anticipated" releases this year. From the disappointing The Roses of May to the laughably bad Violet Grenade to the even more disappointing The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, I haven't been having much luck with the books I was actually planning on reading this year. And yet it's ironic that the one I've probably liked the most- this one- is the one that, as much as I wanted to read, I was preparing myself for disappointment. The reviews were all three stars give or take a half a star. And, ironically, perhaps preparing myself for disappointment is exactly what I needed to do the whole time, because I found myself pleasantly surprised by the book, much the same way I found myself pleasantly surprised by Night Film despite finding that novel under less than flattering means.

First the good, because there is a lot of it in this novel. Kukafka is a very good writer and I genuinely am excited to see where she goes next, because with a little more practice her writing can shine in a very Cormac McCarthy way. Her prose here reminded me of his prose in The Road, though I do prefer the writing in The Road. She was a little more verbose, and I had a hard time getting behind some of her characters' thoughts, feelings, and observations, which for me sometimes bordered on over the top and seemed unrealistic. However, I admire her restraint when it comes to things like dialogue; for the most part her characters spoke realistically and any obnoxious John Greenish monologues were appropriately absent. It was realistic that these deep, inner thoughts were confined to the mind and not spoken out loud except by accident, though I admit I would probably hate any of Jade's screenplays if they actually became movies. 

The characters were gripping too, and each were wholly unlike any other character I've encountered before. Well, that's an exaggeration, and now that I think about it I don't think it was necessarily the characters themselves that were original, I think it was the way that they were written. I'm not going to call them realistic, but you know what, I think I would end up disappointed if these characters were realistic. The book had a kind of mystical quality surrounding it that I really enjoyed, an almost unintentional one and I think a lot of that had to do with her lovely writing. It was an effortless, almost accidental mystical aura, one that many books (Pointe, Claw comes to mind) try and fail at. And, despite the outside world being mentioned, the town kind of had this snow globe-like feel to it, that I really enjoyed. Of all the characters, I think I liked Cameron the best, but frankly I don't really think I liked anyone all that much. They were fascinating to read about, though, and I had a hard time putting this book down at points.

All that said, I did think this book lost the plot for a while there and kind of got off track as a result. When that happened the beautiful prose got tiresome, and I wished that the editor had told her so. And while I did like how Lucinda always kind of had this flat presence to her, it was great commentary about how you never really know anyone, I wished she had more of a major presence in the novel. I got the feeling after awhile that it was somebody else's idea to have her write a thriller and she wasn't really too happy about it, but went along with it because character studies aren't really a big thing anymore. Eh, I don't know. All I do know is, if you were looking for a Paula Hawkins or Gillian Flynn thriller, this ain't it. I suppose that this type of mystery is more of a Tana French-type, though take away the police procedural elements. Which is disappointing and bears repeating- even though a cop is a main character, do not expect a police procedural.

The real reason, however, for the 7-7.5 is because of the ending. The ending was not very good, to say the least. Before, I was all set to give it an 8 or even 8.5. I said before I am an ending person, and this was an insult, to say the least. An out of left field character coming in last minute to put the blame off any of the other characters? No real motive for the murder except an affair? Come on now, that's cheap. Not to mention I really grew to hate Russ' story arc. While I was happy he kicked his cheating bitch of a wife out (I have no sympathy for cheaters, and I really grew to hate Ines by the end of the book) I wish he hadn't quit the police department and the whole "villainous police" thing felt tacked on. I didn't really understand why everyone hated Lieutenant Gonzales or Detective Williams when neither of them seemed like they did anything wrong, and there wasn't really a reason why he quit, he just kind of did it and acted like we were supposed to cheer him on. And I hated Ivan, even though I was supposed to like him. While normally I do believe in the moral greyness of people, I don't reject the idea of evil. Because frankly, there's a lot of evil in this world, mostly consisting of people who do anything to children. That's not me being a blind, bigoted puppet, that's just the only word I can think of to describe people like Adam Lanza or the person that bombed the Ariana Grande concert or the guys that did the Cheshire home invasion (the one time I've ever been mad at the overturning of a death sentence and the thing that solidified my intense dislike of the ACLU- their comments after the overturn made me think rather unChristian thoughts). It got to the point where at the end of the book I wished Ivan actually did it. 

That wasn't the only way the ending was disappointing. The characters kind of complained about their lives for most of the book and then suddenly everything was fixed? I also noticed that every time Kukafka doesn't know what to do with a character she makes him into a villain for no apparent reason. Like Cameron's friend Ronny. Or the killer. It didn't strike me as the best way of telling a story.

But as a whole, I did enjoy the book and wished I could give it a higher score than I did. Unfortunately, too often in the final quarter, mystery novels blow up for me, and this one is no exception. However, I am happy to keep it at a relatively high score, and am excited for her sophomore novel. I will be definitely watching Danya Kukafka, hoping that her books go someplace I like. 

7-7.5 out of 10