HAPPINESS FALLS by Angie Kim is my first book by the author. I recently bought MIRACLE CREEK, and I am so excited to read it after knowing the writing style of Kim. Giving a synopsis of this story is so hard without getting into spoiler territory. Mia, our primary point of view, has a logical explanation for everything… in retrospect. Everything happens routinely in this Korean-American family. A boy with special needs and his father are on a routine walk in the park. It isn’t every day that the kid arrives alone in a fit of rage (or is it really?), and Mia does not blow it out of proportion. She logically explains the situation to herself, overlooks the obvious signs, and thus starts a mystery of a missing father and the repercussions of this incident on the tight-knit family. “We did not call the police right away” is how Mia recalls the story, already devastated. She slowly peels the onion, asking us to join this rollercoaster of grief, loss, despair, and their impact on happiness.

Eugene is not only the sole witness before the patriarch Adam Parson disappears but also has a clinical condition called Angelman Syndrome, which makes it difficult for him to communicate through typical methods. Herein lies the primary conflict of the story. The inability of Eugene to speak explores various questions of the mode of communication and language in general. Angie gets into the science of the medical condition and comments about society’s outlook on the so-called “non-verbal” community. The book’s philosophy lies in finding an individual’s language (or the “love language”) and how they express their emotions. Mia has music, and her twin brother John has community service. They later find out their father was creating a theory on how happiness can be calibrated as per the individual’s personality. Richly framed anecdotes full of emotions portray this family and what drives them as a unit. The mystery of Adam’s disappearance is intertwined with the emotional and scientific angle.

HAPPINESS FALLS was a real page-turner. Every chapter contributes to further every facet of the story and ends with a cliffhanger, making it impossible to put the book down. I enjoyed the book immensely. If you like stories of dysfunctional families finding their happy place and comfort in each other, you will love it as much as I do!