Book Review: THE DROWNING KIND by Jennifer McMahon

 

Title: THE DROWNING KIND

Author:  Jennifer McMahon

Publisher:  Gallery / Scout Press

Read: January 2021

Expected publication: April 2021

My Rating: 🤩 all the stars!

 

Book Description:

 

 

When social worker Jax receives nine missed calls from her older sister, Lexie, she assumes that it’s just another one of her sister’s episodes. Manic and increasingly out of touch with reality, Lexie has pushed Jax away for over a year. But the next day, Lexie is dead: drowned in the pool at their grandmother’s estate. When Jax arrives at the house to go through her sister’s things, she learns that Lexie was researching the history of their family and the property. And as she dives deeper into the research herself, she discovers that the land holds a far darker past than she could have ever imagined.

In 1929, thirty-seven-year-old newlywed Ethel Monroe hopes desperately for a baby. In an effort to distract her, her husband whisks her away on a trip to Vermont, where a natural spring is showcased by the newest and most modern hotel in the Northeast. Once there, Ethel learns that the water is rumored to grant wishes, never suspecting that the spring takes in equal measure to what it gives.

My musings:

 

It surely reflects a lack of restraint when it comes to spooky books that I devoured THE DROWNING KIND as soon as I received it, even though it’s not being released until April. But I hope that I can redeem myself by singing its praises from the rooftops, because after keeping me up all night frantically reading and burrowing deeper into my doona as the story progressed, it was 5 stars all the way for me! Trigger warning: if you like swimming in dark rivers or lakes, enter at your own risk, because the thing that you thought was a bit of pond weed tickling your leg? It may just send you running for the hills, never to go near the water again!

 

THE DROWNING KIND revolves around water – but not any water. The underground springs near the small town of Brandenburg in Vermont have long been known for their healing power. All the locals know that this gift does not come without a price, and they choose to stay well away from them, but that does not stop desperate people flocking to the water, hoping for a cure or having their wishes granted. In 1929, Ethel, still childless at 37 and desperate for a baby, whispers her wish to the dark waters of the Brandenburg spring.

 

Fast forward to the present. Sisters Lexie and Jax have grown up swimming in their grandparents’ natural pool, dug into the mountainside and fed by a natural spring. They are not afraid of the dark, murky waters, even though one of their aunts drowned in this very pool as a young child. On some of their secret midnight trips, the girls even swear that they could see the shape of a little girl staring at them from the water. Now estranged in their adulthood, Jax has not seen Lexie for over a year, wary of her manic episodes related to her bipolar disorder. She is therefore both shocked and heartbroken when she finds out that Lexie has drowned in the pool during one of her midnight swims. When she travels to the house to sort out her sister’s affairs, she discovers that Lexie had recently become increasingly afraid of the pool. But was it really just a manifestation of her illness, or is there something more sinister afoot?

 

Squish, squish, tap tap, wet footsteps on the pavers – was that a glimpse of something alien in the water? Goodness me, this book was soooo creepy! The constant sense of foreboding and dread kept me turning the pages until late into the night, and all my childhood nightmares about the bodies of drowned victims floating up from the bottom of the lake we used to swim in as kids suddenly seemed all too real.

 

I loved everything about this book. Whilst the timeline in the 1930’s gradually revealed some of the pool’s dark history, Jax in the present is racing against time to solve the puzzle for herself. As the reader, I was trapped in the middle like a deer in the headlights.   

 

 

Summary:

 

In summary, if you love Gothic, spooky stories with supernatural elements that will make your hair stand on end, then look no further. Told in two separate timelines that were equally creepy, the book kept me up all night and then stunned me with a finale so unexpected and shocking that I am still trying to get my head around it. With a constant sense of foreboding, the book gave me the chills the whole time! Very highly recommended.

 

 

 

 

Thank you to Edelweiss and Gallery / Scout Press for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.