Author: Jennifer McMahon
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press
Publication Date: Gallery/Scout Press
Book Description: Be careful what you wish for.
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.
A haunting, twisty, and compulsively readable thrill ride from the author who Chris Bohjalian has dubbed the “literary descendant of Shirley Jackson,” The Drowning Kind is a modern-day ghost story that illuminates how the past, though sometimes forgotten, is never really far behind us.
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Review: A new thriller by Jennifer McMahon that is unique and borderline horror at times. Taking place over 2 timelines, Jax in the present the great granddaughter of the Ethel and Will who share this story from the previous timeline.
Jax’s sister Lexie is manic depressive, and after an episode we find out Lexie has drowned. Jax goes home to her family house that is built on a natural spring and starts to dredge through the past. Multiple drownings have occurred here and history is less than stellar.
Back in 1929 you meet Ethel and Will. There is nothing more they want than to have a child. They decide to take a vacation where that same natural spring is. Ethel hears that if you make a wish things will come true, but she learns that the spring will also take something away.
This is a bewitching story at times that keeps you coming back. The spring is just as much a character as Jax, Ethel and Will. The story culminates into a surprise ending that you will not have seen coming. If you like this genre, give this one a try. This will definitely have you on the edge of you seat at times.
Thank you NetGalley and Gallery/Scout Press for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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