Book: The Drowning Kind
Author: Jennifer McMahon
Pages: 336
Publisher: Scout Press
Read On: Kindle
How Long it Took Me To Read: 3 days
Plot Summary: Be careful what you wish for.
When 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 modern-day ghost story that illuminates how the past, though sometimes forgotten, is never really far behind us,
Things I Liked:
1. I have read two other books by the author and both of those books were a perfect mix of horror and thrills and an underlying mystery. Just the kind of thing that makes my heart sing! This one was more of the same, albeit a bit more horror than thriller. It was just what I had expected and I was happy with vibe of this book.
2. I love stories about sisters, maybe because my sister is such an important part of my life. Stories about estranged sisters is even better. Because there is so much to unpack and unravel and understand. This book had two very different sisters and the issues that plague them, were some of my favourite parts of the book. To see them in their childhood and close to being virtually cut-off from each other and adults made for interesting reading.
3. Our main protagonist, Jax, is a social worker. A psychologist, like me, so reading about her work and how she goes about looking at things and situations. So much of how she thinks and analyzes some truly unsettling things reminded me of me, which is always a good thing be!
4. This book is told in two time periods. 1929 and 2019. We meet Jax in the present (ish) day and we meet Ethel back in 1929. Both these time periods and both these women had be equally interested. I wanted to spend time with each of them and see how they were connected (apart from the house) and see how their stories and timelines came together. I was especially worried about Ethel and wondered what became of her and her little family.
5. Lexie, we don't actively spend a lot of time with Lexie but what little we learn of her through book made me wish we saw more of the enigmatic sister. Lexie is the golden child, everyone's favourite and the center of attention, but there was more to her, which we learn through the people she was close to in her little town. It made me see her in the new light and wish we could see more of her last year in her dream house. Lexie also suffers from mental illness and her struggles and her manic episodes are shown so authentically here that it made my shrink heart very happy.
6. This is a horror novel. There is a little bit of a mystery but this one is basically a ghost story but some seriously creepy vibes. There were parts that legit scared me and it didn't help that I was mostly reading this in the dark on my Kindle. If you like spooky books, pick this one up.
7. There ending took me by surprise. That's all I am going to tell you and not spoil this book for you. I didn't see the ending coming. I actually went back and re-read it just to be sure.
8. I read something like this after ages. A book that I absolutely could not put down. I was annoyed whenever I had to step away and do real life things and I couldn't wait to tune out the world and spent time in this house and it's strange little wish granting spring.
Things I Didn't Like:
Overall, this was a good I enjoyed, very, very much. There were a few things that did irk me.
1. There are a lot of instances in both our timelines where a character has something major and important to say, something that could help our protagonists but for no good reasons, said characters just mumble excuses and don't say anything. This happens a few times. And it's a frustrating things that I hate in mystery books.
2. Lexie does a lot of research and Jax keeps saying she'll get to it and organise it and read through it but it just never happens. She could have so many answers had she only shut herself in her room and read.
3. What I found quite frustrating by the end was how so many people, especially Lexie and Jax's grandmother, knew exactly what the house and spring were capable of, yet she chose to keep mum and let her children and grand-child deal with some seriously messed up things. Why would an elder of the family do something so potentially dangerous? Felt very unrealistic to me!
4. Also we are not given a clear answer to what exactly is the deal with the spring and whatever supernatural entity/creature that lives and thrives there. This isn't a big grouse of mine, we were left to made deductions of our own but I would have liked a proper explanation.
Rating: 4/5
I loved this deeply atmospheric and creepy book and I think it's a perfect book to curl up over the weekend with.
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