Title: The Drowning Kind
Author: Jennifer McMahon
Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press
Release Date: April 6, 2021
Pages: 285
Book Source: Netgalley
“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 xtheir 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.
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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.” – Amazon
Kim’s Review
**
Jennifer McMahon is my go to author if I want things a little bit creepy with a touch of the bizarre that will leave me questioning if I or the characters are going a little bit (or a lot) crazy. And her latest book. The Drowning Kind, did not disappoint.
McMahon masterfully weaves two story lines, with one taking place during the 1920–30s and the other closer to present day. Some books have a choppy feel when the author decides to use this format, but in The Drowning Kind it was smooth. For me, the most enjoyable aspect of this story was trying to decide if it’s a ghost story, sabotage, or various characters are going slowly crazy. Just when I thought it was going in one direction, McMahon would take a hard left into something else.
I do wish some of the characters were a bit more developed. Since the book is 285 pages, I can’t decide if McMahon could have delved more into the characters, or if that would have taken away from the suspense of the book. With 75 or so extra pages added to the story there is a lot of room for good things to happen… or it may have dragged on too long. With what McMahon does write in regards to the characters, we get a peek into a family with mental illness, regret, and lots of secrets.
If you’re a fan of McMahon I think you’ll enjoy The Drowning Kind, and if you’ve never read her before but enjoy suspense or ghost stories, I would recommend it.
**
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