The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon
I received a complimentary ARC from the publisher, courtesy of NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
BOOK 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.
BOOK DETAILS
The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon
Fiction / Noir / Mystery & Thrillers
Published April 6th, 2021 by Gallery/Scout Press
Hardcover, 319 pages
My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon is a page-turning read filled with hauntingly beautiful prose that chills to the bone.
One of my favorite aspects of McMahon’s books is how she combines alternate timelines, each featuring a compelling protagonist and a mystery surrounding them both.
The setting here is in Vermont, current and 1929 timeline, on an estate rumored to have a very magical pool that grants wishes.
Fed from natural spring, some say the waters are healing, others say they are haunted, even cursed. Others warn against casting wishes in fear of what the waters will take in return.
McMahon writes with touches of horror and supernatural. Leaving long shadows and watery deaths in her wake as she builds a consuming mystery of just how Jax and Ehtel’s lives will be influenced by these mysterious waters.
I could feel the cold, wet chill and smell the sulfurous brine while reading The Drowning Kind. In fact, it may change how you feel about swimming at night, at least for a while. Be careful what you wish for.
