From the New York Times bestselling author of The Invited and The Winter People comes a chilling new novel about a woman who returns to the old family home after her sister mysteriously drowns in its swimming pool...but she's not the pool's only victim. 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. ...
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From the New York Times bestselling author of The Invited and The Winter People comes a chilling new novel about a woman who returns to the old family home after her sister mysteriously drowns in its swimming pool...but she's not the pool's only victim. 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.
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Add this copy of The Drowning Kind to cart. $61.99, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2021 by Simon & Schuster Audio and Bla.
Add this copy of The Drowning Kind to cart. $95.32, new condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2021 by Simon & Schuster Audio and Bla.
The Drowning Kind is a ghosty story that reads way more like an eloquent but slow-paced mystery novel than a horror. The scary/creepy scenes were few and far between the majority of the story-driven portions of the story. So much of this book is explanation, and vague allusion to creepy things rather than the actual creepy things happening. When these dready instances did happen, I consistently felt as if they lacked enough subtlety to really build any suspense. Not to mention, the majority of these were seeing people in the pool/near the pool. Another oft-used one is Lexie being creepy in Jax's head, but she talks to Jax through so much of the novel, it never has much of an impact anyway.
As far as a mystery goes as well, it was fun seeing Jax connect all the dots, but the novel itself was extremely straightforward. I felt like it wanted to make me think, but it just didn't that much. The ending was fairly predictable without much of a twist or something to make it really hit you.
Overall, this one was a solid 2.5 from me, but it kept me interested for a good bit of the book, so I'll round up. I felt it was an ok-ish story that would be better labelled under something like mystery thriller rather than horror.
carvanz
Apr 6, 2021
Dark and twisty
There's just something about deep, dark water that always sends a shiver of fear down my spine. You'd think I'd completely avoid it. And I do. Unless it's the promise of a horror story. It's been a long while since I've picked up a book in this genre but after a lot of lighter romance books, I was ready for something twisty and dark. The Drowning Kind was the perfect choice.
Jackie was an eye opening character for me. Some of the emotions she felt towards her family were unflattering of her character, and yet I empathize with her and could totally understand why she would feel the way she did. When she felt the shame of her emotions, I too felt the shame in understanding her. It was a twisted connection I've not experienced with a heroine before. And that is where I truly began to fall into the story.
The pacing of this story was perfect for the plot as the tension slowly builds and with each step of the way the fear begins to escalate until I found myself hesitant to turn the page. If ever a book made me feel as if I were watching it on a movie screen, this was it. I truly expected something to jump out at me at various points throughout the story.
I read this through in one morning and was glad I hadn't started it the night before. Not because I would have stayed up reading it all night, which I would have done. But because I wouldn't have been able to turn any lights off and I definitely wouldn't have gotten any sleep afterwards. If you like non gory horror, come on in...the water's fine.
Elizabeth
Apr 2, 2021
So creepy!
This was so creepy! I loved The Invited so I knew when I saw this one I immediately needed to request it on Netgalley. There�s something sinister granting wishes in the water, and it was so unsettling. I loved the dual timelines and thought they added something very interesting as they came together. Definitely an author I�ll look for more from in the future!
