Title: The Drowning Kind

Author: Jennifer McMahon

Publisher: Gallery Press 2021

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 285

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

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.

I’m not usually one for thrillers, but the premise of this one intrigued me. Plus, two of the hosts of my favorite bookish podcast, Currently Reading, really enjoyed this one. I had to pick it up and I ended up loving it! I get very annoyed when books are labeled as supernatural thrillers but then don’t have any actual ghosts. This one has actual ghosts and it made my heart happy. Right away we are plunged into the very creepy setting og Sparrow Crest and the springs right off the patio. You just know that something tragic is going to happen (and has happened many times before) and it does. From there, we follow Jax as she attempt to unravel the mystery and deal with her own future. We also get the story of how Ethel came to know of the springs and how it affected her life in the late 1920s. I actually liked both story lines, probably because I liked both women. I wanted to see how they were connected and what actually lived at the bottom of the springs. The book did not disappoint. This reminded me of The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James. I got the same kind of creepy creepy vibes. I might have to pick up McMahon’s previous book soon.

Next up on the TBR pile: