Book Review: THE DROWNING KIND by Jennifer McMahon

THE DROWNING KIND by Jennifer McMahon

Gallery/Scout Press; 4/6/21

CBTB Rating: 4.5/5

The Verdict: Haunting supernatural suspense 

What do you get when you cross a dual-timeline mystery with a tale of supernatural suspense? Enter Jennifer McMahon’s haunting, immersive new novel THE DROWNING KIND, available today, April 6. In this chilling supernatural mystery, it’s not any old house that’s haunted—it’s a body of water, specifically, a pool fed by a natural spring that is said to have special powers. Jax and her sister Lexie grew up swimming in this pool most summers, their grandmother owning the land upon which the pool is set. Fast forward a couple decades, and one day, Jax gets an unthinkable call: her sister Lexie has been found dead, drowned in the very same pool that she loved so much as a child. As Jax returns to her grandmother’s house, she is confronted by the pool’s dark history. Lexie wasn’t the pool’s first victim, and she might not be its last. THE DROWNING KIND weaves an atmospheric and sinister tale of supernatural suspense and heartbreaking family tragedy. This immersive and often quite poignant novel balance supernatural scares with authentic human drama and tragedy that keeps the story grounded in reality, even while exploring forces that are anything but. Expertly balanced dual timelines enhance the chill factor in this book, ratcheting up the tension bit by bit until the full horrors of the pool are revealed by the book’s conclusion. THE DROWNING KIND may be a slow-burning story, but it’s a slow-burn that will captivate fans of spine-tingling supernatural suspense. THE DROWNING KIND was the first book I’ve ever read by bestselling author Jennifer McMahon, and it certainly won’t be my last. 

Plot Details: 

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.

THE DROWNING KIND begins with an all-too-earthly tragedy: a woman has been found dead, drowned in the pool at her grandmother’s estate. Jax and her sister Lexie have had a strained relationship for years, ever since Lexie inherited the Sparrow Crest estate from the girls’ grandmother. Lexie has long been grappling with mental illness, and Jax has reached her breaking point; in an effort to preserve her own wellbeing, Jax has distanced herself from Lexie. So when Jax misses numerous phone calls from Lexie one night, she is quick to assume it’s just another instance of her sister’s mania, and ignores the calls. But Jax couldn’t have been more wrong. Unbeknownst to her, Lexie was thriving in her new life at her grandmother’s estate, and her calls to Jax were driven by an urgent need to share with her sister the dark secrets she has begun to uncover about the spring-fed pool on the estate’s property. Not long after she placed those calls to Jax, Lexie tragically passes away. Heartbroken and guilt-ridden for ignoring the last phone calls her sister would ever make in life, Jax travels to Sparrow Crest to say a final farewell to her sister. But as Jax settles in and begins digging through her sister’s belongings, she discovers something strange: at the time of her death, Lexie appeared to be conducting an informal investigation into the pool on her grandmother’s property, the very same place where she ultimately lost her life. Why was Lexie so obsessed with the pool? And is it just a tragic coincidence that she ultimately died there, or is something more sinister going on? Meanwhile, in a timeline set in the 1920’s, a woman named Ethel travels to these very same waters, and makes a desperate plea to the pool to grant her wish for the one thing she has always wanted: a baby. But as Ethel in the 1920’s and Jax in the present day are about to find out, this water can give, yes, but it never gives freely—and the price it demands is much too high.

THE DROWNING KIND is a story that bridges this world and the next, seamlessly weaving together grounded-in-reality details with supernatural thrills. The effect of this expert balance is sinister and scary; the author keeps this story just realistic enough that readers will be easily swayed into believing that the supernatural legend at its core might just be real. Central to the clever ruse that author Jennifer McMahon pulls off here are the book’s compelling characters. Jax, a social worker, is our story’s protagonist; the specter of her sister, Lexie, looms large over this story as well. In THE DROWNING KIND, McMahon delves into the complicated bond of sisterhood that exists between Jax and Lexie. When we meet her, Jax has distanced herself from the sister she was so close with in childhood. Out of self-preservation, she has erected strict boundaries in her relationship with her sister in the present; unable to cope with her sister’s mental illness while still protecting her own wellbeing, Jax has largely turned away from Lexie. So when Jax receives a string of phone calls from Lexie, she assumes the worst: that her sister’s mental health has declined, and that she is in a manic state. Tragically, Jax quickly learns the truth: her sister, as it turns out, was more lucid than she had been in years, and was desperate to get in touch with Jax to share terrifying information with her about the estate that Lexie inherited from their grandmother. Jax is burdened by grief and guilt over her mistreatment of Lexie, and over this lost opportunity to reconnect with her sister, and she seems in many ways determined to punish herself as the story progresses. Jax’s palpable guilt over her mistreatment of her sister is an impactful undercurrent running throughout this story; though Lexie may have passed away at the start of this book, her presence and the bond between her and Jax is very much alive throughout the novel, keeping this story grounded in authentic, realistic emotion. Beyond the book’s human characters, Jennifer McMahon also expertly develops her book’s setting as a sort of character unto itself. If Sparrow Crest is its own kind of protagonist here, the pool on the estate’s property is its beating heart. Fed from a natural spring, filled with frigid, pitch-black water, and rumored to be bottomless, this pool is anything but inviting. Growing up, Lexie always swore that there was a little girl living in the pool, just waiting for the chance to drag an unsuspecting swimmer into its bottomless depths. Jax never believed Lexie’s stories… that is, until she picks up where her sister’s investigation left off.

Jax’s present-day investigation into the mysteries of this body of water are supplemented by superb flashback chapters, in which Jennifer McMahon invites her readers to explore the early days of the pool’s history, as told through the eyes of Ethel Monroe. Ethel, a newlywed in 1920’s New England, has almost everything she could have ever dreamed of. There’s just one thing missing in her life: a child. When Ethel finds herself unable to conceive, she is devastated, and blames herself. Her loving husband, in an effort to take his wife’s mind off of her worries, arranges a relaxing weekend for the two at the Brandenburg Springs Resort. When Ethel learns that the resort is home to a natural spring said to have healing powers, she hesitantly goes to the water and asks for the baby she has so longed for. Little does Ethel know that the spring can take just as much as it can give. Following Ethel’s journey during the months and years after she makes this fateful request, THE DROWNING KIND gives readers a firsthand glimpse into the dark side of the water’s wish-granting abilities in its “past” timeline. Though the past timeline is undoubtedly a secondary focus in this novel to Jax’s present-day story, it provides the book’s most impactful and memorable thrills; readers will be genuinely scared by the revelations that McMahon unfurls in this 1920’s timeline. THE DROWNING KIND is a slow-burning suspense story through and through, but McMahon knows exactly how and when to dole out little hints and suggestions of the horrors that are to come, particularly as she tells the tragic story of Ethel Monroe and her much-wished-for child. THE DROWNING KIND is also a story in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts: as past and present elegantly converge, readers will be chilled to the bone by the revelations that Jennifer McMahon has in store for them.

Dripping with atmosphere and brought to life by memorable characters, THE DROWNING KIND casts a sinister and hypnotic spell. This slow-burning suspense story will be best suited to readers who don’t need page-by-page action to keep them hooked; much of this book centers around world- and atmosphere-building, and will thoroughly satisfy those who prefer stories driven by subtly-building tension rather than all-out thrills. Topped off by a haunting and heartbreaking conclusion, THE DROWNING KIND unspools a captivating tale of grief, loss, and the unbreakable bond between two sisters.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. All opinions my own. 

Book Details:

Publisher : Gallery/Scout Press (April 6, 2021)

Language : English

Hardcover : 336 pages

ISBN-10 : 198215392X

ISBN-13 : 978-1982153922

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