The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon

Jennifer McMahon, author of The Invited, has once again created a ghoulish, eerie story about two families whose lives, although generations apart, come together and intertwine to tell a tale of what people will do to save the ones they love while knowing there may be terrible consequences.

In the present, Jax is a social worker who helps children. As a child, she herself wishes there was someone who could have saved her from the turmoil of her family. She has a sister, Lexie, whose mental illness basically ruled their lives as children. Lexie now lives alone in their late grandmother’s Vermont house, just one reason for Jaxs’ resentment of her sister because the house was left to Lexie, not both of them. As of late they have not been close, but when Lexie starts calling Jax and leaving manic messages, Jax thinks its just Lexie off her meds.

But unfortunately, Jax learns much too late that was not the case. Lexie is found dead, drowned in the swimming pool on the property. Now Jax must face the guilt of not having heeded the signs that Lexie was in terrible trouble. She must now go back to the house for Lexie’s memorial and to get Lexie’s personal belongings in order, a task she does not want as the memories of their lives together there were filled with chaos and even at times sinister.

After she settles back into the house, she discovers Lexie had actually been quite obsessed with the history of the property, especially the pool. Through the years there had been a series of drownings in the pool, including her grandmother’s young sister. Suddenly Jax begins to think she sees and hears her sister. She believes Lexie is trying to tell her something, but she cannot understand what. Is she too going crazy?

In 1929 Ethel Monroe, married to Doctor Will Monroe has been trying to get pregnant for over a year, but with no success. Ethel hears of a hotel in Vermont where there are natural springs which have been known to help people who are damaged in some way, heal. She hears stories of people who cannot walk, entering the springs and miraculously walking out on their own accord. She decides to vacation there with her husband, not telling him the real reason she wants to go. She wants to try and wish for a baby in the springs.

Amazingly she gets pregnant! But the baby, who is a girl, is born very ill and they are told will not live the year. Ethel believes the only way to cure her child is by taking her to what is left of the springs as there was a terrible fire and the hotel was burned to the ground. But the scientist in Will does not believe in this type of hocus pocus. Ethel cannot watch their child die. She decides to try on her own to get the water from the springs. But will this work?

And as the two plots collide what emerges are family secrets, startling revelations, ghostly visions and a completely unexpected ending which answers all the questions. The Drowning Kind is an exceptionally haunting read in more ways than one!

Thank you #NetGalley #Gallery/ScoutPress #JenniferMcMahon #TheDrowningKind for the advanced copy.