Book Review | The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon

Social worker Jax has been estranged from her older sister, Lexie, for over a year. Lexie has a history of manic and disruptive behaviour, and Jax is tired of being around her. But the next day she receives news that Lexie has drowned in the pool at their grandmother’s house. She discovers that Lexie had been researching their family and the house before her death.

In 1929, Ethel Monroe hopes desperately for a baby. Her husband takes her to a natural spring located in the most modern hotel in the Northeast. Ethel learns that the spring water can grant wishes, but she has no idea the price she will have to pay. Both Ethel and Jax are bound together in a mystery darker than they both could ever imagine.

She was like a fish, my sister. Sometimes, I was sure she had secret gills no one could see. But I was a creature of land, and my heart did funny things when I was in the water and not moving to stay warm. I lost all sense of time. 

The Drowning Kind is a haunting ghost story about family, legacy, and fate. It tells the history of a house with a pool that can reportedly heal illnesses, but with a price. The curse in this house is quite creepy but also emotional because of how much it affects the lives of the people who live there. In the past storyline, Ethel visits the house with a wish to get pregnant. Her desperation is sad to read. The book doesn’t sugarcoat the tough decisions she had to make to have a child and the consequences of those choices.

In the present storyline, Jax is shocked when she learns that her estranged sister, Lexie, has died at their family house. She starts investigating Lexie’s death and ends up tracing the origins of the house and that pool. I thought the book handles the family’s grief with care, and their relationships are understandably complex after everything they’ve been through. Jax and Lexie’s relationship is shown through flashbacks that are wrought with regret and what-ifs. It pushes Jax to dig into their history and bring their family’s secrets into the open.

The pacing of the book is unhurried but there’s a gloominess that flows into every line. Tragic things happen that lead to the characters trying to escape not just the past but their own mistakes. The ending is a gut-punch but fitting for the story. It’s a wistful conclusion that speaks to the everlasting power of sisterhood.

The Drowning Kind is a dark fairytale that tells you to be careful what you wish for.

CW: child death, mental illness

About the author: Jennifer McMahon

Photo by Velizar Ivanov