Drowning Kind

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’s mental state 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 returns to the house to go through her sister’s things, she learns that Lexie was researching their family’s and the house’s history. And as Jax dives deeper into that research, she discovers that the land holds a far darker history 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 spring 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.

The Globe and Mail

“Delightfully creepy and certain to keep you up past your bedtime, deliciously terrified of turning off the light.”

JANELLE BROWN, New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Things and Watch Me Disappear

“Satisfying on every level: marvelously chilling, elegantly written, a true page-turner. I couldn’t wait to get to the end; I also wanted to savor every page. Jennifer McMahon is a master of mood.”

WENDY WEBB, #1 bestselling author of Daughters of the Lake

“McMahon weaves a blisteringly suspenseful tale that will keep you up at night wondering what is real, what is otherworldly, and most of all, what in the name of all that’s unholy is in the water.”

ERICA FERENCIK, author of The River at Night and Into the Jungle

“Careful reading McMahon’s latest novel, The Drowning Kind, after dark. This book will suck you down to its bottomless black depths. Fast-paced and creepy, it bubbles over with revelations, twists, and turns, not to mention wet footsteps of the dead leading right to your door. You are warned!”

JESS KIDD, award-winning author of Things in Jars

“To read The Drowning Kind is a haunting experience. This novel strikes a perfect balance between past and present, concealing and revealing, language to linger over, and a compulsive tale unfolding. At the core, vividly rendered relationships and a central question: can the past ever really stay buried?”

ALMA KATSU, author of The Deep

“Past and present, the real and the imaginary intertwine like ribbons on a maypole in this beautifully haunting story of familial love and loss. For those who crave magic in their everyday lives, Jennifer McMahon will make you believe.”

a fast-paced tug of war between suspicion and the supernatural.”

“Lush, dark, and relentlessly eerie

About the Author

Jennifer McMahon is the author of twelve novels, including the New York Times bestsellers The Children on the Hill, Promise Not to Tell, and The Winter People. She lives in Florida with her partner, Drea. Visit her at Jennifer-McMahon.com or connect with her on Instagram @JenniferMcMahonWrites and Facebook @JenniferMcMahonBooks.

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