2023 Book Review #8:The Drowning Kind

 

This is a different kind of a book.

Part creepy/thriller, part family saga, part mystery.  

I've read a couple of other novels by this author and I enjoyed most of them. The one I loved is reviewed here.   This one that I have just finished,  in my opinion, wasn't nearly as good. 

STORY SUMMARY
 Jax (real name Jackie) is a social worker. She lives in Tacoma, Washington.....as far from the east coast and the state of Vermont as she can get.  She was born and raised in New England along with her older sister Lexie, her mother and father (Ted).   Aunt Diane still lives in the same town in Vermont where Sparrow Crest, their grandmother's estate is located.  The girls would spend the summer with their gram.  Their childhood friend Ryan, his mother Terri and grandmother Shirley (now in a nursing home) also still live in that small village.  The girls mom died some years ago. Ted lives with his girlfriend in Florida and it has been several years since Jax has seen her father.  Or Lexie.  This is by choice.

One day, Jax receives nine different phone calls and texts from her sister Lexie.  She assumes that Lexie is going through one of her manic episodes as she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when she was a teenager and sometimes chooses to not take her meds. 

The next day, Lexie is dead! She drowned in the pool at their grandmother's estate (Sparrow Crest).  Aunt Diane has no idea what happened....only that Lexie had been acting very oddly in the more recent months leading up to her death. When Jax arrives at the house to help plan the memorial service, she discovers chaos.  There are pages of journal notes and photos lying all over the house which needs a good cleaning.  Food and drinks are everywhere.  It is evident that Lexie was going through a real manic time before drowning. Diane and Jax discover that Lexie was researching the history of their family and the original building on that site, the Brandenburg Hotel and Springs. As Jax delves into what Lexie was researching, she discovers that the land and springs hold a far darker past than she could ever have imagined. 

In 1929, thirty-seven year old newlywed Ethel Monroe hopes to get pregnant and have a baby.  She is desparate to have a child and yet so far nothing has happened. Her husband Will, a doctor, takes her from their home in New Hampshire to the new Brandenburg Hotel and Springs in Vermont. Once they are settled there, Ethel learns that the spring waters is rumored to grant wishes and gives healing to people who have all kinds of physical issues. But....Ethel doesn't know that what the spring gives, the spring also takes away. 

What happens to Ethel and Will??  What happens to the grand hotel?

How does Sparrow Crest come about?  And what exactly did happen to Lexie in that pool??

MY THOUGHTS

This is a bit of a fairy tale type story but more on the creepy side of mystery. It's a real page turner and I stayed up many nights far beyond my bedtime to just "read one more chapter". 

The book deals with death, legends, and family drama. 

The relationship between sisters is explored. 

The book left me with an unsettled feeling however and the ending was not at all what I was expecting.  The character development is strong as is the description of the setting but the characters, for the most part, are just too unbelievably naive or stupid or something. They all believe this water holds magic! And it's just too "out there" for me to want to read more of this genre. 

There are also the themes of drowning, mental illness, alcoholism/addictions, and grief. The mother-daughter relationship is explored.  

It's kind of like a ghost story.

In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 14 and older. 

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 7.