THE DROWNING KIND

5 stars out of 5

Mysterious and spooky, altogether ookey, I say with a nod to "The Addams Family" theme song lyrics. And to make matters even more creepy, I was so close to the end that I took it upstairs to finish before I turned out the bedroom light to go to sleep. Do not - repeat, do not - do that. Even if you're got just one chapter to go, finish it in daylight hours.

Let me warn out the outset, though, that the story leans far more toward Stephen King's version of creepy than your average psychological thriller. So if you can't get into the concept of a man growing "Thinner" day by day because he consumed a piece of cherry pie, this book probably isn't for you. I, however (huge Stephen King fan that I am) have no problem with otherworldly things that go bump in the night.

In this case, they tend to go bump in the deep, dark pool. It's more of a health spa, used for decades by people looking for miracle cures even though it's on private property. At one time, an upscale hotel drew guests from far and wide; now, it's owned by a young woman named Lexie, who inherited the property and the house that was built on it from her grandmother. Clearly, Lexie has mental issues - thought to be manic by her family including her semi-estranged sister Jackie (Jax).

But then, something awful happens; Lexie turns up dead, apparently having drowned in the now-gate-protected pool. When Jax gets the call, she not only feels great sadness, but guilt because she hasn't responded to a flurry of calls from her sister in recent days. When she returns to the Brandenburg, New Hampshire, property, she soon learns that Lexie had been frantically conducting research on the history of the property and the pool - which in fact has been the scene of many other deaths since the late 1920s.

Through flashback chapters, readers learn about Ethel Monroe, a newlywed back in 1929 who wants a baby and learns about the pool's healing powers which include, rumor has it, the granting of wishes. The problem? What the pool giveth, it taketh away; it's tit for tat, and no wish comes true without a corresponding loss of some kind. Certainly everyone who has begged the pool for help over the years has paid a price, from Ethel back then to Jax and Lexie now. The ending is one I expected - nothing else, I think, would have worked - but that doesn't mean it's a welcome one (especially late at night when you want to fall asleep after closing the book).

The story does get a little repetitive, mostly as accounts of what happened or is happening are shared among the various characters. But that's really not a criticism; it's a riveting tale from beginning to end. The bottom line? Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for providing me with a pre-release copy to read and review.

The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon (Gallery/Scout Press, April 2021); 285 pp.