Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - The Drowning Woman

After my last few books had 70+ page chapters, it was nice reading something with short chapters again. I finished this book in 2-3 days.

I enjoyed the plot, most of the characters, and (again) the short chapters.

I will say, I had my suspicions from the start that

Jesse was a bad man. Never trust a love bomber, lol.

and I was right. Predicting that didn’t make it any less enjoyable for me, though. If the author didn’t want readers to make the hypothesis on their own, that could’ve been remedied by slower pacing. But I like fast-paced books and have been desperately in need of one. So I think it’s good as is.

I liked that there were twists without it being confusing or hard to follow. That’s a trap a lot of thrillers fall into, and it ends up docking stars for me when they do that.

The main critique I have is that I felt like one of the main characters pieced some things together too easily almost. You almost have to suspend disbelief about that in order to enjoy it. But I do feel like the ending kind of packages that up more nicely.

I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoys thrillers!

Note: heavy trigger warnings for everything I tagged. Especially on abuse and DV.

Content Warnings

kaywho's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

Couple of the twists caught me off guard. Really liked the ending, although was definitely different than how I thought it was going to play out. Kept me on my toes for sure. I enjoyed it!

Content Warnings

astoriareader's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

SYNOPSIS

Lee is currently unhoused & living out of her car. She’s waiting tables at a shady diner in Seattle, and she’s living in her car.
Lee decides to start sleeping in car in a secluded park with a beach area in an upper class neighborhood. One morning, she wakes up when she hears a woman drowning, and she saves the woman. The drowning woman, Hazel, and Lee become friends.
Hazel confides in Lee that she’s in an abusive marriage, and basically, she came out there to end her life that morning. As their new friendship begins, Hazel asks Lee if she will consider helping Hazel disappear & start her new life.

MY THOUGHTS

Harding is a talented writer.
Short chapters.
Structured in different parts. We begin with Lee’s POV, then shift to Hazel’s POV.
I thought the first half was a much stronger than the second half, and I really loved Lee’s part. It started off very strong.
Some plot holes and inconsistencies that don’t make sense. Also, the story generally requires suspension of disbelief.
This one had a lot of potential, and I was let down in some ways. It was an awesome beginning, a blah middle, and an okay ending.

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫3.5 stars. Really awesome beginning. Execution wasn’t really up to par for middle & ending. Still enjoyed the read.

Content Warnings