sargasso_c's review against another edition
The book was a bit plodding and often fell into the trap of "telling" and not "showing." While the premise is interesting, I feel the author relied too much on creating an air of eeriness and suspense that went on too long and devolved into repetitive scenes that seemed to serve no other purpose than elongating the time between the beginning of the book and it's resolution.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm
Minor: Abandonment and Child death
batcaves's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Infertility, Mental illness, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Self harm, Suicide, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
antimony's review
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
didn’t like when jax went kind of crazy towards the end her conclusions were so nonsense (does it truly make more sense that shirley’s family hired an actor to scare lexie so they could get the house or that there are creepy things in the evil springs that drowned lexie) but i liked the creepy water and i liked the epilogue and i liked ethel’s timeline surprisingly a lot (even though her last chapter her age was so wrong i did the math. if she was 37 in 1929 there is no way she could be 95 in 1972)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Death, and Self harm
Moderate: Child death and Infertility
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
megelizabeth's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
5.0
I WILL NEVER RECOVER FROM THIS BOOK.
Jennifer McMahon is quickly becoming a favourite author for me. She crafts such incredible, layered narratives, deftly manages alternating timelines, and depicts family relationships, and particularly relationships between sisters, so, so well, and this book is no exception. It's wonderfully atmospheric, brilliantly plotted, and absolutely, completely, utterly devastating.
This was looking to be a 4.5* for me, as I would've liked to have had more clarity over Declan's role in the story, and also although I was loving it, I wasn't finding myself entirely surprised by anything that was happening. However, I definitely spoke too soon there, as the ending shocked me so, so much that I had to read it multiple times to make sure I'd understood it right, and part of me really, really wishes that I hadn't and that I could've stayed in blissful ignorance. My heart will never ever be the same after that ending, and yet I know I'll do it to myself again as I just cannot stay away from McMahon's incredible stories.
Jennifer McMahon is quickly becoming a favourite author for me. She crafts such incredible, layered narratives, deftly manages alternating timelines, and depicts family relationships, and particularly relationships between sisters, so, so well, and this book is no exception. It's wonderfully atmospheric, brilliantly plotted, and absolutely, completely, utterly devastating.
This was looking to be a 4.5* for me, as I would've liked to have had more clarity over Declan's role in the story, and also although I was loving it, I wasn't finding myself entirely surprised by anything that was happening. However, I definitely spoke too soon there, as the ending shocked me so, so much that I had to read it multiple times to make sure I'd understood it right, and part of me really, really wishes that I hadn't and that I could've stayed in blissful ignorance. My heart will never ever be the same after that ending, and yet I know I'll do it to myself again as I just cannot stay away from McMahon's incredible stories.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Child death, Self harm, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Death of parent, Alcohol, Infertility, and Alcoholism
Minor: Drug use and Injury/Injury detail
uhhlexiconic's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Detracting from the present by illuminating the past, the story barrels towards a rushed and unearned ending
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, and Suicide
Moderate: Infertility
readwithbells's review against another edition
5.0
This subverted all my expectations. It’s not really a horror but it IS a true gothic and man did it keep me engaged the whole time. Usually with dual perspectives between the past and the present, it doesn’t really work for me, but the way this one was told absolutely did. This is more a story of grief then anything else and is really sad, but I loved the way everything built upon each other. Absolutely my favourite version of “be careful what you wish for”.
Loved:
- that we knew there was an entity in the pool the whole time
- the way mental health and self harm was dealt with
- the complex familial relationships
- the ending!! Was exactly what I expected and yet done in a wonderfully surprising way
- the audiobook narrators: loved having 2 of them and they both absolutely smashed it, *highly* recommend the audio version
Loved:
- that we knew there was an entity in the pool the whole time
- the way mental health and self harm was dealt with
- the complex familial relationships
- the ending!! Was exactly what I expected and yet done in a wonderfully surprising way
- the audiobook narrators: loved having 2 of them and they both absolutely smashed it, *highly* recommend the audio version
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, and Child death
Moderate: Infertility and Alcoholism
Minor: Terminal illness
onemorepagecrew's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
3.0
The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon was a bit of a disappointment for me. I kept wanting it to surprise me or have a unique plot point, but unfortunately it never came. For my review I tried to imagine I was someone who hasn’t read endless thrillers and many generational ghost stories, and through that lens it’s a decent read.
Let’s back up though and talk plot. In it we meet Jax, who is returning to the house she grew up in after her sister has drowned in the pool. We also meet Ethel, who visited the family’s estate in the 1920s when it was a hotel. The story weaves between the two timelines and tells the story of the land and the families who have occupied it throughout time. There are multiple unreliable narratives / narrators and in my opinion, that was the backbone for the mystery.
I love a ghost story and I really love generational stories. I love thrillers and horror. This should have been a brilliant fit of a read for me, but it just lacked the punchiness and originality. Again, if you don’t consume paranormal thrillers often this would likely be a good read. It just wasn’t a great fit for me, personally.
Content warnings: Death, Drowning, Mental illness, Self-harm, Child death, Alcoholism, Infertility
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Infertility, Death, and Self harm
dalmavatai's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Not as good as The Children on the Hill imo, I found the character development in that one superior. Even so, this is a super solid horror read with a lot of suspense and a memorable sister relationship.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Grief, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Ableism, Child death, and Infertility
Minor: Suicide
chassard's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I really enjoyed this!! I don’t typically read things that have a supernatural element but now I’m going to start seeking more out. I picked this up at the airport when I had nothing else to read, so I had very little expectation for it, but I really loved it. I do think the ending could’ve had an extra twist or something to it, but overall it was a really fun read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, and Infertility
Moderate: Self harm and Alcoholism
bluejayreads's review
I can’t remember what exactly enticed me to pick this up. Maybe I found the idea of a wish-granting spring that takes in equal measure to what it gives intriguing. I think part of it is my library put it in a list of popular supernatural-based horror titles and I’m trying to expand my reading horizons. Regardless, I read it – or at least I tried to.
First, there’s Jax. While I was initially put off by her being a social worker who by her own admission isn’t self-reflective, I could definitely relate to being the ordinary child overshadowed by a charismatic sibling. In my case said sibling was younger and wasn’t naturally good at everything like Lexie, but being the forgotten good child while a charismatic Problem Child got all the attention is a situation I know all too well and created an instant connection with Jax.
I didn’t have that same connection with Ethel, whose story alternated with Jax’s. She wasn’t bad, but I didn’t see how her story fit into Jax’s and found her sections much less interesting.
I think this story was supposed to be a slow burn, but it ended up just being slow. I read 59% of it, and in that time, Ethel had gone to the hotel and wished for a baby, and Jax had gone to her grandmother’s estate to deal with Lexie’s death, cleaned the house, went to the funeral, and realized that Lexie had been investigating the pool (which is fed with water from the spring). The suspense was driven by the hints that there was something in the pool, and by the time I stopped I had worked out what was in the pool but Jax had just started to get curious about what Lexie was working on.
I thought this was supposed to be some sort of suspense/thriller thing with supernatural horror and I wasn’t getting any of that. I knew enough about the spring to feel like I already knew what it would take from Ethel, but not enough about it to know if it would want something from Jax. Lexie was already dead, and since nobody else that I knew of had made a wish, it didn’t feel like there was any threat. The only suspense was coming from the question of what exactly was living in the spring (which I figured out fairly quickly) and why the spring granted wishes and took things in return (although I got the feeling that the only explanation I was going to get for that one was “it’s supernatural”).
Admittedly, suspense/thriller isn’t my genre, so this all may be me more than the book. But I wasn’t getting any suspense or thrills out of this, and the slow burn ended up just being slow to me. The Drowning Kind just isn’t my book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Infertility, and Self harm
Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, and Pregnancy
Minor: Death of parent, Cancer, Animal death, and Forced institutionalization