A massive storm leaves an abandoned house behind on Simon Culpepper’s beach. His grandmother is so terrified at the sight of it that she immediately dies — and Simon disappears.

The opening of The Drowning House was so strange and eerie that it hooked me immediately. 

After Simon’s disappearance, his childhood friends Melissa and Leo come to town to look for him. They remember a moment from their childhood where Mrs. Culpepper mysteriously saved Leo from drowning — seemingly walking on water.

I loved how Priest committed to the weirdness and fantasy elements in this one.  I saw Clay McLeod Chapman compared this to Michael McDowell's The Elementals and Josh Malerman's A House at the Bottom of a Lake, both books I really loved, and I think The Drowning House captured that weird small waterside community vibe so well.

I loved this slow burn, creepy read.  The Drowning House was my first novel by Cherie Priest and I plan to check out more of her work.

Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for my review copy of this book.