This book told me exactly what it was and I chose to believe it would deliver a magnificent story I would love, but was instead given exactly what it advertised: paranormal activity surrounding a beached house. When I thought it couldn’t get weirder, it did.

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.

Thank you Poisoned pen press and Sourcebooks for letting me read this book for my review.
I liked the book overall. There were some parts I was confused on. I don’t normally like books with magic or anything in them, but it was good. It was the magic parts that I was confused about. I really liked how it followed the three friends though. I just wish it had ended differently. I wanted everyone to walk away with a happy ending.

The Drowning House by Cherie Priest

Simon, Melissa and Leo have been tightly knit ever since spending practically every summer growing up together on Washington State’s Marrowstone Island. Despite Leo being four years younger than the other two, their experiences as the only kids in the island’s small community bonded them for life. Most of the time, they played at Simon’s house, where he lived with his grandmother, the formidable Mrs Culpepper. She was a fairly lenient caretaker, only warning them not to go out too deep into the water for fear of getting dragged out to sea by the treacherous currents.

As the decades pass, Simon chooses to stay on the island to take care of his grandmother, despite the urgings of Melissa and Leo, who both have their own lives on the mainland. But one night Simon sends Melissa a weird voicemail, followed by an email entreating her to come stay on the island with him for a while. Apparently, Mrs Culpepper has just died, likely scared to death by something she saw on the beach just behind their house.

When Melissa attempts to call back, a sheriff’s deputy picks up and informs her that Simon has disappeared. Alarmed, Melissa contacts Leo and makes her way north. Once Leo joins her in the Culpepper home, the old friends search the island. They find no trace of their friend, who they know would never voluntarily disappear right after his grandmother died. Just as puzzling is the appearance of the wreck of an entire house, washed ashore right behind the place where they spent so many wonderful childhood hours.

Their search for Simon leads them down some strange and scary paths, and also begins to highlight the flaws in their own relationship. Simon had always been the linchpin that held them together, and their bickering only grows worse as each copes in their own way with what might have happened to their beloved friend:

QUOTE
“Everything you asked that woman had to do with the stuff in the house, not Simon,” he accused. “You’ve already decided he’s dead, and now you’re more interested in that shit in the basement.”

“Oh, you’re allowed to be interested in Mrs. Culpepper’s house? But I’m not? At least I’m not trying to sell it as soon as her body’s cold.”

“That’s not fair.”

“You’re not fair,” she countered. “We don’t know what line of inquiry might lead us back to Simon. Everything happened at basically the same time–Mrs. Culpepper dying, the house washing up, Simon disappearing. They’re obviously connected, and who the hell do you think you are, trying to imply that I don’t care about him as much as you do?”
END QUOTE

Will they be able to keep it together at least long enough to figure out what happened to their best friend? When a malevolent force threatens to take their lives, will they find the strength to set aside their differences and save their island?

Shot through with plot threads of horror and fantasy, what starts out as a missing person thriller soon becomes a book about overcoming the demons of your past in order to prevent further horrors from occurring. While Leo and Melissa looked forward to going to Marrowstone Island each year as children, it wasn’t always an idyllic experience, as this flashback passage illustrates:

QUOTE
“Leo, buddy? What are you looking at?” She kept her voice as low and soft as she could.

He responded in kind, never taking his eyes off the corner. “You don’t see them?”

“See who?”

“You don’t hear them?”

“Who?”

“They cry,” he said. “Those boys, they hide in the corners and cry.”

“Leo, there aren’t any other boys in the house. Just you and Simon. Come on, let’s go outside and play with fireworks.” She gently pulled on his arm.

“I couldn’t see them before. Not until what happened in the water.” He looked up at Melissa and said in an almost ordinary voice, “Now I hear them all the time. Sometimes, I see them too.”
END QUOTE

These mysterious elements only strengthen the pathos of the friends’ search, as the narrative unfolds forward and backward in time to show us the true scale of what our protagonists are up against. While I found Melissa and Leo’s story ultimately satisfying, I was a little confused by the epilogue, which seemed somewhat tacked on and only raised more questions than it answered. It was interesting though to see how the sisters depicted in the coda bickered just as much as Leo and Melissa do, and how their plans only succeeded when they finally learned to set aside their differences and trust each other enough to work as one.

A horror book like I have not read in awhile. Hard to say too much about it without giving away anything but suffice it to say if you love scary books then this is for you!!!

When a violent storm washes a mysterious house up onto the beach there are only two people who can possibly know what this means. Melissa and Leo were childhood friends who have a long history between them and are tasked without finding out what happened. Secrets and lies threaten them as they start to learn about the house.

Edge of your seat horror/thriller!!!

Thank you Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the chance to read and review this book!!!

I would give it a r.5 if thwyd let me. This was excellent! Loved the housewreck instead of a shipwreck wreck. Loved the uncertainties, Loved the mystery and like the mini investigation, and the magic.However, I don't know that I would consider this a horror. It's labeled ghost suspense and horror.....ghost a little. Suspense a lot....horror not so much. I didn't find it very creepy or scary but still a good read.

Starts off VERY strong with powerful imagery, and I enjoyed it quite a bit, but upon finishing it I can't help but feel that the whole is less than the sum of the parts.

The Drowning House by Cherie Priest is a dark paranormal horror story. I went in completely blind and enjoyed it. A violent storm washes a mysterious house onto a rural Pacific Northwest beach, stopping the heart of the only woman who knows what it means. Her grandson, Simon, disappears, leaving his two childhood friends to find out what happened. Decades have passed since Melissa and Leo were close (not that they were all that close), their only connection is Simon. Now, they have to put aside their differences in order to figure out what is going on with the mysterious house and find Simon before it's too late. I loved the back story as it was told through the book. I am not normally into paranormal books, but this one was very well written. Cherie tells a wonderful story, and I would definitely recommend if you like a well written paranormal horror book without any gore.

I received an advance review copy, and I am leaving my honest review voluntarily.

A creepy house washes ashore, causing a woman to drop dead of shock. Her grandson disappears and his childhood best friends try to find him and discover long-hidden secrets of terrible power. What a hook! Unfortunately, this wasn't my favorite book by this author. I kept reading because I liked the characters of Leo and Melissa and I wanted to know what would happen, but I found myself skimming the last third of the book. I think the pacing issues would have been solved by cutting this book's length down to 300 pages. Overall, a book I liked but probably won't reread.

What I liked:
-the setting on a little island off of Washington state made for a spooky, damp, and isolated atmosphere
-the character dynamics. Melissa and Leo's longstanding friendship history helped propel the plot and made their motivations make sense. However, at times, I thought they seemed younger than they were meant to be.
-the writing style in general worked for me. I've read and enjoyed several of this author's books in the past (my favorite being The Family Plot) and her writing is always enjoyable.

What did not work for me:
-the pace was off. The story starts out with flashbacks to summers spent on Marrowstone and seeding some creepy or strange things that Leo and Melissa witnessed back then, but then the flashbacks go away and suddenly everything felt like it dragged throughout the climax
-it wasn't as scary as I hoped. I wanted to be really freaked out, but aside from a couple of upsetting moments close to the end, this was a lot of buildup and not that much horror

Thank you very much to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me an advance reader copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

This one had me feeling nostalgic like when I was kid reading Stephen King! A really enjoyable story with a supernatural mystery woven in throughout!!!!


Description

SheReads Most Anticipated Horror of Summer 2024

“Inhabiting the same sandy block as Michael McDowell's The Elementals and Josh Malerman's A House at the Bottom of a Lake, Cherie Priest's The Drowning House has taken up permanent residence in my subconscious alongside the briniest haunted houses around. Be forewarned: there's an undertow to this novel. Once you start reading, it'll suck you right in.”
—Clay McLeod Chapman, author of What Kind of Mother and Ghost Eaters

A violent storm washes a mysterious house onto a rural Pacific Northwest beach, stopping the heart of the only woman who knows what it means. Her grandson, Simon Culpepper, vanishes in the aftermath, leaving two of his childhood friends to comb the small, isolated island for answers—but decades have passed since Melissa and Leo were close, if they were ever close at all.

Now they'll have to put aside old rivalries and grudges if they want to find or save the man who brought them together in the first place—and on the way they'll learn a great deal about the sinister house on the beach, the man who built it, and the evil he's bringing back to Marrowstone Island.

From award-winning author Cherie Priest comes a deeply haunting and atmospheric horror-thriller that explores the lengths we'll go to protect those we love.

Cherie Priest's "The Drowning House" opens with a violent storm depositing a mysterious house on a rural beach in the Pacific Northwest, triggering a heart attack in the only woman who understands the house's significance. In the wake of this tragic event, her grandson, Simon Culpepper, disappears. Simon's childhood friends, Melissa and Leo, decide they must search their isolated island for clues. Despite the passage of decades and lingering old grudges, Melissa and Leo must unite to find Simon, the man who once connected them. As they delve deeper, they uncover disturbing truths about the sinister house, its builder, and the malevolent force he is reintroducing to Marrowstone Island.

With a narrative that is evocative of the horror novels and movies of earlier decades, "The Drowning House" is written with a strong emphasis on characterization and atmosphere over shock value. Priest excels in crafting believable children and teenagers, which adds realism to the story. With its slow-burn pacing and atmospheric setting, readers seeking something fast-paced and full of in-your-face gore may not connect with this novel. Instead, it builds tension meticulously through setting and character development. The isolated house on a sparsely populated island heightens the sense of isolation and impending danger, and the unanswered questions about Simon’s disappearance add a chilling layer of mystery.

The protagonists, Melissa and Leo, are well-crafted and authentic, with their distinct coping mechanisms enhancing the story's depth. Their reactions contribute significantly to the eerie atmosphere, making this supernatural tale both captivating and unsettling. This book also sparks curiosity about old rules and Nordic folk tales, leaving readers intrigued long after the final page.

Thank you Poisoned Press for providing me with a copy on Netgalley in exchange for writing a review.

When they were kids, Leo, Simon, and Melissa were inseparable during the summer. Yet, there was always a bit of awkwardness between Leo and Melissa. One day, Melissa receives a chilling voicemail and email from Simon, informing her that Mrs. Culpeper has passed away and that something terrified her. Urgently, Melissa prepares to see him. Upon arrival, she discovers Simon is missing. She teams up with Leo, and together, they embark on a quest to find him.

As they approach the Culpeper house, a strange, dilapidated structure half-sunken in the water near the beach, casting an eerie shadow. The story intertwines two timelines—the past and the present—revealing the deep bonds of friendship and the dark secrets they hold.

Though I don’t usually gravitate towards horror. It was undeniably scary, yet I couldn’t put it down. I was compelled to unravel the mystery and understand the haunting backstory that led to this chilling situation. If you enjoy this genre, you’re in for a treat. As I neared the final quarter, I found myself skimming at times, not out of boredom, but because the book was so intense, it spooked me.

I discovered Cherie Priest about 6 months ago, and have read 5 books of hers since (the first of her Clockwork Century series and Grave Reservations being my favorites—highly recommend checking them out!!)

Priest’s latest book has a lot going on…mystery, paranormal activity, ancient magic…To be honest, I liked it but I didn’t love it. I did enjoy getting to know the main characters, three childhood friends, in both the past and present (alternating timeline chapters). The first half of the book has a few breadcrumbs thrown down of what’s to come later and I would definitely call this one a slow burn.

I do like a story that’s tied up in the end. I just felt like there were a lot of little things that happened (some of them seemingly random) but no one huge event that really made me go “wow.”

That being said, if you’re interested in a story with paranormal elements but found Grady Hendrix’s books to be just way too over the top, this book might be more your speed. Although it’s not my favorite of hers, I still think Priest is a talented author and I will definitely continue to read any books she writes in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for sharing this ARC with me. I am voluntarily leaving this honest review.

The Drowning House seemed to be a supernatural style thriller/horror and I was both scared and excited to be given a ARC. All opinions are my own.
The book started out a bit tame even for me (I am by all means not a huge slasher fan). Told in alternating timelines and viewpoints of Melissa and Leo who are now looking for their friend Simon who went missing after the sudden death of his grandmother. (Oh and the sudden appearance of a house on the beach).
The first half of the book is a slow build. I was beginning to question if this was going to be a thriller….. then it got to the point where I was like omg why are you people not running screaming in the opposite direction.
Don’t go into this expecting fast paced bloody horror. This is much more of a creepy supernatural style story with horror aspects. And if you can get past the first half you’ll definitely get drawn in.

Thank you Netgalley, Cherie Priest, and Poisoned Pen Press for the ebook. This was a haunting and thrilling read that bag me turning the pages into the night. The twists and turns and secrets unraveled throughout. A must read.

A violent storm washes a mysterious house onto the beach. Stopping the heart of the only woman who understands what the house means. Simon Culpepper her Grandson vanishes and his friends Melissa and Leo come back home to try and find him. They soon realise there is evil on the island and they may be in danger.

This was a slow start and took a while to get my interest but the last 1/3 had me hooked when things got interesting. Melissa and Leo were both slightly annoying as characters so don't think that helped but still overall a decent read and creepy in parts.

Thank you to Netgalley, Poisoned Pen Press and Cherie Priest for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have not read Priest's writing in several years, but I remember both the evocative Eden series and the super-fun Clockwork Century. In many ways this felt like a love-letter to the style of horror novels I grew up with in the 80's mixed with some nice touches of dark Weirdness. Told through both flashbacks to the 80's and 90's as well as a cotemporary plotline, Priest does a great job building a uniquely creepy story that grows out of the relationships between the characters. This might be one of the best horror novels I read this year.

Many thanks to the publishers for my copy - all opinions are my own.

The Drowning House is one of the more unique horror books I've read this year - the setting and paranormal aspects of the plot feel fresh, and I love a book that has moving character POV's and timeline shifts. I loved that this story felt like a complicated puzzle with each piece slotting into place the further into the plot you went.

That being said, this also felt like a fairly slow burn for a good majority of the book for me, and I struggled just a bit with staying engaged at times. The intensity is there all the way through, but I really wanted more action in the first half. It did pick up as the last act came into play and there are some absolutely phenomenal shifts that scratch the itch for action - which generally made up for sticking with the slower action in the start.

Overall, an enjoyable read if you want something horror genre that isn't too overtly scary or gruesome!

**3.5-stars rounded up**

The Drowning House is the second book that I have read from Cherie Priest. The first being, Cinderwich, which I read earlier this year and thoroughly enjoyed. Upon finishing this one, I had to really sit and think how I would ultimately rate it. I've finally decided to round up to 4-stars, mainly because I just had such an enjoyable time with the experience of taking in this story.

I did Buddy Read this one with a friend, and as we were discussing it after we were both done, it made me realize, I really didn't understand what happened here as far as the conclusion goes. However, and this is a very big however, the journey getting to the end was so intensely-interesting for me that I don't even care. I genuinely-enjoyed this story and the process of trying to figure it out.

So, what's it all about?

In this story, we are following Melissa and Leo. They're adults now, but have been friends since childhood, having spent many Summers together on Marrowstone Island, a remote island in the Pacific Northwest.

Their other really good friend, Simon, recently reached out to them in distress from Marrowstone. In the middle of the night, during a terrible storm, a mysterious house ((yes, a house)) washed ashore on the beach adjacent to where Simon lives with his grandmother, Mrs. Culpepper. Seeing the house upon the sand, Mrs. Culpepper's heart stops. The woman who presided over these ruffians, Simon, Melissa and Leo, every Summer for years is now gone.

In the immediate aftermath, Simon reaches out to his friends, but by the time they are able to reach his Grandmother's house, Simon is nowhere to be found. What follows is Melissa and Leo digging in, trying to discover the truth behind that night, the mysterious house on the beach and Simon's sudden disappearance. They know he wouldn't just leave, so where is he?

From the very start, I was gobsmacked. This kicks off quickly as far as the events surrounding Simon and his grandmother, and then getting Melissa and Leo to the island. What in the hell was going on?

Then it slows down a little as Melissa and Leo re-acclimate to being around one another, settle in and decide what to do about Simon's disappearance. I enjoyed the slow burn of it and I did appreciate all the work that Priest put into these two main characters. Their relationship is complicated, as they both felt more deeply connected to Simon. Simon was really the link keeping them all together, and as the Reader, you get to watch these two process their feelings about Simon possibly being gone for good.

I wouldn't say either Melissa, or Leo, were particularly likable people, but I enjoy the messiness. Characters that are too perfect aren't generally believable to me anyway, so I was happy with what I was served here. Additionally, I like a lot of what Priest explored within this story. To me, it was a surprising blend of Folk Horror mixed with Occult elements and a solid mystery. It even at times, held a bit of a Cosmic Horror flair. The thing I appreciated most though, was the atmosphere.

Marrowstone Island was remote and isolated. The locals that Leo and Melissa interacted with while trying to find Simon, were helpful, but also a little odd. It had a very creepy vibe. With this being said, there is a lot happening at once. There's no denying that and it was hard to track at times, particularly in the later half. Once it got to a certain point, while I was following the action, I can't say I could explain to anyone what was actually happening, or what the true meaning of it was.

I'm also not really sure if that was Priest's intent, to leave much of it up to the Reader's own imagination, or if she had the answers there and I was too dense, or perhaps too distracted, to see them. Overall though, I walk away a happy girl and I'll continue to pick up Cherie Priest's work. I loved the mystery of it, so who cares if a lot of it is still a mystery to me.

Thank you to the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I'm looking forward to seeing what Priest comes up with next. Her creativity cannot be denied!

When I read the synopsis of this book, I knew right then and there that this book would have me hooked. And have me hooked, it did! If you are a fan of Stephen King's writing, then I think you will really enjoy this book. There were a few times I had to double check to make sure it wasn't a Stephen King book.

This book will have you white knuckling your book as you try to figure out what is happening and what's going to happen next. Here's a hint, you won't be able to predict the ending of the book. There are so many twists and turns that once you think you know what is going to happen, something else happens and changes everything you thought you read.

What I loved most about this book is how that past and the present are interconnected with three different friends that are going through this nightmare. All of these stories are all tied together with the old worn down house that get's washed ashore onto a very much secluded beach. Where even more sketchy things start happening!

10/10 recommend this book to anyone and everyone. If I could rate it more than 5 stars, I totally would. I didn't stop thinking about this book for days after I read it!