The Drowning – J.P. Smith

From the beginning, it was incredibly refreshing the way the story was told. The author spares us from the back and forth banter between characters and sums up the conversations. That’s an automatic plus from me.

The story starts at Camp Waukeelo where a group of boys are sitting around a campfire and the counselors are collectively telling the old legend of John Otis, an inbred man who steals a young boy away from camp every seven years. We then meet Joey, a small for his 8 years, boy whose parents are at odds with each other and it has made him unsure and diffident. He develops a relationship with a counselor and confides in him and that counselor takes him under his wing. But then we meet Alex Mason, the 18 year old swimming counselor who ignores Joey’s pleads and throws him into the dark murky lake. Joey can’t swim and flails until Alex finally jumps in and grabs him, except he doesn’t take him back to shore, he leaves him on a raft in the middle of the lake and tells him to swim back or die, basically. Alex forgets the boy and heads back into camp. Five hours later, the boy is missing. Police search the lake and the woods but Joey is nowhere to be found.
Fast forward 21 years, Alex is wealthy, incredibly successful, has a lovely wife and two daughters… and has forgotten all about Joey. But it seems Joey hasn’t forgotten about him…

I found myself intrigued from the beginning, but when the first instance at the Mason household came about, I was on the edge of my seat… and I stayed right there on the edge of my seat until the very last page. I truly believed Joey was alive and torturing him for what he had done 21 years ago. But then even weirder things begin to happen and I thought maybe someone knew what happened and THEY were the ones behind it! I read a lot of suspense/thriller/mystery novels, and usually about halfway through, I know who’s behind it all. This book kept me guessing. I had NO IDEA who could have been doing this. Joey or someone else?? The mind games, the intrigue… it was all so much fun to read!
I even found myself looking over my shoulder a couple of times. Which doesn’t happen to me! I can read books about real life serial killers and sleep like a baby!
This book changed the game. I highly recommend this to fans of thrillers. It sure thrilled me!

Then there was that ending! Ughhhh. How could you Mr. Smith? HOW COULD YOU?
LOVED this.
4.5 out of 5.
What a ride.