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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
I went into this book knowing very little but the plot from a high-level perspective. There is an urban legend about a man who takes a boy from camp every seven summers like Pennywise or a thief in the night. A boy goes missing after a "teaching moment" gone horribly wrong, and a couple of decades later the counselor responsible is experiencing things that make him believe the boy is alive/has returned for revenge.
I had hoped there would be some more time at the summer camp - I LIVE for camp stories! There's always just been something about that setting that puts me in the best mental state when reading/watching thrillers and horror. But after a couple dozen pages we are no longer at camp and are in the city with a whole new story happening.
I also felt let down by the ending - yes, I semi-figured out what was happening but I wanted the connection to be better and I wanted to be able to marinate with the results. Instead it was "Here it is and now here's the last page of the book." I just wanted a little more. Overall I did enjoy the book and it was a super quick read... and I will be on the lookout for more J.P. Smith!
I had hoped there would be some more time at the summer camp - I LIVE for camp stories! There's always just been something about that setting that puts me in the best mental state when reading/watching thrillers and horror. But after a couple dozen pages we are no longer at camp and are in the city with a whole new story happening.
I also felt let down by the ending - yes, I semi-figured out what was happening but I wanted the connection to be better and I wanted to be able to marinate with the results. Instead it was "Here it is and now here's the last page of the book." I just wanted a little more. Overall I did enjoy the book and it was a super quick read... and I will be on the lookout for more J.P. Smith!
"Fear has been given a name and a reality all its own."
As soon as I read the synopsis of The Drowning, it reminded me of Friday the 13th a bit, and I had to read it. This mystery alternates between camp and present day many years later. I loved the setup of this story, and I had so much fun reading it. I found the story to be addicting, entertaining, and mysterious. I wasn't in love with the ending, and was a little frustrated, but The Drowning was still an enjoyable read. I'll be reading more from JP Smith!
As soon as I read the synopsis of The Drowning, it reminded me of Friday the 13th a bit, and I had to read it. This mystery alternates between camp and present day many years later. I loved the setup of this story, and I had so much fun reading it. I found the story to be addicting, entertaining, and mysterious. I wasn't in love with the ending, and was a little frustrated, but The Drowning was still an enjoyable read. I'll be reading more from JP Smith!
Set a thriller in a summer camp and you've automatically piqued my interest. While this novel does not take place entirely in a camp setting, the core mystery that occurs 20 years prior to present day does and that was enough to pull me in.
Very often, readers are vocal about how much they hate characters that they can't root for and can't find any good traits with. In this novel, you LOVE to hate the main character of Alex. He is egotistical and chauvinistic and pretty much has no redeeming qualities at all. But it is so awesome. The reader is pulled into turning the page not only to figure out the underlying mystery of whatever happened to Joey Proctor in the lake 20 years ago but also to see if Alex will get what's coming to him. He is a bad person to his bone and you root for the person that is taunting him right from the get go. To be able to feel this way with no remorse was quite thrilling as reader as it doesn't occur very often. Add to the fact that it was a fast paced thriller overall and this would make the perfect beach/pool read for most bibliophiles.
Was the writing Nobel worthy or moving to the core? Absolutely not. Don't go into this one thinking you are reading a classic work of literature. Dive into it for the adventure and mystery and overall fun ride.
The only skeevy part that really eeked me out with this was how he sexualized his own daughters, pretty much weighing the looks of a 13 year old and 8 year old against each other and alluding to the fact that he thought his 8 year old was ugly and fat. Then again, this made me hate him even more so it was to that benefit but the creep factor almost skidded too high when it came to his kids.
Many thanks to Source Books for providing me this finished copy in exchange for my honest review.
Very often, readers are vocal about how much they hate characters that they can't root for and can't find any good traits with. In this novel, you LOVE to hate the main character of Alex. He is egotistical and chauvinistic and pretty much has no redeeming qualities at all. But it is so awesome. The reader is pulled into turning the page not only to figure out the underlying mystery of whatever happened to Joey Proctor in the lake 20 years ago but also to see if Alex will get what's coming to him. He is a bad person to his bone and you root for the person that is taunting him right from the get go. To be able to feel this way with no remorse was quite thrilling as reader as it doesn't occur very often. Add to the fact that it was a fast paced thriller overall and this would make the perfect beach/pool read for most bibliophiles.
Was the writing Nobel worthy or moving to the core? Absolutely not. Don't go into this one thinking you are reading a classic work of literature. Dive into it for the adventure and mystery and overall fun ride.
The only skeevy part that really eeked me out with this was how he sexualized his own daughters, pretty much weighing the looks of a 13 year old and 8 year old against each other and alluding to the fact that he thought his 8 year old was ugly and fat. Then again, this made me hate him even more so it was to that benefit but the creep factor almost skidded too high when it came to his kids.
Many thanks to Source Books for providing me this finished copy in exchange for my honest review.
Every summer camp has a scary story that they tell their campers, while Alex is working at a camp, he hears about John Otis. He is rumored to snatch a boy every seventh summer from the camp; Alex believes it’s just a ridiculous story made to rile up the campers. The next day, an eight-year-old boy in Alex’s swimming group is missing after Alex leaves him out on a raft in the deep water, even though he knows Joey is terrified. Alex returns to find that Joey is missing and never seen again. Twenty-one years later, Alex is a wealthy, happy man with a gorgeous wife and two children. But someone is after Alex, could it be Joey?
Another novel about a summer camp experience gone wrong and I have to say that I don’t think that I will ever tire of these novels! I loved the mystery of where Joey went off too and if it was him or someone else messing with Alex. I had a difficult time deciding whether or not I actually liked Alex or hated him. He had such a way about him that made you think he was just a spoiled brat, but then sometimes I actually felt a bit bad that his life was falling apart. I really enjoyed the idea behind a child missing after some tough love from a counselor and how the book went through a few different perspectives to really confuse who was guilty of these tricks. I really enjoyed how these tricks made Alex feel cocky and thought he solved the problems multiple times, leading him to make more trouble for himself. Overall, I really enjoyed the story!
Another novel about a summer camp experience gone wrong and I have to say that I don’t think that I will ever tire of these novels! I loved the mystery of where Joey went off too and if it was him or someone else messing with Alex. I had a difficult time deciding whether or not I actually liked Alex or hated him. He had such a way about him that made you think he was just a spoiled brat, but then sometimes I actually felt a bit bad that his life was falling apart. I really enjoyed the idea behind a child missing after some tough love from a counselor and how the book went through a few different perspectives to really confuse who was guilty of these tricks. I really enjoyed how these tricks made Alex feel cocky and thought he solved the problems multiple times, leading him to make more trouble for himself. Overall, I really enjoyed the story!
I wish Goodreads would let you add punctuation to your book shelf titles because I desperately need to create a "Wait...what?" shelf.
I do not have any clue what was going on in this book. I mean I have a basic idea of what the story was supposed to be. I think I was supposed to think this was the story of a super successful real estate mogul being stalked by the boy he left to die when he was a shitty college student camp counselor twenty years before. Then I was supposed to be very, very surprised by what was really going on the whole time. Alas, that is not what happened.
The story starts very strong and Smith is a good writer. I'll give credit where its due. The man can write a sentence and set a very spooky scene. We begin on a dark night around a campfire where little boys are being terrified by camp counselors who are regaling their charges with the story of a child killer who stalks the woods around the camp and takes a new victim every seven years. And wouldn't you know it TONIGHT is the night he'll strike! But that's where a cheesy campfire ghost story veers into very real terror. The next day a little boy does vanish, never to be seen again.
Awesome right!? I loooovveee a good revenge thriller.
As the story really begins we meet Alex. Alex was the swim instructor at the camp and the only one who knows he was indirectly responsible for the missing boy being left alone for hours. He's never told a soul what he did but now someone who clearly knows what happened has begun to torment him.
Again doesn't this sound awesome!? Totally [b:I Know What You Did Last Summer|47763|I Know What You Did Last Summer|Lois Duncan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348843470s/47763.jpg|967250] for grownups!!!!
Unfortunately this very solid start almost immediately goes up in flames and turns into a total mess that did nothing but frustrate and confuse the crap out of me. I actually stayed up waaayyyy past my bedtime hoping to arrive at a conclusion, ANY conclusion, that might explain the meandering mess of pointless (like they mean NOTHING to the present day story) flashbacks, changes in perspective, and senseless murder that surrounds possibly the most boring victim/secret bad guy I've ever read about. Then as if that wasn't bad enough I was given literally no resolution to the one part of the story I actually cared about.
I cared nothing about Alex and thus cared even less about what happened to him. The stalker is another one of those "Oh that guy from page 4" reveals that straight up made me want to tear the book to shreds and then everything just kind of ends.
All I could do when I was done was say "wait...what?"
I do not have any clue what was going on in this book. I mean I have a basic idea of what the story was supposed to be. I think I was supposed to think this was the story of a super successful real estate mogul being stalked by the boy he left to die when he was a shitty college student camp counselor twenty years before. Then I was supposed to be very, very surprised by what was really going on the whole time. Alas, that is not what happened.
The story starts very strong and Smith is a good writer. I'll give credit where its due. The man can write a sentence and set a very spooky scene. We begin on a dark night around a campfire where little boys are being terrified by camp counselors who are regaling their charges with the story of a child killer who stalks the woods around the camp and takes a new victim every seven years. And wouldn't you know it TONIGHT is the night he'll strike! But that's where a cheesy campfire ghost story veers into very real terror. The next day a little boy does vanish, never to be seen again.
Awesome right!? I loooovveee a good revenge thriller.
As the story really begins we meet Alex. Alex was the swim instructor at the camp and the only one who knows he was indirectly responsible for the missing boy being left alone for hours. He's never told a soul what he did but now someone who clearly knows what happened has begun to torment him.
Again doesn't this sound awesome!? Totally [b:I Know What You Did Last Summer|47763|I Know What You Did Last Summer|Lois Duncan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348843470s/47763.jpg|967250] for grownups!!!!
Unfortunately this very solid start almost immediately goes up in flames and turns into a total mess that did nothing but frustrate and confuse the crap out of me. I actually stayed up waaayyyy past my bedtime hoping to arrive at a conclusion, ANY conclusion, that might explain the meandering mess of pointless (like they mean NOTHING to the present day story) flashbacks, changes in perspective, and senseless murder that surrounds possibly the most boring victim/secret bad guy I've ever read about. Then as if that wasn't bad enough I was given literally no resolution to the one part of the story I actually cared about.
I cared nothing about Alex and thus cared even less about what happened to him. The stalker is another one of those "Oh that guy from page 4" reveals that straight up made me want to tear the book to shreds and then everything just kind of ends.
All I could do when I was done was say "wait...what?"
3.5 stars. I liked this one, but felt a bit unsatisfied by the ending. Well, it was satisfying in one way, but left some frustrating loose ends as well.
We start out 21 years ago, when Joey Proctor disappears at a summer camp, after being left on a raft by Alex Mason. The way this happened gave me a similar feeling to the last book I read about a summer camp--do the people who write these books know how camps work!? I worked at a Girl Scout camp for three summers and there was no way I could EVER have lost a kid for hours without noticing. Sure, they could have snuck out at night, but during the day, especially when leaving one activity for another, I was always counting them. And if someone didn't return from the waterfront in particular, it would have been a huge deal, as everyone had to tag in and out, and if there was a tag left, it was treated as an emergency and potential drowning (like, they blew an airhorn and we all had to run to the lake and jump in and sweep the bottom). However, I guess there are likely to have been camps with less strenuous rules than mine, so I did my best to suspend my disbelief, but it's a bit mind boggling.
After Joey's disappearance, we fast forward to the present day Alex Mason, rich and successful and not suffering any lasting guilt about what he did to Joey. At least, not until some strange and threatening things start to happen to him and he begins to fear that Joey has returned to seek his revenge. Alex is not a character you root for, but I was still sucked in to the terror he was experiencing, while still wanting to see him receive his comeuppance, especially as his own actions escalated.
This was a engrossing thriller and a worthwhile read if you're looking for something fast paced and suspenseful, and don't mind a somewhat ambiguous ending.
*I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
We start out 21 years ago, when Joey Proctor disappears at a summer camp, after being left on a raft by Alex Mason. The way this happened gave me a similar feeling to the last book I read about a summer camp--do the people who write these books know how camps work!? I worked at a Girl Scout camp for three summers and there was no way I could EVER have lost a kid for hours without noticing. Sure, they could have snuck out at night, but during the day, especially when leaving one activity for another, I was always counting them. And if someone didn't return from the waterfront in particular, it would have been a huge deal, as everyone had to tag in and out, and if there was a tag left, it was treated as an emergency and potential drowning (like, they blew an airhorn and we all had to run to the lake and jump in and sweep the bottom). However, I guess there are likely to have been camps with less strenuous rules than mine, so I did my best to suspend my disbelief, but it's a bit mind boggling.
After Joey's disappearance, we fast forward to the present day Alex Mason, rich and successful and not suffering any lasting guilt about what he did to Joey. At least, not until some strange and threatening things start to happen to him and he begins to fear that Joey has returned to seek his revenge. Alex is not a character you root for, but I was still sucked in to the terror he was experiencing, while still wanting to see him receive his comeuppance, especially as his own actions escalated.
This was a engrossing thriller and a worthwhile read if you're looking for something fast paced and suspenseful, and don't mind a somewhat ambiguous ending.
*I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The Drowning, J. P. Smiths' seventh novel to date, is a dark and murky psychological thriller. It explores the propensity for a deep, dark secret buried long ago, and stored like all our repressed memories in the most inaccessible depths of our brain so as not to hurt us, to reappear. Sometimes they stay buried the way you want them to, but most of the time they resurface unannounced in a spectacular fashion causing a myriad of unwanted consequences. Although Smith uses well-recognised tropes here, he does so in a unique and refreshing way. However, there is one certainty, when the full extent of Alex's heartless, cruel to be kind, action or more correctly, omission (inaction) comes to light nothing will be the same again for all of those involved.
This is a solid read that has all of the component parts making it a compelling and suspenseful story, so much so that I forgot and burned my dinner as I feverishly turned the pages. Being a law graduate the many questions surrounding the issues of culpability and negligence, as well as a the moral standpoints e.g. legal concerns v moral concerns of the plot gave me plenty of food for thought. Like most readers I expected most of my answers to be addressed towards the back end of the novel, so I indeed enjoyed the fact that Smith didn't spell everything out or tie it all up conveniently in a bow. It'll stay with me for quite some time I suspect. So if you like questions to ponder or ruminate on this is a highly entertaining and immersive mystery thriller which poses some thought-provoking and intriguing questions.
Many thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for an ARC.
This is a solid read that has all of the component parts making it a compelling and suspenseful story, so much so that I forgot and burned my dinner as I feverishly turned the pages. Being a law graduate the many questions surrounding the issues of culpability and negligence, as well as a the moral standpoints e.g. legal concerns v moral concerns of the plot gave me plenty of food for thought. Like most readers I expected most of my answers to be addressed towards the back end of the novel, so I indeed enjoyed the fact that Smith didn't spell everything out or tie it all up conveniently in a bow. It'll stay with me for quite some time I suspect. So if you like questions to ponder or ruminate on this is a highly entertaining and immersive mystery thriller which poses some thought-provoking and intriguing questions.
Many thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for an ARC.
Joey Proctor was an eight years old boy who was small and timid. It was his first and last time going to camp. On the last couple weeks of camp counselor Alex Mason wanted Joey to get over his fears of swimming. Even though Joey couldn't swim that didn't stop Alex from leaving him on a raft in the middle of the lake. Alex had completely forgotten about Joey on raft and Joey disappeared. Fast-forward twenty years later, Alex is a successful business man and has beautiful wife and daughter. Alex has everything going for him, until his past come to destroy him. Could it be Joey Proctor doings? Did he come back for revenge?
I couldn't imagine sending my child to camp for the summer and he went missing due to someone negligence or pride. Alex as his wife best describes him is "someone with no conscience, no hear or soul." Alex did something horrible and he was able to move on and never thought how his actions might’ve a domino effect. I think that he deserves to lose everything he loves and more.
Furthermore, I really love the flow of the authors storytelling. I couldn’t put the book down once I started and the more I read the more questions I had. One question I can't get out my mind is what really happened to Joey Proctor? If he was kidnap, who did it?
My favorite quote, “Sometime you don't have to do something to make it wrong. Sometimes you just have to not do something." (page 223)
I couldn't imagine sending my child to camp for the summer and he went missing due to someone negligence or pride. Alex as his wife best describes him is "someone with no conscience, no hear or soul." Alex did something horrible and he was able to move on and never thought how his actions might’ve a domino effect. I think that he deserves to lose everything he loves and more.
Furthermore, I really love the flow of the authors storytelling. I couldn’t put the book down once I started and the more I read the more questions I had. One question I can't get out my mind is what really happened to Joey Proctor? If he was kidnap, who did it?
My favorite quote, “Sometime you don't have to do something to make it wrong. Sometimes you just have to not do something." (page 223)
Every summer, they tell the story of John Otis, who is accused of taking a boy from summer camp right out of his cabin. A boy goes missing with no explanation. This summer, it was a boy named Joey. He's terrified of swimming; in fact, he doesn't know how to. But swimming instructor Alex forces him to swim out to a raft on the lake and leaves him, then forgets to go back and check on him, and Joey goes missing. Twenty-one years later, Alex has all the money, power, and family he could want. But someone is trying to make him remember and pay for what he did to Joey. What a fast read! And the ending was pretty surprising, just the way I like it!
This book has a great pretense but ends up being a bit of a mess.
We start with Joey being left at a camp for the summer and hear a GREAT horror story about kids being taken every 7 years...but then it goes really random. At one point we flash ahead 7 years on a hunting trip, to a retired sheriff who is obsessed with the case and interspersed are things being done to Alex, the person who was responsible leaving Joey on a ramp.
It was too convoluted.
Thank you netgalley for this ARC!
We start with Joey being left at a camp for the summer and hear a GREAT horror story about kids being taken every 7 years...but then it goes really random. At one point we flash ahead 7 years on a hunting trip, to a retired sheriff who is obsessed with the case and interspersed are things being done to Alex, the person who was responsible leaving Joey on a ramp.
It was too convoluted.
Thank you netgalley for this ARC!