Since childhood Melissa and Leo had always loved Simon Culpeper. As for each other, not so much. Now, in their forties, they were still friends. So when Simon left Melissa a message saying his elderly grandmother, the woman who had raised him, had just died she and Leo immediately went to be with him on the remote island where he and his grandmother had lived for decades. Strangely, all attempts to reach Simon fail, and soon it became obvious he had simply vanished. And, how did a big house come to wash up on the shore near the Culpepper home?
What I found interesting is that Melissa and Leo have basically always just put up with each other and this is evident in their often witty banter, no matter what situations they found themselves in. However, as the tension ramps up the author skillfully changes their relationship. They became a team with a common goal. That goal was to find Simon. Little did they know what truths they would actually uncover.
THE DROWNING HOUSE, by Cherie Priest, is both a thriller and a horror story. It is a multi-layered story that is both gripping and unsettling. It is packed with mystery, twists and turns and shocking secrets. Added to the mix is dark magic and this makes THE DROWNING HOUSE a gripping and engrossing story.
Houses fall into the Pacific Ocean all the time.
Not one has ever come back. Until today.
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.
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