They Drown Our Daughters

A dark family curse originated when two cousins disappeared from Cape Disappointment over a century ago. Ever since, the women of their bloodline loose themselves, in various terrifying ways, to the ocean. Now, Judith, Meredith and Alice want to put an end to it. But what lies in wait for them, in the darkness of the ocean?

While this is touted at a horror book, I never found it particularly scary. The beginning was the most disturbing part - and very effective. It was well - written, perhaps a little slow in parts, but ultimately kept me hooked.

Without giving too much away - for a book about ghosts haunting from the depths of the ocean, I was able to suspend my disbelief easily. However, there is a certain plot point (quite a major one) surrounding a dweller on an island that was just too far fetched for me. And we never really got an explanation about it.

Many thanks to NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

They Drown Our Daughters by Katrina Monroe (audiobook read by Mara Wilson) is a haunting story of generational trauma, of mothers and daughters, told through the lens of supernatural horror. This novel weaves together multiple timelines in joined together by both location and blood, and does so more successfully than some other works that utilize the alternating timeline structure. Overall I found the story of Meredith and her daughter, Alice, and mother, Judith, in their town of Cape Disappointment (what a name, and it's a real place) to be anything but. Monroe did an excellent job of establishing setting in vivid detail and crafting lots of fascinating characters across different eras. I found some parts of the plot to be a bit muddy and the pacing too slow in some sections, but nevertheless this was an extremely enjoyable read. This is not, in my opinion, the kind of horror that will give readers nightmares, but rather a more literary and reflective book that manages to be both chilling and poignant. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️