Recent Reads: Drowning Instinct

Drowning Instinct, Ilsa J. Bick

 5 of 5 Stars

Age Group / Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Published: 2/1/2012, Carolrhoda Lab (Lerner Publishing)

# of Pages: 352 (Hardcover)

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Source:  I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a thoughtful and honest review. This has in no way affected my review.

Synopsis from Goodreads:  There are stories where the girl gets her prince, and they live happily ever after. (This is not one of those stories.)

Jenna Lord's first sixteen years were not exactly a fairytale. Her father is a controlling psycho and her mother is a drunk. She used to count on her older brother—until he shipped off to Afghanistan. And then, of course, there was the time she almost died in a fire.

There are stories where the monster gets the girl, and we all shed tears for his innocent victim. (This is not one of those stories either.)

Mitch Anderson is many things: A dedicated teacher and coach. A caring husband. A man with a certain...magnetism.

And there are stories where it's hard to be sure who's a prince and who's a monster, who is a victim and who should live happily ever after. (These are the most interesting stories of all.)

Drowning Instinct is a novel of pain, deception, desperation, and love against the odds—and the rules.

My Review:  Everybody breaks sooner or later, Bob. Anyone can drown. Sometimes you see it. Most often, you don't because the body protects and the skin hides, so drowning doesn't look like drowning and some people scar so nicely. Take it from an expert.

This is just one of the many insightful passages featured in Drowning Instinct, but it is one that will stick with me forever, as will Jenna's story. I can't get it out of my head.

When we first meet Jenna, she is in the hospital, frozen and wet, having been pulled from the lake. She is questioned by a detective who provides her with a tape recorder and instructs her to tell her story. It is through her recordings that we learn the truth of what happened and how those events led to her near drowning.

When it comes to books, I'm a pretty good judge of what I will and will not like. So, when I requested a copy of Drowning Instinct for review I was fairly certain that I would enjoy the book. I expected it to challenge me, to test the gray areas of my morals. I'd never considered the possibility that I would find a love story as hopeful and as tragic as it was wrong.

Drowning Instinct is an exceptional novel. So perfectly formed. And so filled with pain and heartbreak and love, that I was left breathlessly sobbing and shaking at the end. This novel tore me to shreds and broke my heart. It skewed my perspective to the point that I was hoping for something that I shouldn't have been. Or should I have? I don't know any more. I don't even know what else to say except that I absolutely LOVED it.

I could go on and tell you how much this book has affected me, right down to my bones, but honestly, this is something the reader needs to experience for themselves, in precisely the way Jenna has laid it out for them to understand.

I will tell you that this is a tough book. It's not pretty or optimistic. It's dark and real. But it's also intelligent, intense, and provocative. It will break your heart and no doubt leave you questioning much of what you believe about right and wrong.


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