Horror: Drowned Sorrow, by Vanessa Morgan

Drowned Sorrow, by Vanessa Morgan is the story of a work driven mother, Megan Blackwood, who just doesn't make time for her children. Megan is hard at work when she ignores several calls from her daughter, Jenna. It isn't until too late that Megan finds out the reason for Jenna's calls; her son is dead. With the death of her son, Megan walks away from her high powered job to devote her attentions more thoroughly to her daughter. Several months after the funeral of her son, Megan and her daughter, Jenna, take a recommended trip to a secluded lakeside town called Moonlight Creek. But where are the townsfolk? And what's with all the water?


The premise of this book is very strong. The water plays a significant role in the creep factor of this book, and it is done really well. However, I feel that there needed to be more character development of  several of the characters, as well as more back story to the "why" or "how" of the lake. With this book being shy of 200 pages, I feel there was a lot of room to expand.

There were also a few areas of the book that I found were either confusing, or didn't tie in well with other parts of the book. For instance, the ex-husband's role in the beginning of the story is very vague.  The reader gets a sense of the love and loss between Megan and her ex, but that's it. There isn't a lot of back story. Then all of a sudden, the ex-husband pops up later and I just felt that his appearance at that juncture was a bit misplaced. It could have been great, but some elements were missing that were crucial for making the connection.

Overall, I think this book was good. It has a great premise and decent writing. If it were expanded on, and a few of the missing pieces were drawn into the story, it would be great.

On a scale of 1-4, I give this book a 3. Good concept, just needs a bit of clarification and more back story.

This book was published by Llumina Press.
ISBN: 9781605941622

Thank you to Vanessa Morgan for the gift of this book.