The Drowning Girls

by Paula Treick DeBoard Narrated by David Atlas, Amy McFadden

Overview

Liz McGinnis never imagined herself living in a luxurious gated community like The Palms. Ever since she and her family moved in, she's felt like an outsider amongst the Stepford-like wives and their obnoxiously spoiled children. Still, she's determined to make it work-if not for herself, then for her husband, Phil, who landed them this lavish home in the first place, and for her daughter, Danielle, who's about to enter high school.

Yet underneath the glossy veneer of The Palms, life is far from idyllic. In a place where reputation is everything, Liz soon discovers that even the friendliest residents can't be trusted-and almost everyone has secrets they'd do anything to protect. So when the gorgeous girl next door befriends Danielle, Liz can't help but find sophisticated Kelsey's interest in her shy and slightly nerdy daughter a bit suspicious.

But while Kelsey quickly becomes a fixture in the McGinnis home, Liz's relationships with both Danielle and Phil grow strained. Now even her own family seems to be hiding things, and it's not long before their dream of living the high life quickly spirals out of control....

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

03/14/2016
The Palms at Altamont Ridge, the exclusive gated California community that serves as the setting for this captivating novel from DeBoard (The Fragile World), becomes the home of the middle-class McGinnis family when husband Phil is hired as the community relations specialist. At the local high school, 14-year-old Danielle McGinnis makes a new friend, troubled sophomore Kelsey Jorgensen, who begins a flirtation with Phil that grows more insistent each time he rejects her. Kelsey uses every trick in the book, including rumors and threats, to sow doubt and discord between Phil and his wife, Liz, a high school counselor. Approaching the problem from totally different perspectives, mildly ambitious Phil and down-to-earth Liz each try to resolve the situation. This tale of a family in peril closes with a death that’s tragic and unexpected. Agent: Melissa Flashman, Trident Media Group. (May)

From the Publisher

"Give this tale of domestic suspense, with its pitch-perfect pacing, to Gillian Flynn and Mary Kubica devotees." -Library Journal, starred review

"In Paula Treick DeBoard's latest breathtaking thriller, she paints a stark and chillingly real portrayal of a family torn apart by teenage transgressions. Gritty and inauspicious from the start, The Drowning Girls left me awestruck, revealing DeBoard's true brilliance as an author. Spellbinding." -Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Girl

"Think Fatal Attraction meets Desperate Housewives, and you have DeBoard's latest thriller... This is a gripping, tense suspense story with a good surprise ending." -Booklist

"The Drowning Girls by Paula Treick DeBoard is cleverly plotted, full of twists and turns and so well-written that it pulls you in from page one. Genuinely suspenseful, Treick DeBoard delivers a disturbing, multilayered, provocative novel that is impossible to put down." -Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times bestselling author of The Weight of Silence

"A heart-pounding look at what lies behind the deceptively placid veneer of the well-to-do suburbs. The kaleidoscopic view of innocence, danger, and malice shifts and twists as it races to a shattering conclusion." -Sophie Littlefield, bestselling author of The Guilty One, on The Drowning Girls

"In The Drowning Girls, DeBoard pulls you right into her world and holds you in her grip until the book's final twist. Fans of The Good Girl and The Luckiest Girl Alive, and really anyone who enjoys great suspense, have found their next must-read. Sure to be the book everyone is talking about in 2016, I could not put it down." -Catherine McKenzie, bestselling author of Hidden and Smoke

"The Drowning Girls casts a spell as brilliant and alluring as the gated community of its setting. Paula Treick DeBoard maps this world of privilege and secrets with a deft hand, and from the novel's terrifying opening pages reveals a family's tragic unraveling. These characters long for love and happiness, but the trail of duplicity that ultimately ensnares them creates a suspenseful and compelling page-turner I couldn't put down." -Karen Brown, author of The Longings of Wayward Girls

"A coming-of-age tale about a family in crisis expertly told by Ms. DeBoard. The Fragile World examines how profound loss changes all who are forced to come to terms with it. Touching and compelling, it will move you." -Lesley Kagen, New York Times bestselling author of Whistling in the Dark and The Resurrection of Tess Blessing

"Assured storytelling propels DeBoard's first novel." -Publishers Weekly on The Mourning Hours

"Rich and evocative...compelling." -RT Book Review on The Mourning Hours

Library Journal

★ 05/01/2016
When Phil McGinnis is offered a job at the Palms, an affluent, exclusive community of posh homes and bored women, his wife, Liz, and stepdaughter, Danielle, move with him from a cramped rental to a lavish 4,000-square-foot home. Liz, feeling like an outsider, is reluctant to get involved in this gated society of Stepford wives and overindulged children, but she wants to make it work, particularly for Danielle, an introverted science nerd. When one of the gorgeous teenagers next door takes an interest in Danielle, Liz can't help but be suspicious, especially as she learns more about the secrets that simmer beneath the idyllic surface of the neighborhood. Soon, their lives spiral out of control. DeBoard (The Mourning Hours) breathes new life into the well-worn tropes of young seduction, romantic obsession, and affluence. Alternating points of views between Liz and Phil give readers the benefit of knowing more secrets than its characters do, adding a layer of depth to this novel. The shift from present to past further creates a sense of urgency. VERDICT Give this tale of domestic suspense, with its pitch-perfect pacing, to Gillian Flynn and Mary Kubica devotees.—Erin Entrada Kelly, Philadelphia

Library Journal - Audio

08/01/2016
The promise of a paradise in a gated community, The Palms, is blown apart as Liz McGinnis and husband Phil discover that the neighborhood harbors dark secrets, deception, and a too-ready willingness for its denizens to pretend that danger exists only in the outside world. Liz works at the high school where her daughter, Danielle, is in the ninth grade. When Kelsey, the cool girl next door, befriends shy, nerdy Danielle, Liz can't help but be surprised. And as Kelsey spends more time with the McGinnises, Liz's relationships with her husband and daughter grow strained. By using both Phil and Liz as alternating narrators, the author conveys the characters' fears and the subterfuge both resort to in order to protect themselves and their marriage. The work is well performed by David Atlas and Amy McFadden, who captures the angst and panic of the wife. A disturbing look at a fictional privileged world. VERDICT Recommended for mystery and suspense collections. ["Give this tale of domestic suspense, with its pitch-perfect pacing, to Gillian Flynn and Mary Kubica devotees": LJ 5/1/16 starred review of the Mira: Harlequin hc.]—Joyce Kessel, Villa Maria Coll., Buffalo

Product Details

BN ID:	2940172697494
Publisher:	Brilliance Audio
Publication date:	04/26/2016
Edition description:	Unabridged

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