SNOW DROWNED by Jennifer D. Lyle – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Snow Drowned by Jennifer D. Lyle
Published by Sourcebooks Fire on November 5 2024
Genres: Horror, Mystery, Young adult
Pages: 304
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: A creepy, tension-filled story that will keep readers turning the pages, Snow Drowned was a pleasant surprise.

I’ve been lucky with YA books lately, and I’m happy to report that Snow Drowned is yet another one I can recommend (with a few caveats). Jennifer D. Lyle knows how to create tension, and I read this pretty quickly to find out what the heck was going on. The “mystery vibe” cover is a bit deceiving, though, as the story veers more towards horror and includes some graphic violence that readers might not be expecting. That wasn’t a problem for me, but it might be for others.

Sixteen-year-old Gracie Hutchinson has always lived on Fall Island with her family, a secluded place known for its winter snow storms, and she longs to leave the oppressive, small community when she’s old enough. When the story opens, a huge storm is on the way, and Gracie has been left home alone by her parents, who are both doctors and off taking care of patients. One of Gracie’s weekly jobs is to take flowers to her grandmother’s grave, and it’s there that she runs into Joseph Wescott, a boy from school. Gracie doesn’t know Joseph very well, probably because he belongs to one of the elite families on Fall Island, but she’s surprised to find him funny and approachable.

But when the two arrive at the Wescott mausoleum, they are shocked to discover a dead body inside. Even worse, there are three dead sheep surrounding the body, gruesomely carved with ritualistic symbols. Who on the island would do such a thing? As a police investigation gets underway, Gracie and her aunt Judy are sent to Wescott Manor to ride out the storm (their power has gone out, but the manor has a backup generator), but once she gets there and meets Joseph’s imposing family, she wonders if the manor is safe at all.

I have to admit it’s hard to sum up the plot of Snow Drowned, which tells me that it’s a bit on the chaotic side. Despite this, though, I found the book to be fast-paced and exciting and very hard to put down. Lyle immediately sets up a couple of tantalizing mysteries. First, the Wescott family is cloaked in mystery, and the author spends a lot of time going into the story of how the original settlers, led by patriarch Fitzwilliam Wescott, were “led” to the island by an angel. Once there, Fitzwilliam established his own church, allowing only those original settlers to attend. He also built the imposing Wescott Manor, a gloomy, gothic mansion perched at the very top of the island. Even in the present day, the church is exclusive only to those who were born on the island, and secrets and rumors abound about what goes on behind closed doors.

It doesn’t take long before the reader understands that this is no ordinary church, although the specifics about it aren’t revealed until the final chapters. I have to admit it wasn’t that hard to figure out, since the author left plenty of clues along the way. I love the idea of a creepy church and the even creepier Wescott family members who are hiding all sorts of nasty secrets, and the gothic vibe was really well done.

There’s also the mystery of the dead body and how it ties to the church and the Wescott family. Joseph gives Gracie an old journal to read that turns out to have lots of clues about the family and what they’re up to, and I really enjoyed the journal entries, which fill in some of the history of the island.

The story is full of very unpleasant adult characters, and I can’t say I liked any of them except maybe Gracie’s friend Stubby. Her mother is horrible to her, and even though Gracie wants to spend time with her mom, she’s often brushed aside. It was heartbreaking. Her aunt Judy is much the same, a callous woman who obviously has a hidden agenda. When Gracie gets to the manor, she meets Marin, Joseph’s grandmother, the current leader of the church, and his mother Vanessa, who warns Gracie away from Joseph. Luckily I liked Gracie a lot, even if I wanted her to ask more questions than she did. And I was happy that there wasn’t a romance between Gracie and Joseph. There were plenty of other things going on in the story, and it just didn’t need a teen romance to work.

As for negatives, I though some things were added simply for convenience in order to move the story along. I also didn’t really understand the connection between the snow and the church, if there even was one. From the title of the book, I expected “snow” to play a bigger part in the story—one of the repeated taglines is “The snow got ‘em”—but other than a few mentions about random people who were lost in the snow, that element could have been left out entirely, with more focus given to the church and the horrors that take place at Wescott Manor.

But I did love the epilogue, where the author throws in an unexpected twist. It’s the kind of ending I love in horror stories, where you think everything is resolved but then you realize it isn’t at all. Snow Drowned surprised me in lots of ways, and despite a few flaws, I’ve very glad I read this creepy YA horror story.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.