The Drowning House

When a storm washes a house up onto the beach, Simon’s grandmother, who recognizes the house from her nightmares, rushes into the rain. She subsequently dies on the beach, with her fears and warnings unspoken. Then Simon disappears. His two childhood best friends, Melissa and Leo, go looking for him, hardly able to make sense of—or even fully remember—the uncanny things Simon’s grandmother would say and do, but they’ll need to if they want any chance to rescue Simon and save the world from something unfathomable. Actor and narrator Mara Wilson delivers Priest’s detailed prose with well-enunciated pleasantness, which creates an effective dissonant crash against the slowly rising tension. As she did in her prior novel, Cinderwich, Priest ensures listeners truly know her characters before she unleashes eldritch horror upon them. Alongside this, Wilson knows how to narrate the calm before the storm as well as she later amps up the panic and tension. She’s especially skilled at adding age to her characters, whether it’s the trio of friends as preteens, a nearly 100-year-old woman, or any age in between.