‘Girl Who Stopped Swimming’ a great summer mystery

  Laurel Gray Hawthorne has what seems to be the perfect life with her dependable husband, David, and beloved daughter, Shelby, all tucked away in the safety of a gated suburban neighborhood.
  But when Laurel wakes to find a young girl’s ghost in her bedroom her world is turned upside down. As the girl’s specter drifts through the room’s window into the darkness beyond, Laurel follows, looking through the glass to the yard and pool below.
  The yard was dark, but Shelby had forgotten to turn the underwater pool lights off, so the water glowed. The girl glowed, too, as if she had her own light. She swept her right arm down in a smooth and graceful arc, like a game-show hostess modeling the water. Laurel’s gaze followed the gesture, and at first she couldn’t make sense of what she saw. The drowned girl was resting facedown in the center of the pool, her skirt opening like wings under the water. Her body was slim, with skinny pony legs, her hair curling toward the surface in tendrils like water weeds. Her ghost faded to a moving shadow in Laurel’s peripheral vision, blending into the darkness.
  The drowned girl turns out to be Shelby’s best friend. As the police investigate, Laurel becomes suspicious that Shelby is not telling all she knows. Laurel calls in her sister, with whom she has a complicated relationship, for backup.
  In sweeps Thalia, a somewhat flighty actress whose determination and strength both comfort and disturb Laurel. As the two sisters begin their own investigation into the girl’s death, Laurel starts to doubt everything she once held true. She questions the stability of her marriage as well as the innocence of her child. At the same time, long-buried secrets begin to surface from her childhood, and Laurel has questions for her sister, too.
  Joshilyn Jackson’s “The Girl Who Stopped Swimming” is a compelling mystery with relatable characters. It’s a quick read, propelled by a fast-moving plot. This is one absorbing novel readers can easily lose themselves in as they while away a summer day.