🌊 The Drowning Woman by Robin Harding — A High-Stakes Thriller With Layers of Betrayal

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½ (4.5 out of 5 stars)
Genre: Psychological Thriller / Domestic Suspense
📢 Spoiler Alert: This review spills every twist, every fake identity, every murder plot. You've been warned!

🚗 Meet Lee: Broke, Exhausted, and Just Trying to Stay Alive

Lee is having a rough go. COVID shut down her once-thriving restaurant, she's deep in debt to a loan shark, and she’s now living out of her car in Seattle. She's working as a dishwasher and trying to lay low while hiding from dangerous people threatening her life.

After someone breaks into her car while she’s in it, she decides to move her “mobile bedroom” to a quieter, nicer part of town — a beachside neighborhood where rich people might not notice her right away.

One early morning at the beach, Lee hears someone in the freezing ocean. Turns out, it’s a woman attempting suicide by drowning. Without thinking, Lee jumps in and rescues her. The woman, Hazel, is furious at first — she wanted to die — but eventually warms up to Lee’s kindness. She reveals that she’s trapped in a marriage with a rich, abusive man named Benjamin, and she feels she’ll never be free.

They quickly form a deep bond, and dream of running away together.

💔 A Misunderstanding That Almost Ends Everything

One day, Lee sees Hazel at a restaurant — Lee’s restaurant, actually — surrounded by wealthy women, and realizes Hazel sees her more as a charity case than a friend. Humiliated, Lee disappears from the beach for a few days to avoid her.

Jesse, a charming personal trainer Lee’s been dating, tells her to give Hazel some grace — people in bad situations sometimes do hurtful things. Lee reflects on her own past, especially a falling-out with her sister Teresa, and decides to forgive Hazel.

When Lee returns to her usual beach spot, Hazel is waiting with homemade scones, and it's clear she’s been searching for her friend. Just like that, their friendship is restored.

🔁 The Story Flips — Now It's Hazel's Turn

Now we get Hazel’s POV, and this is where things take off. We learn that:

Hazel’s relationship with Benjamin began as a consensual BDSM dynamic but spiraled into straight-up abuse.
She signed a prenup and depends on Benjamin’s money to care for her mother, who has Alzheimer’s.
She’s been having an affair with Jesse, and they’ve been planning to fake her drowning so they can escape to Panama together.

The fake drowning was supposed to be a clean getaway, with Jesse arriving by boat to “rescue” her after she left her shoes and phone behind.

Only problem? Jesse was five minutes late, and Lee beat him to it.

So Hazel owes her life to Lee — though she doesn’t fully grasp that yet.

🔪 A New Plan: Murder and a Set-Up

Jesse quickly pivots. If the fake drowning won’t work, they’ll move to Plan B: kill Benjamin and frame Lee for the crime. Hazel agrees (😬), and they plot to manipulate Lee into taking the fall:

Hazel schedules a spa day for Lee and makes sure her hair is cut and dyed to match Hazel’s.
While Lee is away, Hazel and Jesse plant evidence in Lee’s car, including Hazel’s belongings.
Hazel even asks Lee to go to her house that evening and trigger the home security cameras, making it seem like Hazel is still alive and at home.
In return, Hazel promises Lee $50,000, a fake passport, and a plane ticket to escape her dangerous past.

Lee, unaware of the full picture, agrees to help.

🤯 But Hazel Is One Step Ahead

Right before executing the plan, Hazel begins to suspect that Jesse isn’t really on her side. She discovers:

Jesse is sleeping with Lee behind her back.
He punched Hazel in the face as part of the plan, but way too convincingly.
And he seems way too comfortable plotting murder.

Hazel suddenly realizes: Jesse is dangerous. And Lee is the only person who’s ever truly cared for her.

So without telling Jesse, Hazel starts removing the planted evidence from Lee’s car and begins quietly undoing the setup.

💀 The Wrong Man Dies

That night, Lee arrives at Hazel’s house as instructed, still thinking she’s helping her friend escape. She follows Hazel’s list: makes a salad, grabs the envelope with the fake passport and cash, and heads out.

But before she can leave, she stumbles upon a body — stabbed to death.

It’s Jesse. Dead.

Panicked, Lee flees the house with the envelope — and zero idea what just happened.

🧠 Plot Twist: Jesse Was a Hitman All Along

Remember when Hazel almost drowned and Jesse didn’t show up in time?

Turns out that’s because Jesse wasn’t there to help her — he was hired by Benjamin to kill Hazel.

Benjamin wanted it to look like a suicide, spiced up by Hazel’s “secret affair” with Jesse. That’s why Jesse got close to her — it was all part of the plan.

Only Jesse got in too deep. He actually fell for Hazel, and then switched sides.
Benjamin, always one step ahead, kills Jesse (via his bodyguard Nate) and hides the body before Hazel returns home.

When Hazel gets there, Benjamin coldly tells her Jesse is “gone” — and that she’s not going anywhere.

🔎 Lee Starts Digging

Meanwhile, Lee goes to Jesse’s apartment, confused and shaken. There, she finds:

A fake Social Security card in the name Carter Sumner
Evidence he’s been using multiple identities
And a pen that turns out to contain a USB drive

She contacts Carter’s estranged brother Sean, who confirms that Carter/Jesse was violent and manipulative — and that his lawyer was Benjamin.

Realizing just how deep this all goes, Lee listens to the USB.

It contains two audio recordings: Benjamin hiring Jesse to murder Hazel.

🚓 Justice, At Last

Lee sends the audio files to the police anonymously.

Hazel, now a prisoner in her own home, is on the brink of suicide — again. But before she can go through with it, the police show up and arrest Benjamin for conspiracy to commit murder.

But since Jesse/Carter is dead and can’t testify, Benjamin is eventually released. (Classic.)

Hazel decides enough is enough.

🏖️ The Ending We All Needed

Hazel uses her fake passport and escapes to Panama, where Lee has opened a beachside restaurant with her “blood money” from Benjamin.

The two women reunite, survivors of trauma, betrayal, and every double-cross imaginable. Hazel now works for Lee, and they begin a new chapter of their lives — together.

🧠 Final Thoughts

This book is WILD. The layers of betrayal, the fake identities, the way every character is conning or being conned — I could not stop turning the pages.

Hazel and Lee’s friendship is the real heart of this book.
Jesse’s “too good to be true” persona? Absolutely chilling in hindsight.
And Benjamin? Possibly one of the smarmiest villains I’ve read in a while.

If you're a fan of thrillers where nothing is what it seems, The Drowning Woman is a gem.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

🛒 Buy The Drowning Woman

👉 Grab it on Amazon (affiliate link)

🔪 If You Liked This One, Try:

The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine – gold-digging meets rich-wife revenge
The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen – who’s lying? Everyone.
The Perfect Escape by Leah Konen – friends, secrets, and one really bad road trip
The Stranger in the Mirror by Liv Constantine – a woman with no memory and a dangerous past

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The Drowning Woman by Robyn Harding