I loved the pacing of the story, where tension crept in slowly but steady and was a constant background noise, but not all over the place. Therefore, the balanced creepy scenes had enough space to make an impression. Also, the author took his time to build strong and recognizable characters and get readers connected to and care for them.
I was especially curious about the tragic history the books is based on: a whole town and lots of its people were drowned by a flood. While this is not a new starting point for a book, the author built a very original and haunting plot around it. Instead of making this just another ghost story, the focus was on the living characters, the impact events have on their lives and how they grow stronger because of it.