Rachel Krall is the host of a popular crime podcast. She travels to a small town to cover an extremely divisive rape trial.
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While she is there covering the trial, someone begins following her and leaving notes begging for her help. The letters detail another rape case that happened in this town twenty five years ago. Rachel is drawn deeper into both cases and begins to wonder if there are parallels.
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Rachel asks questions and is told to leave it alone. She senses danger and corruption. But she can’t stop herself, she has to find answers.
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Megan Goldin’s writing is flawless- such polished prose and sharp syntax. She handles this delicate story beautifully.
She will now be an auto buy author for me, since I also loved her other book, The Escape Room.
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I highly recommend this one! ✨
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✨Due out August 4, 2020✨

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𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘵 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯’𝘴 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸.⁣
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A small town ... A rape... A trial ... a podcast ... a grieving sister ...a covered up murder ? ⁣
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Rachel is a famous crime Podcaster who travels to a small town to cover an active rape trial. Hannah is still mourning for the death of her sister 25 years ago in that same small town. Jennys’s death was labeled an accidental drowning but Hannah is certain it was murder .⁣
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Generally speaking, I really enjoyed this story. There are a lot of court scenes, which at times felt a little long ( I mean even the jurors were yawning 😆), but overall I thought the author did a really good job at keeping the suspense going for both stories within the book. Towards the end it was hard to put down and I didn’t get to sleep until a bit later than normal! ⁣

I have another book by this author on my giant TBR list and it just moved up in line 😀

The setting is a beach town in the summer....sounds like the makings of a great book. Unfortunately, bad things can happen anywhere. I liked "The Night Swim," but didn't love it. I wanted to read to find out what happened, but it wasn't a book that I couldn't put down. It focused on two rapes 25 years apart. I enjoyed one of the stories more than the other. I was happy with the conclusion and my questions were answered, but it was just okay to me.

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this book. This is my honest review.

This book is compulsive. It takes a hold right from the start and doesn't let go until the end.

Rachel runs a successful podcast on crimes. She is very popular, and in this instance puts all her efforts into a rape trial. It's not an easy one to digest. The back and forth in the courtroom goes at a steady pace, though brutal at times. The victim seems to be the one on trial. As it's often the case, the general attitude is "she asked for it". Easy to say when one isn't in that situation.

Hannah sets out to get Rachel's attention about a horrible injustice which occurred twenty five years ago. Her sister Jenny was presumed to have drowned even though she was a good swimmer. She earned a bad reputation then, due to obsession and cruelty.

The thing is that nobody expects for both cases to have anything in common. There are coverups and miscarriage of justice which funnily enough link to both cases. It's a gripping and heartbreaking story which will linger for quite some time. It's very cleverly crafted and portrayed.

I was kindly issued with an eARC from Netgalley and the views expressed are my personal opinion.

This is the second book I’ve read by Megan Goldin and it certainly won’t be my last! Ms Goldin has the ability to grab the reader’s attention from the very beginning and hold it until the very end.

The main focus is on Rachel as she covers a rape trial for her podcast. There is a secondary storyline woven throughout the book as well. Rachel has been asked to investigate the alleged accidental drowning death of a 16 year old girl that occurred 25 years ago in the same town.

The events that are revealed in each of the storylines are often disturbing and heartbreaking. This book really makes you think, puts your emotions through the wringer and keeps you riveted until the final page.

I highly recommend this book!

Make no mistake; this book is about rape - more than one, in fact. And even though it's told mostly through the "unbiased" eyes of an investigative reporter's wildly popular crime podcast, it's clear that it favors the "Me, Too" notion that accusers are to believed (or at the very least taken seriously). Honestly, I happen to agree; but if I am to be fair, I can't write a review without letting other potential readers know what's in store.

Those who are up for that also should know they'll be getting into a well-written, captivating (if not sometimes horrifying) story that begins as Rachel Krall is in small-town Neapolis, North Carolina, to cover a rape trial for the third season of her "Guilty or Not Guilty" podcast. Her producer, who usually accompanies her, can't make it this time, but the digital age keeps them bound together. The accuser is a teenage girl, and the young man is - or was, before all this happened - well on his way to becoming an Olympics hopeful (plus, unlike the young woman, he's from a prominent and wealthy family. No surprise, then, that the citizens of Neapolis are staunchly divided on who's lying and who's telling the truth.

Before the trial begins, Rachel finds a note on her car from someone named Hannah, who insists her sister Jennie was murdered in the town years ago and begs Rachel to investigate while she's in town. Rachel is intrigued, but Rachel must concentrate on the trial at hand. Besides, Hannah refuses to meet in person, making her story more of a stretch to believe. Still, there's something very convincing in what Hannah writes as she repeatedly finds ways to get messages to Rachel. So despite her producer's cautions to stay on track, she ventures out to see what she can learn.

Some chapters take place in the courtroom, some are "playbacks" of Rachel's latest podcast and others follow her as she attempts to dig up information on what really happened to Hannah's sister. As a whole, that makes for a story that held my interest from beginning to end. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review an advance copy.

3.5 stars rounded down.

Told in three rotating POVs (third-person following Rachel as she investigates two dramatic cases 25 years apart, first-person letters from Hannah to Rachel detailing the case from 25 years ago, and the first-person podcast recordings Rachel produces about the present day case), The Night Swim details a dramatic and emotional account of two girls separated by decades who are attacked on the same beach. The modern case is accompanied by the courtroom proceedings and a few external interviews, while the old case is recounted almost entirely in letters, notes, and emails.

The letters didn't feel like letters. I think that's my big issue with epistolary style. So often, Hannah says she frantically scribbled the letter while doing something else or on spur of the moment. But they feel more like a typical first person narrative. I had to remind myself every time that these were actual letters that Rachel was stumbling upon like the world's creepiest scavenger hunt. Indeed, Hannah's part in the story really felt like an excuse to set the book apart from its peers rather than as a really deliberate act. There's some overlap between the two cases, certainly, but not enough to, in my mind, justify putting them together.

I will say I loved the way the modern case was handled. The interviews with various characters, the polarity of the "court of public opinion" in the town, even just the style of prose used in the podcast episodes was excellent. I liked certain nods to actual procedure, like how the victim couldn't talk to the press because of the value of her testimony, how the families of both victim and suspect snuck around and we're affected by the trial and allegations. Plus, it was just compulsively readable.

The ending was overkill, I think. The big confrontation felt forced (like so much of the Hannah story) and then everything was over in a handful of pages. Plus there was a really weird cheek kiss that felt like something right out of a bad movie

I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for my honest review I absolutely loved this book. The story line had me hooked from the beginning. I enjoyed the characters as well as the plot. The twists and turns kept me turning pages til the end. This is a must read thriller for this summer, and have already recommended it to several friends.

The Night Swim was a slow and compelling read that had a little bit too much tell and not enough show. The narrative was pretty monotonous at times, with paragraphs upon paragraphs of Rachel describing what was happening, but the mysteries were still interesting for the most part. The novel did have graphic descriptions of rape and rape-related injuries, so please be careful when reading if that is a trigger for you.

I honestly thought I was going to love the podcast/true crime reporter dynamic, but the way Goldin explored and developed that in the novel didn’t work for me. The format–just a straight up descriptive narrative–didn’t help with building up tension towards the K case. It was such a serious subject matter to tackle, which I do think Goldin explored well, but there was very little emotion to it.

The mystery surrounding Hannah and Jenny was really intriguing. The way it was slowly developed and mostly presented through Hannah’s POV was really well done. It kept things interesting when the plot dragged. This did mean Hannah wasn’t developed as a character, though, since she mostly spent the entire novel either recalling what happened to her sister or talking to Rachel through e-mails and letters.

The ending and how both cases were solved was really really good and well written. I was surprised by both reveals at the end and how they wrapped up the plot points. It was pretty satisfying all around and it made me feel like, despite the tedious narrative at times, this was still a well plotted and engrossing read.

This book wasn’t what I was expecting going in but wow I really enjoyed it! Chapters are pretty short, flowed well and I could have kept reading without realizing time passed. Plenty of court drama and I loved the pod cast aspect to it. There are a lot of sad moments and I was angry and really felt for the characters in this story. It makes me sad this these kinds of things happen everyday. I really hope this author continues with this main character and we get to see more seasons of her podcasts. That would be awesome.
Thank you Net Galley for and ARC of The Night Swim by Megan Goldin for my honest review!

The Night Swim will stay with me long after I have finished reading it. It’s well written and informative and played havoc with my emotions. Definitely worth reading.

I loved everything about this thriller - it has a podcast, two mysteries, multiple perspectives, and small-town drama. Megan Goldin followed up her hit The Escape Room with another hit in The Night Swim. Rachel is in a small town to cover a rape trial for the 3rd season of her hit true crime podcast. While she was there, she is contacted by the sister of a girl who died 25 years ago, asking her to look into her sister's "accidental" drowning. The two stories are woven together very well, with both being equally compelling!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This author is new to me but I really liked the premise. All I can say after reading it is “WOW!” I do almost all of my reading via audiobooks these days so the fact that I was willing to sacrifice multitasking to just read says a lot in and of itself. This book so grabbed me tha,t I read it in a single sitting, staying up later than normal so that I could finish it. Once I’d finished it, I headed up to bed where I woke my husband and babbled about it to him for a good ten minutes before letting him go to sleep again. The story successfully intertwines threads from the past with current events in a small coastal town in North Carolina. Rachel, who’s become a household name thanks to two successful seasons of her podcast, Guilty or Not Guilty, “the podcast that puts you in the jury box”, has chosen to take a new approach for season 3. Instead of revisiting an old or cold case, she’s going to follow a controversial upcoming trial from start to finish..

As she arrives in the coastal town that is both the scene of the crime and the location for the trial, she’s left a note by the sister of a 16 year old girl who died in that same coastal town 25 years ago, asking her to look into the death, which she insists is a murder. The author skillfully weaves these tales, the old and the new, together naturally, ending with a twist that I definitely did not see coming. The story is told through different perspectives, each one providing crucial information. We get Rachel’s perspective as she goes about her research, interviewing key players in the upcoming trial she’s covering, as well as information she’s trying to dig up on the death of Jenny Stills 25 years ago. Much of the information on Jenny comes from notes, letters, and emails from Hannah, Jenny’s younger sister, who was only 10 when her sister died. However, Hannah has information on what happened the night Jenny died, things she’s never spoken of in all these years. In fact, Hannah stopped speaking altogether after Jenny’s death. But now, as the 25th anniversary of her sister’s death approaches, Hannah is finally ready to share what she knows. And it’s Rachel she wants to tell and have fill in the missing pieces from all those years ago. The last perspective we get is from the podcast itself, as we have chapters labeled as podcast episodes once the trial begins.

All of these threads are skillfully woven together into a thoroughly engrossing story. The cast of characters from both past and present are interesting, although there are some stereotypes found. And although I was successful in guessing quite early some of what befell Jenny, I definitely didn’t figure it all out until everything was finally revealed in the story, with one heck of a plot twist I definitely didn’t see coming. Likewise, the current day trial was portrayed realistically and I was on tenterhooks about the verdict along with everyone who was following either the podcast or the trial. Kudos to the author for creating such an amazing story that kept me engaged from beginning to end, unable to put the book down until I’d finished it. This might have been my first book by Megan Goldin but it won’t be the last.

One word... Wow! This was the perfect read for me during this crazy quarantine time. I’ve been on a roll of DNF books and struggling to get into a book that will capture my attention. This was it!! I read this book in less than a day. I could not pull myself away from the story. I loved the dual stories and time lines. The author did an amazing job of weaving the stories and bringing them together at the end in a major twist! I thought I had this plot figured out multiple times and I was wrong every single time!! I will be buying a hardcover copy of this book for my bookshelf at home! Megan Goldin made a fan out of me! I will be reading everything I can get my hands of hers.

Another smart thriller featuring a podcast crime investigator. The plot is well-developed and the main character is engaging. The podcaster is covering one trial in the present but gets embroiled in a case that was covered up in the past in the same small town. I had a strong theory about what was happening, but I ended up wrong. I think the author seeds enough clues throughout to make it enjoyable to figure out.
* Trigger warnings for sexual assault.
Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the author Megan Goldin for an advanced digital review copy. This book will be published August 4th, 2020.

The Night Swim is being promoted as a thriller, but I would label this one a mystery. It's not a fast-paced, edge of your seat kind of book. It's more of a slow reveal, "who-done-it." Which actually works better for this story.

I read Goldin's previous book, The Escape Room, and enjoyed it, so when I saw The Night Swim, I requested it right away. I couldn't resist the premise of a podcast host that covers crimes. This story is told from two third-person point of views: Rachel's and Hannah's. Rachel is the host of the podcast and Hannah is a fan. Hannah has been reaching out to Rachel to ask for her help in solving the rape and murder of her sister twenty-five years ago in Neopolis, where Rachel is currently headed to cover--for her third season of the podcast--the trial of the town's star athlete accused of rape. Hannah slowly tells her sister's story through letters and emails she sends to Rachel throughout the trial, and the two stories mirror each other, weaving in the past and present.

The author does a superb job handling such a delicate subject. She highlights the unbalanced handling of sexual assault and rape cases, how the burden of proof is placed on the victim. How the victim is subjected repeatedly to reliving their experience, and therefore traumatized even after the assault. It's a flaw in our judicial system, and I appreciated the attention she brought to it.

My favorite parts of the book are the trial scenes. I respected Rachel's thoughts throughout, her assessments of the lawyers, the witnesses, the jury. She made observations that I'd never thought about.

While I had most of the plot figured out by the ending, I still appreciated the delivery. There were a few things that I found unbelievable and that took me out of the story, but I was able to look past it for the most part. I wouldn't be surprised if this one becomes a series. It was a great summer read, and I look forward to more from Megan Goldin.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was heavy. It was a tough read. It focuses around the stories of two rapes, both in the small town of Neopolis, NC, but 25 years apart. One never made headlines, and the other is the subject of a widely reported public trial.

This book wasn't really as "thriller-y" as her debut, The Escape Room, but it dealt with similar themes - the depths and lows of human kind, and how trauma can cause such dark issues.

I would have given it five stars, because it was a really strong book that truly made you think about how rape is handled in the American justice system, how the female is usually made out to be a tramp, and the male is usually lauded as a stand up guy who is having his reputation trashed by a slut who changed her mind. Alas, the few twists that were there were either not set up enough or were really predictable, so it lost a star.

Overall, highly recommend both of her books thus far, and will look forward to seeing what she comes up with next.

This is a slow burn, yet very engaging, legal crime fiction. I wouldn't call it a thriller, although there is suspense and towards the end I couldn't finish it fast enough. It intertwines two rape cases, one that is currently on trial and one that was never investigated. It's very well written in how the cases unravel and start to overlap, and it keeps you guessing, and questioning all of the characters, until the very end. A lot of times these types of books have a very rushed ending, in the hopes to shock the reader. But I found this ending to be very well paced and properly unveiled. Although my mind went there at one point, I can't say I properly guessed the ending and that is rare for me!
(Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy)

Book Info
Hardcover, 352 pages
Expected publication: August 4th 2020 by St. Martin's Press
ISBN 125021968X (ISBN13: 9781250219688)
Edition Language English
Other Editions (5)
Source:Netgalley EARC
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BOOK BLURB


In this new thriller from the author of The Escape Room, a podcast host covering a controversial trial in a small town becomes obsessed with a brutal crime that took place there years before.

After the first season of her true crime podcast became an overnight sensation and set an innocent man free, Rachel Krall is now a household name―and the last hope for thousands of people seeking justice. But she’s used to being recognized for her voice, not her face. Which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a note on her car windshield, addressed to her, begging for help.

The small town of Neapolis is being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. The town’s golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping a high school student, the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season Three a success, Rachel throws herself into interviewing and investigating―but the mysterious letters keep showing up in unexpected places. Someone is following her, and she won’t stop until Rachel finds out what happened to her sister twenty-five years ago. Officially, Jenny Stills tragically drowned, but the letters insists she was murdered―and when Rachel starts asking questions, nobody seems to want to answer. The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved.

Electrifying and propulsive, The Night Swim asks: What is the price of a reputation? Can a small town ever right the wrongs of its past? And what really happened to Jenny

My Thoughts


Awful, wonderful, devastating, inspiring and so on.

This was an I could not stop reading story.

A story that had the ability to both drew me in and whose plot points content repelled my sensibilities at same time the way they were handled kept me on board till the last page was turned.

For me this story engaged the reader both emotionally and logically from start to finish.

The subject of rape always hits hard emotionally for any woman, or female for that matter of any age. For all of us this violation is something we all fear from the time we understand what it means and we all hope to never experience it for ourselves.

The logical part of this reader however was able to most times overcome the emotional and follow along as both of these young womens circumstances were explored In depth over the course of the book.
The alternation between past and present was very seamless as it allowed several ongoing plot points to take place at the same time.

The fact that both past event and current prove to be quite similar is also handled in a manner that felt mostly comfortable to read about even when the worst actions against the teens were explained.

Not all of it but enough to keep reading past parts that caused discomfort for me anyway.

True crime podcaster Rachel Krall’s character was well crafted as were her observations during the rape trial itself.

I liked how Rachel handled her contributions, especially those nearer the story’s final reveal that her renowned investigative skills showed themselves to be excellent.

Her stunning ability to see beyond the obvious was something the author used to its full advantage for both rape victims.

Can honestly say that this may only be the second book have read written by author but will definitely not be the last one!

[EArc from Netgalley]

On every book read as soon as it is done and written up for review it is posted on Goodreads and Netgalley, once released then posted on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles as well.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rachel Krall is a household name as a true crime podcaster who was able to set an innocent man free. As a new season is upon her, it brings her to a small town where the local jock is accused of rape. As she is investigating the events leading up to the night that the alleged rape happened, she starts getting notes on her car. She's concerned because while she may be known for her voice, how has someone figured out who she is.

As she continues to investigate the rape, these notes keep showing up...these notes reference a crime that happened 25 years ago about the murder of someone; that someone's sister is leaving the notes, who insists that it indeed was murder, not the drowning as it was ruled to be.

Can Rachel focus on the new season of the podcast while trying to solve a murder mystery of the past?

This was a quick but very good read. Trigger warning as there are re-counts of rape and abuse. Heartbreaking at times, but a well written story. Recommend.