I’m so conflicted on this book. There was a ton of hype behind it, and I did enjoy it, but there were parts that I thought were just meh.

What I did like...
I loved the aspect of the true crime podcast. It reminded me of “Serial” which my husband and I love listening to. I also enjoyed the alternating perspectives between Rachel, Hannah, and the podcast script. I also liked how well Golden conveyed that rape is real and how much it can affect a victim.

What wasn’t my fav...
this was definitely more of a slow burn in my opinion. While I did like the ending, the rest of the book didn’t seem that climatic to me

with all that being said, this is a well written book that covers extremely difficult topics. I do still recommend this book to others even though it wasn’t my favorite book in the world!

"I’m Rachel Krall and this is Guilty or Not Guilty, the podcast that puts you in the jury box."

A clever structure elevates 'The Night Swim' to a gripping story about a 20-year-old crime that destroyed a family, told in a parallel with the current rape trial being covered by Rachel Krall, the new darling in the world of true-crime podcasts.

Rachel is covering the North Carolina trial of a local young superstar who has been charged with the rape and sexual assault of a teenage acquaintance. Stop reading right now if you have sensitivity to rape and assault because this book goes into excruciating detail about not only the trauma and pain of the actual assault, but also the humiliation of the rape kit and police investigations after. It is gripping reading, with tension building at every turn.

"The idea that guilt must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt dates back to the eighteenth-century British jurist Sir William Blackstone, who wrote in his seminal works that underpin our legal system: “Better that ten guilty persons escape than one innocent person suffer.”

Studies show that rapists tend to be repeat offenders more than other criminals. They go on to rape again, at a rate of around five rapes in their lifetime. That means the ten guilty rapists who escape, to paraphrase Sir Blackstone, might go on to rape another forty innocent women. I wonder what Sir William Blackstone would say about that?""

Alternating with Rachel's narration is that of Hannah, whose older sister Jenny died a violent and mysterious death 20 years prior. Hannah has reached out to Rachel as her last hope of solving the tragic death of her beloved older sister. The details are horrifying and heartbreaking but somehow Rachel knows that she must try and help Hannah, who has been sending Rachel mysterious emails and letters.

This book is not for the faint of heart and I went in blind, not having read the synopsis. I was expecting a thriller like 'The Escape Room' which I loved! This book is much more of a true crime story,  but is wonderfully written and will please all fans of this genre.

I can't say enough nice things about this book! I LOVED it so much.

Pros: Smartly written and set up /formatted. Perfectly paced. Some really serious plot/themes developed in a thoughtful way with a satisfying resolution. I LOVED Rachel, she is a realistic believable narrator.

Cons: NONE! Except you will want to read it in one sitting! LOL

Review posted at: https://thereadingreaper.blogspot.com/2020/08/108-night-swim.html

Thank you to John Karle from St. Martins Press for reaching out and offering a free e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was once again asked to join in on the blog tour for this amazing book which i leapt at the chance to read it. This book was on my radar for a while as id seen it compared to the true crime podcast 'Serial' which anyone who knows me knows i was utterly entranced by. It started off my love for true crime podcasts so when i saw this book was a fictional take on a true crime podcast story it immediately became one of my most anticipated reads of 2020.

The story follows Rachel Krall who is the creator and presenter of the popular true crime podcast 'Guilty or Not Guilty'. Rachel is in Neapolis, North Carolina investigating and reporting on a rape trial of Kelly and Scott that is at the centre of her third season. We also follow Hannah whose sister Jenny was murdered years previous in the same town. The killer was never found as it was deemed suicide and Hannah has been left with a sense of injustice and the burning desire to find out what really happened to Jenny. Hannah believes that Rachel is the only person who can help her discover the truth and begins sending Rachel messages in the form of letters to try and convince her to take on the case.

My first impressions are that the story has an interesting premise and i really like how theres a split story line with what really happened to Kelly but also what happened 25 years ago to Jenny. It has that small town vibe that it could have been literally anyone and the author does a really good job of weaving through suspects without saying as much. I must say its a little dry at points, as im writing this im currently on 66% and im still waiting for it to become a little more thrilling, so far there hasnt been any twists as you would expect with a thriller but i am enjoying the mystery side of it. I have so many unanswered questions which is making me constantly pick the book back up to find out.

The writing is good, its very to the point and not very descriptive which i like in thrillers. Ive already researched other books by Megan Goldin to pick up after this one as i do like her story telling technique. This is the first thriller ive read that has a focus on a trial and i really enjoyed that side of it, hearing the testimonies and cross examination, it really added to the story and made the reader believe that a crime had taken place. I found Kelly's testimony about the rape difficult to read but it really made me sympathise with her. It felt just like reading a true crime novel. I think the element enjoyed most was the podcast chapters and think the audiobook would really heighten the readers experience of this book. Overall, the chapter splits were well done and i loved how the chapters werent too long, i always find i read so much more when theres shorter chapters.

Final thoughts upon finishing: so i must say i didnt see that big reveal coming, i had my suspicions but i was wrong! It didnt feel very edge of your seat though is my only criticism, there was never any doubt in my mind that both Rachel and Hannah would be fine, i would have preferred there to have been a bit more at stake i guess. I liked the way it wrapped up and i did enjoy the story overall.

Rachel Krall has a promising future as a true crime podcaster. Her first season was well received. She is on her way to Neapolis, N.C. to cover a trial in which a promising athlete is accused of rape by a 16 year old girl. The fact that the accused is also touted as a future Olympian swimming star adds to the drama.
Before reaching Neapolis, Rachel receives a note asking her to help a woman desperate to solve the rape of her sister 25 years ago. Thru perseverance, Hannah is able to enlist Rachel's assistance.
These two rapes, the coverup of the first, the trial for the second are emotionally gritty. You will feel anger, disgust, fear, loathing, sadness and a dozen more emotions as you find the two cases increasingly intersecting.
You will think about the book long after your reading ends. Goldin handles a tough topic with depth of feeling and honesty. This is a must read. I received an advance copy of this book from Netgalley. #NetGalley #TheNightSwim

I loved The Escape Room, so I knew I had to read The Night Swim. It did not just not disappoint, but is making my favorites of 2020 list.

I had my own suspicions for 4 characters for Hannah's storyline. The two cases, the podcast, the objective viewer on the sidlines, Rachel’s role. The Night Swim is not an easy subject to digest, but neither are cases like Kelly's in the first place. I will be anxiously awaiting Megan Goldin's next book like so many others.

I listened to the audiobook courtesy of MacMillan Audio and the podcast chapters were SO real it sucked me right in. I received an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review.

Last summer, I received an ARC of Megan Goldin’s second psychological thriller novel The Escape Room, but unfortunately, despite my best intentions, I never found time to read and review it. I was still feeling bad about that, so a few months ago, when I was offered an ARC of Goldin’s latest book The Night Swim, I snatched it up and made absolutely sure that I would get to it this time around. Now after having read the book, I’m so glad I prioritized this one because it was actually really good! I’ve heard people say that Goldin’s books are “unputdownable” and while I can’t speak for her previous 2 thrillers, since I haven’t read them, I CAN say that for The Night Swim, that is definitely a true statement – as soon as I started reading, I found that I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough.

Not wanting to give too much away, I will be brief with the premise: Riding off the popularity of her true crime podcast’s first 2 seasons, Rachel Krall is under a lot of pressure to make season 3 of her program Guilty or Not Guilty a success. She decides to do things differently this time around and cover a rape trial in the small town of Neapolis, North Carolina as it plays out in court, in essence putting her listeners in the jury box along with the real-life jurors who will decide the case. At the center of the trial is 19-year-old Scott Blair, the town’s golden boy athlete and Olympic hopeful, who has been accused of raping high school student Kelly Moore, the granddaughter of the town’s long-time police chief. As Rachel arrives in Neapolis to prepare for the trial, she starts to receive mysterious letters from a woman named Hannah Stills, who wants Rachel to help her find out the truth about the death of her sister Jenny Stills. Twenty-five years ago, at the age of 16, Jenny tragically drowned in the waters of Morrison Point in Neapolis – at least that’s the official version of the story – but in her letters, Hannah insists that her sister was actually murdered. Despite being busy with the trial, Rachel’s curiosity is piqued, and figuring that this is a small town where everyone pretty much knows everyone, she decides to utilize the little bit of free time in between attending court sessions and recording her podcast to ask around with the townsfolk about Jenny. What Rachel doesn’t bargain for is that, in a town where everyone seems to have an opinion on the Blair trial (to the point where the town is being torn apart by the divisiveness over people’s support for Kelly versus Scott), when it comes to Jenny Stills’ case, there’s a hesitance among those who were around during that time and no one seems to want to answer any questions. As Rachel starts to dig deeper, she discovers surprising connections between the 2 cases – connections that could impact the trial as well as upend the lives of everyone involved.

One of the things that makes this story unique is its structure – alternating between podcast episodes, courtroom scenes, Hannah’s letters recounting the events of 25 years ago, and Rachel’s perspective in present time, we get a well-rounded narrative that pretty much covers all the bases. For me, this structure worked really well, as there was a good balance between getting to know / feel for the characters and driving the plot forward in a well-paced manner – this is important because a lot of times with this genre (mystery / thriller /suspense), the focus is more on the plot rather than on character development, so for this one to balance both is great to see. From a suspense perspective though, I did feel that this was a bit lacking, as there weren’t any shocking twists or turns that left me feeling stunned or blown away – in fact, I actually figured everything out very early on (there were some clues that were fairly obvious in my opinion), but that’s okay, since the story itself was compelling enough that it kept me wanting to turn the pages to find out if my theories were correct.

Another thing that made this stand out from other thrillers for me is the fact that there was a certain amount of depth to the story that I wasn’t expecting. Both of the cases (Jenny’s case in the past and Kelly’s in the present) in the story involve a thought-provoking exploration of our country’s criminal justice system and our attitudes as a society towards victims of rape and assault. Goldin did a great job of transferring real-life experiences to the page and, albeit indirectly, forcing us as readers to not only reflect upon the same issues that plague our own society, but also what our own roles are in perpetuating those issues. To this point, some of the courtroom scenes actually made me angry, as I was thinking how certain characters could so blatantly distort facts to suit a particular argument and get away with it – but then I remember this is what happens all the time in real life. Stories like this one -- that put a spotlight on the not-always-pleasant realities of life and also of society, that challenge us to think and reflect and question society’s reasoning for believing what we do – are so relevant and necessary right now, especially in light of the reckoning our country is currently going through on so many fronts. In this regard, the chapters with the podcast episodes were particularly well done and, without a doubt, the most powerful parts of the story.

I definitely recommend this book -- especially for those who prefer a thriller / suspense read with substance -- but with the caveat that parts of this story will be frustrating and maybe even upsetting. Fair warning that this will be a difficult read majority of the time, but absolutely worthwhile and necessary!

Received ARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley.

OᐯᗴᖇᐯIᗴᗯ: Rachel, a true crime podcaster, is covering a rape trial in a small town. And while she’s there, she gets letters from Hannah who is trying to get Rachel to investigate her sister’s death from years ago. The story is told from Rachel’s perspective, with alternating chapters of Hannah’s letters about her sister and the podcast episodes.

ᗰY TᕼOᑌᘜᕼTᔕ: This book was amazing! Megan Goldin wrote a timely and modern tale that could (may) have been ripped from the headlines. It deals with the rape of high school student by a college swimmer from a prominent family. Rachel spends time talking to all the key players and puts the story together. It’s a slow burn, but I love the way Goldin weaves the tale. And the ending... 🤯! Megan Goldin is now an auto-buy author for me!

ᖇᗩTIᑎᘜ: ★★★★★

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin is my favorite thriller this year! I could not put it down. I was captivated from the beginning and I know this one will stay with me for a while. If you're thinking of picking this up, stop thinking and just do it!

The Night Swim is a beautifully, heartbreaking twisty read about two crimes, decades apart but not really so different after all. I loved that it follows a podcast creator as she covers a current trial and looks into an old case the majority of people never acknowledged as being anything more than what it appeared. It's very sad in a lot of ways, but it brings into sharp focus how important it is to believe victims and to look beyond the surface. I loved the alternating timelines and viewpoints; it helps tie the two stories together perfectly. This is a great thriller for anyone interested in true crime, podcasts, cold cases, or any combination of those.

If this wasn’t already on your tbr, add it immediately! This is easily one of my favorite books of the year and let me tell you why.

Goldin has a way of captivating the reader from the start and this book was no exception. In the story we follow Rachel, a famous true crime podcaster, who is following a story about golden boy swimmer accused of raping a high school girl.

While Rachel is focused on this case, she starts receiving letters from Hannah, a girl seeking justice for her sister Jenny’s murder, that was deemed a tragic drowning.

These two cases intersect and whoa my mind was blown! Rachel uncovers secrets about the past and present and truly I was so invested all I wanted to do was find out the truth. I loved that it was told from Rachel’s POV, from Hannah’s letters, and from the podcast! I’m a big fan of different formats in books.

While this story is done so well, it’s important to note there are several detailed stories of rape that may be difficult to read. The commentary around modern sexual assault and rape cases was heartbreaking but so important to this story. I cried reading these fictional accounts because of how real they felt and I commend Goldin for going there. It’s important to let victims know they have a voice and they shouldn’t be attacked for it.

Overall this book is so much more than a legal thriller or a murder mystery... it’s a story that gives you a chance to reflect. It’s heavy but important and I can’t recommend it enough.

Joh what a brilliant and at times emotional read! A very well crafted story about a very sensitive subject. It's a story about a rape that took place in a small town but also about 1 from years ago. The town is divided. Who do you believe? The 16-year-old victim or the swimming champ with his whole life ahead of him. It's a raw and emotional story about pain and humiliation.

"So why is it that when women are attacked, the onus is on them"
This is so true. A lot of times woman are blamed for being attacked! Will this mindset ever change?

This is a book that will make you think. At times it made me sad and at times so cross with the injustices. It also shows you how it will affect the family of victims. Its two strong stories with 1 overall lesson.

A brilliant must-read book.

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Night Swim is a fantastic double sided courtroom thriller by Megan Goldin. Rachel Krall hosts a widely successful true-crime podcast and she wants to make her third season the most successful yet. She travels to a small town where the local Olympic swimming hopeful is on trial for rape. Rachel observes court daily and interviews the key players. She presents all the trial evidence to her listeners in an unbiased way claiming that she "puts them in the jury box." Rachel contemplates investigating another crime when Hannah, a former town resident, leaves Rachel letters describing her sister's suspicious death. Hannah's sister Jenny drowned 25 years earlier in an apparent suicide. Hannah knows Jenny was killed and pleads with Rachel to investigate. Goldin's crisp writing makes both stories thrilling. Rachel is a compelling and entertaining character. As this is the second book featuring Rachel Krall, we can be hopeful we will read more of Rachel in the future.

I really liked this book! It exceeded my expectations!
Thank you so much St Martins Press for my gifted advanced copy.

What I Loved-

The Writing- this was a fast read for me. Megan Goldin sucked me in immediately and I could not stop reading.

Multiple POV's and Timelines- always a fan.

The Mysteries- This book had two mysteries ( part murder mystery/ part court room drama) going at once and I was equally invested in both. 2020 has been a year of just meh mystery thrillers for me. This book has definitely been a stand out with it's unique plotline and twists.

Heavier Topics- A little unexpected but handled well.

Overall- highly recommend. Can't wait to read more from Megan Goldin.

Wow! This book had me hooked from the first page. Rachel is an engaging and interesting main character and the premise of a podcast is current and intriguing to see how she gathers her information.

I had periods where I was confused for a minute - wait - are we talking about Kelly or Jenny? - and I wondered how the two cases would inevitably come to be linked somehow. As clues dropped in, they kept me guessing and the final revelation was a shocker!

Dare I hope we'll be along for Rachel's next podcast??!

The Night Swim is a tightly-built mystery, with a timely setup, yet involving age-old issues. Rachel Krall, the narrator, has launched a wildly popular true-crime podcast. For the series' third season, she chooses to cover a rape trial in a backwater North Carolina town.

Megan Goldin weaves together the stories of four women in two timelines. First, we meet Kayla, a wholesome 16-year-old who is innocently drawn into a series of events that spin out of her control. Rachel comes to Kayla's town to cover the trial of the celebrated young man accused of raping her.

In the process, readers encounter Hannah, whose story -- and that of her dead sister Jenny -- is told mainly through letters sent to the podcast production team and to Rachel herself.

Of course, there are men in this story, and they are equally well-drawn and complicated. Secrets surface, some of them shocking and some cathartic. This was a sensitive portrayal of how the crime of sexual assault affects both women and men -- and a clear-eyed depiction of group dynamics. I loved the vivid sense of place.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance readers copy.

Welp, this was a flop for me 🤷‍♀️⁣
⁣
THE NIGHT SWIM has everything I usually like: small town secrets, cold cases, and a podcast as a narrative frame. ⁣
⁣
Rachel is a successful podcast host who arrives in Neapolis to cover a rape trial. The defendant and alleged assault bear a striking resemblance to the case of Brock Turner, the Stanford student convincted of sexual assault in 2016. While reporting on the trial, Rachel also gets wrapped up in trying to solve a 25 year old suspected homicide in the same town. ⁣
⁣
Two major issues here: the pacing and characterization were inconsistent, which made it hard to get invested, and the prose was so basic, which made it boring to read. I appreciate what the author was trying to do here, but there was also so much more room to dig into the class and race issues both in the trial and with a true crime podcast host as protagonist. ⁣
⁣
Overall, I kept wanting something in THE NIGHT SWIM that never arrived. I would vote to skip this one. ⁣
⁣
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s for providing an eARC in exchange for this review. ⁣

This book was really, really uncomfortable to read. This book is really, really important.

TW: rape, sexual assault, abuse

I went into this book knowing the content would be difficult, because the fact that there is a rape trial is in the synopsis. However, I wasn't expecting just how difficult it would be. Between the present-day POV following podcast host Rachel, the podcast episodes themselves, and Hannah's letters that are both present day and memories of the past, readers will be following some extremely sad and horrible events.

However, if this is something you can handle, please consider giving it a read. The book manages to talk about everything wrong with rape culture and the justice system: how the women or victims are often blamed more than the rapists; how girls and women get labeled sluts and whores, because rumors don't care if sex was consensual or not; how rape kits and trials traumatize victims all over again, because they are invasive and humiliating; how rapists don't even have to get on the stand, but victims need to talk about every detail that happened to them to defend themselves, and even then the jury might not believe them; how police and lawyers can be corrupt; how juries and trials can be rigged; how all of this put together leads to rape going under- or unreported, and victims are left hurting for the rest of their lives and rapists are free to continue committing their crimes.

After I listened (and LOVED) The Escape Room, I knew that I was going to follow Megan Goldin’s writing career. I relished her debut novel. Her writing was intoxicating. She instantly became an author I would read/listen to no matter what. I didn’t prep myself beforehand on The Night Swim. I knew I wouldn’t need to. I didn’t. This story was so much more than a psychological fiction, which is how I would classify it. It doesn’t really hit the thriller buttons for me. It does hit on the compulsive and timely buttons though.

I can’t recall the last time I listened to a book and felt so much anger… not at the author or the writing, but the truth in the situation Goldin created. Yes, I’m being vague. There’s something about this story that will create a buzz in your head, or it did mine, it centers on real world problems. Rape culture is a difficult topic but a real one. After the #MeToo movement and how eye opening that itself was, it was heartbreaking to get a couple to possible storylines. It made me sad. With that being said, I feel like Goldin dissected the situation and really put a magnifying glass on it. She left it up to the reader/listener to put their thoughts, their own spin on it.

I really loved the way the story jumped around to the podcast (revisits the past via letters) to the current story. I feel like The Night Swim should be experienced by audiobook unless you can really separate the situations in your mind and set the scene. If not, and even if you can, I have to recommend the audiobook. There’s an entire experience that you get via the audio version that I can’t believe you’d experience this story better any other way. Finally, I’ll quickly touch on the narration… I’m beyond thrilled that Macmillan Audio used three different narrators even though they were all females Bailey Carr, January LaVoy, and Samantha Desz. They added a dimension to the audiobook. They gave the characters personality and the story a real feeling

Thank you to Macmillan Publishing for sending me an early ebook and audiobook. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that... my opinions.

In The Night Swim, Rachel is the host of a popular true crime podcast, Guilty or Not Guilty. Trying to up her game even further, she is covering a trial live for season 3. But when she finds a fan’s note on her windshield begging for help, she also digs into a cold case.

Alternating between transcripts of the podcast, and Rachel and her fan’s viewpoint, The Night Swim is a captivating look into small town life. It also has a larger point to make about how society blames the victim for her own sexual assault. Speaking about assault, the book is full of it—though nothing graphic. However, if that is a trigger for you, it is best to skip this tale.

The chapters about the trial are the best part of the plot for me. Unfortunately, there was a bit too much foreshadowing of the villain’s identity in the cold case. I guessed who he was early on. And the risks Rachel takes, especially meeting her possible stalker in remote locations, seems stupid. Overall, it is a slow-boiling mystery rather than a nail-biting thriller. And it might be slightly too easy to solve for all of us armchair detectives out there. 3 stars.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.