Very good thriller follow up to The Night Swim. There were several pieces to the puzzle, which I was not able to all put together before the end. Definitely enjoyed!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. This is your typical, predictable podcaster thriller (why are there so many of those now?!?!) I figured out most of the twists very early on and had to suspend a whole bunch of disbelief in the last 15% of the book. (All of the modifications the killer had on his Ford? LOL! And what happened to Aysh's kitten???) I don't think I would recommend this book., but I'm also not mad at it since it moved quickly and I didn't waste days reading it.

This was a fast paced thriller and a follow up to the popular true crime podcaster Rachel Krall from The Night Swim. If you were hoping to pick up where we left off with Rachel you might be disappointed.

Synopsis:

Terrence Bailey is days from being released from prison for breaking and entering, however was suspected of being involved in the murders of six women. Right before his release date he gets a visit from Madison Logan, a travel blog influencer, with a large social media presence. Madison disappears after her visit with Terrance.

The FBI start to wonder if her disappearance is connected to the visit and they bring Rachel Krall, true crime podcaster of Guilty or Not Guilty, to see if she can be of any use. Unable to find anything about Madison outside her influencer personna Rachel goes undercover to BuzzCon, a popular influencer conference. This is where she learns more about Madison and just how cutthroat the influencer game is.

The Night Swim was one of my top thrillers back in 2020 when it was released and I was excited to read more about true crime podcaster, Rachel Krall . Unfortunately, this book didn’t have the same feel for me that Night Swim did. The formatting of the book is different instead of the multiple POV we have third person omniscient. We see the story from Rachel, FBI agent Joe Martinez and Thomas Mcoy this way.

I think for me, that in Night Swim, it shined a light on the continued trauma a victim faces when pressing charges against her assailant. Where Dark Corners focuses on influencers and the life of a convict and it just didn’t carry the same weight for me. Rachel’s character seemed very different in this story. In The Night Swim she was used to her face not being recognized but in this one she had reached a new level of fame. I did enjoy the sparks between Martinez and Rachel. Thomas had a very unusual condition that was interesting to learn about that made him a unique character. Overall, I did enjoy the book but was just disappointed that it seemed like a different Rachel from the first book, The Night Swim. The problem with writing such a good first book it’s hard to carry that momentum in the second one sometimes.

Rachel Krall is back to be thrown into another mystery. This time involving a missing social media influencer, Madisson and a Florida prison inmate who is days away from being released. The FBI calls in Rachel to go meet with Terrence and try to figure out what he may know, as Madisson had just visited him days before she went missing. This was a very fast paced thriller, but my one complaint would be some of the chapters seemed to be a bit repetitive and I was somewhat confused if I was rereading at certain parts. Overall, a well done thriller and Rachel Krall is a great main character.

I’m a sucker for anything podcast related and I loved Night Swim so I was excited when I saw this was coming out. It does not disappoint! What a fascinating story Megan Goldin presents us, with so many twists and turns that will leave your head spinning. There were two little things that bothered me: 1) hotel employees are trained not to give out room numbers, and 2) the ending was rushed and anti-climactic. Other than that, this was a thrilling ride that kept me reading nonstop.

WHAT.

Megan Goldin has become an auto read author for me. I’ve read 3 of her books, and all 3 were 5 star reads. I love her writing style, short chapters, and Rachel is such a likeable character.
This was book two of the Rachel Krall series and i actually enjoyed it more than Night Swim. Night Swim felt a lot more podcast-like than this one. I enjoyed the use of instagram influencers and the setting surrounding “buzz con”. Influencers lives have always interested me and getting insight into what their day to day is like, the competition to fame and their unlikable personalities kept me entertained and hooked throughout the entire book. Throw in some kidnapping, murder and a little bit of a love story and you have yourself a 5 star read.

I really enjoyed this book. I liked how it brought back the main character from Night Swimming, but was also able to be read standalone. It was a fun, twisty thriller that kept me guessing until the end.

I can't believe I did not realize this was a follow-up to The Night Swim! I was so happy to discover that because I love Rachel Krall as a character. I really hope Megan Goldin continues on with this series. I think it's great. I love that her stories are realistic and not totally out there. The endings are tidy and wrapped up and there are no deus ex machinas, that's my thriller pet peeve. I loved the influencer plot line in this and the setting of the influencer convention. It was rooted in modern life without being too cheesy. There were just enough twists in this one to keep me on my toes and, overall, I found this to be very enjoyable. My only two downsides were that I didn't feel like we understood our culprit enough or his motivations, as well as noxious odor. I also didn't like the budding romance aspect. I didn't find it necessary and it also felt a touch unrealistic to me. Other than that, I thought it was a great addition to the series and I look forward to more!

Megan Goldin always has my heart. This was such a fun one that I read in one sitting. You know I love an influencer book and this was a great take on the new thriller trend. I loved getting back with Rachel and seeing what nonsense she could involve herself in now. The FBI side story was excellent and I enjoyed seeing Rachel start her own investigation. My biggest gripe? No five star hotel is giving out room numbers. But I am ready for Rachel Krall #3 whenever Goldin wants to write it!

I found this book to be very exciting and kept me on the edge of my seat. While some might complain that it is far fetched that a podcaster would be summoned to help solve an FBI case, I venture to say that times are changing and true crime podcasts and internet sleuths are going to become more and more important in solving crimes as times goes on. I found the story to be fast paced and I didn't want to put it down. The romantic element did sort of come a shock in the eleventh hour of the book and did seem a bit forced. That being said, I truly enjoyed the book and look forward to reading more about from this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this edge of your seat thriller. All opinions within this review are my own.

I really liked how the characters in this book carried over from Night Swim! Rachel Krall is a great heroine and I loved how her podcast was woven throughout the story, similar to Night Swim. I hope we see Rachel again!

I loved Rachel's character in Night Swim and was happy to dive into another mystery with her as the star. Although I have seen people saying the true crime podcast angle is overdone, I really think Night Swim was the first book where I saw it done (and loved it!). I am also a sucker for the plotline of the character solving the crime also *maybe* in trouble themselves, and this was great.

Overall, I thought this was the perfect fun summer thriller, and it was also my July Book of the Month pick! I definitely will continue reading this author, and thanks to the publisher for sharing. I will be posting a full review on Amazon next Tuesday. Happy almost pub day!

I liked this one, just not as much as the first in the series. I was immediately hooked in this one, and I guessed all of the big twists. This one wasn’t written in a podcast style like the first, but there were some chapters written in a different font like notes for a special episode or something. There was a bit of a romance in this, which I was cheering for. The details to the big twists were entertaining, and I still enjoyed reading this a lot.

Rachel just got home from covering a case for her podcast when she gets a call from the FBI asking for her help in Florida, without much more detail. Curiosity killed the cat, and it also lures Rachel down and puts her on a serial killer’s radar. But with a girl that has gone missing, where is the line of acceptable risk to try and find her before it is too late?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

𝙍𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙡 𝙆𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙡, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙙𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙈𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙣 𝙂𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙞𝙣’𝙨 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙉𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙎𝙬𝙞𝙢, 𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙥𝙤𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙧 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙡𝙪𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙫𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙨𝙪𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙧.

I honestly was not expecting to love this book more than The Night Swim or Stay Awake, but I had the time of my life reading this one. I did a combo of the ebook and audio, and I would 100% recommend the audio because of the podcast experience.

Rachel Krall has gained my interest because of the first book and I enjoyed her character even more in this one. This book can definitely be read as a standalone as it follows a different crime story.

I was so excited when I received an early copy of this book from NetGalley… and even more excited when I got the audio too. I really loved this book, it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. It was thrilling, engaging, and full of so much suspense.

I also loved the influencer lifestyle of the book. It kept me entertained from the very beginning and I actually really enjoyed the ending. There was an unexpected romantic subplot, I don’t think some will enjoy it, but I personally didn’t mind it.

I honestly really enjoyed this book, I would highly recommend the audiobook over anything else. The story itself was so interesting and I’m surprised by how much I loved it. I read it all in one sitting because I couldn’t put it down. Megan Goldin is soon going to be a favorite author of mine!

Thank you so much NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review!

I loved The Night Swim so I was very excited to read about Rachel Krall again. We have multiple POV’s and some of the transitions are not smooth. It took me a while to figure out that some of the chapters were Rachel’s notes for her podcast, which didn’t seem particularly necessary for the story. I didn’t mind the social media influencer aspect of the plot but there was just a lot going on in this book and sometimes it made it hard to follow everything and everyone mentioned. However, I was still eager to find out what was going on, how everyone was connected, and I will most definitely pick up anything else Megan Goldin decides to write!

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a chance to review an early copy of Goldin’s new thriller, Dark Corners, out on 8/8/2023

This is a sequel to The Night Swim, which I absolutely adored, which gave me high hopes for this story, leaving me disappointed in the end. Maybe my expectations were too high, or maybe I should have reread The Night Swim before this to get a better idea of timelines. Either way, this book was definitely not as good as I was hoping for and expecting. And that makes me so sad because I’ve read three of her four books and didn’t really care for two out of the three so far!

This follows Rachel Krall as she is brought to FL by the FBI after famous influencer, Maddison Logan goes missing. Maddison was last seen at the maximum prison visiting with Terrance Bailey, who is set to be released in a mere number of days. The weird part? Terrance asks to see Rachel but Rachel doesn’t know who he is or why he wants to see her.

First off, the ending felt rushed and abrupt. I finished the last chapter and said to myself, “wait, that’s the end?” It felt unfinished. Almost like the author met her page count. Maybe that’s how it was meant to be that way, but if so then that makes it worse because there was no “cliff-hanging” ending.

Secondly, I saw the romance coming from a mile away. When it did finally happen, I wasn’t surprised and was bored.

I felt like there were more chapters from the FBI agent, Joe’s POV than Rachel’s. While the mystery was pretty intricate and hard to figure out, there was a lot of childish drama surrounding the group of influencers. I felt like for the first half of the book, there were a lot of random things happening that didn’t coincide with other events, and not much occurred. The pace picked up during the second half after Bailey is released from prison.

This book was okay. It really wasn’t memorable for me and I’m disappointed that it wasn’t as good as the first one. I wonder if she is going to make more books in this series. Overall not super impressed and also didn’t hate it.

We are back with true crime podcaster, Rachel Krall who we met in the night swim. This time its a case involving a bunch of influencers.

Influencer Maddison Logan met with an inmate in Florida, and then disappears. It is revealed that Rachel's name was discussed in their meeting, and FBI needs to talk with Rachel. They bring her in thinking she is discussing, when actually they interrogate her.

The said inmate, Terence Bailey, is serving time for breaking and entering, but remains a murder suspect. They think he has something to do with Logan's disappearance.

Rachel meets with Bailey and he doesn't give her much, but ends their meeting by saying “The scariest monster is the one that hides in plain sight.”

FBI feels that is a threat to Rachel and want her to go home. But she is going to do some of her own investigating. She attends an influencer conference at a nearby resort while undercover. She gets a lot of info the detectives haven't been able to tap into. Can she help them solve the case? Or will be be another victim.

There's also a little romance between Rachel and one of the FBI agents.

I had both the ebook and audio and felt the audio was fantastic, especially with the podcast sections.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for both an ARC and ALC in exchange for my honest review.

3.75⭐️

Rachel Krall, a true crime podcaster in Megan Goldin’s The Night Swim is back to search for for a popular influencer who disappears after visiting a suspected serial killer.


This book was a little predictable for me. But still had some ‘ah ha’ moments. The last part of the book had my attention more than the first part. It was a good read though, mysterious.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for a DRC. Dark Corners is available August 8.

Second book in the Rachel Krall series. A dark tongue-in-cheek look at influencer life. What would you do to get more followers? Would you kill to be the best on social media?
Rachel Krall and her podcast, Guilty or Not Guilty, are more popular than ever! She is contacted by the FBI regarding their current case, advising her that her name came up in their investigation.
Maddison has a massive following as a travel blogger on Instagram. After she disappears, it comes to light that has been to visit an inmate who will soon be released from prison.
Brooding and attractive FBI Agent Martinez summons Rachel to speak with the inmate Terry to see if she can find out anything. Not wanting to work i with Martinez but eager to investigate Maddison’s disappearance, Rachel grudgingly agrees to work with the FBI. This one started with Cape Fear and Gabby Petito vibes but is definitely it’s own story!
I love this sequel to The Night Swim and the character of Rachel Krall. Looking forward to more sequels!
Thanks to @NetGalley St. Martins Press for this e-Arc in exchange for my honest opinion! I loved this so much I bought a physical copy from BOTM.

Another outstanding entry in the Rachel Krall series! The twists, the suspense and the fascinating influencer convention made this book impossible to put down! I can't wait for Rachel Krall, book #3!